To ask the Secretary of State for Health what has been the total Government expenditure on HIV/AIDS medical research; and if she will provide an estimate of total expenditure from all sources on HIV/AIDS medical reseach.

[pursuant to his reply, 26 April 1993, c. 280]: The cumulative total of Government funding for AIDS medical research for the financial years 1986–87 to 1992–93 is £66,170,000. This represents the sum made available to the Medical Research Council (M RC) for a directed programme of AIDS research covering vaccine development and to improve our understa-nding of the natural history of the virus.