Cancer: Research

Mr. Jim Cunningham
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what funding from the public purse was provided for cancer treatment research in each year since 1992.

Ms Rosie Winterton
The Department does not collect expenditure data at the level requested. The available information on total expenditure by the Department on cancer research is shown in the table. Details of individual projects supported in the national health services can be found on the national research register at www.dh.gov.uk/research.

---------------------
|         |£ million|
---------------------
|1997-98  |53       |
---------------------
|1998-99  |75.4     |
---------------------
|1999-2000|77.4     |
---------------------
|2000-01  |83.8     |
---------------------
|2001-02  |113.4    |
---------------------
|2002-03  |124.1    |
---------------------
|2003-04  |139.8    |
---------------------
|2004-05  |150.3    |
---------------------
|2005-06  |168      |
---------------------


The Research Councils are also important funders of cancer research. The research councils are independent bodies funded by the Department of Trade and Industry via the Office of Science and Innovation.

Since 2001, the major funders of cancer research in the United Kingdom, including the Department and the Medical Research Council, have been working in partnership to streamline cancer research in the UK for the benefit of cancer patients. This partnership, the National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI), has the role of maintaining strategic oversight of cancer research in the UK, identifying gaps and opportunities and co-ordinating the funding activities of the partner organisations.

The NCRI's most recent strategic analysis of the directly funded cancer research supported by Government and charities showed that, as at 1 April 2004, 19 per cent. of total funding was dedicated to supporting research on cancer treatment. The analysis forms part of the Institute's three-year progress report 2001-04 and is available at www.ncri.org.uk.