To ask the Secretary of State for Health what funds the Government provided for research into motor neurone disease in each year since 2005; and what funds have been allocated for each year to 2010. (151350)

I have been asked to reply.

The Medical Research Council (MRC) spent £2.8 million on research into motor neurone disease in 2005-06. Total spend on neurological research in 2005-06 was around £80 million. The amount MRC will allocate in the future will depend on the number and scientific quality of applications received.

Research active organisations in the national health service, funded through the Department of Health’s research and development budget, also support research into motor neurone disease. The Department of Health does not collect details of expenditure by these organisations on research into particular disease areas. Details of individual projects supported in the NHS can be found on the national research register at http://www.dh.gov.uk/research. Their overall reported spend on neurological conditions in 2005-06 was £26 million, and in 2006-07 was £28 million.

The Department of Health has also established and is funding a dementias and neurodegenerative disease research network that gives patients from every motor neurone disease clinic in England the opportunity to take part in national clinical trials.