AIDS: Research (Hansard, 29 June 1987)

Lord Campbell of Croy
My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper.

§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Education and Science (Baroness Hooper)
My Lords, my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Social Services announced on 25th February this year that the Government had allocated an extra £14.5 million to the Medical Research Council for AIDS research. This sum is in addition to an earlier allocation of £3 million to fund general AIDS research. The £14.5 million will fund a new directed research programme aimed at both developing a vaccine which will prevent infection and also at new anti-viral drugs to treat people who are already infected. It is too soon to assess what success is being achieved.

Lord Campbell of Croy
My Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend for her Answer, though it does not appear to confirm the very optimistic recent reports in the press about the way forward to a new drug. As scientists and medical researchers in this country have a remarkable record of beneficial discoveries, will my noble friend assure us that any promising research in this vital field will receive special help and additional resources if needed?

§ Baroness Hooper
My Lords, the Government are grateful to the Medical Research Council for taking an initiative in this area. It is the Medical Research 32 Council which will be fulfilling a co-ordinating role and therefore making decisions on which particular projects are going to be funded from the funds allocated.

§ Baroness Seear
My Lords, will the noble Baroness look into the possibility that, in the quite exceptional circumstances of AIDS, it might be suitable to modify the normal requirements for the testing of drugs which in other circumstances would be quite inappropriate? It could well be that someone with AIDS would prefer to have a drug which has not been perfectly tested than not to have a drug at all.

§ Baroness Hooper
My Lords, I note what the noble Baroness says and I shall certainly draw it to the attention of my right honourable friend.

§ Lord Molloy
My Lords, are there any international endeavours being carried on at the moment and is the United Kingdom involved in those international endeavours to try to counter this terrible disease?

§ Baroness Hooper
Yes, indeed, my Lords. The United Kingdom is represented in the European Community's working party on AIDS and the World Health Organisation is encouraging all countries to report to it on AIDS cases. There are also international exchanges of information on a bilateral and multilateral basis. It is, I believe, generally recognised on an international level that the United Kingdom has an important contribution to make in this area.

§ Baroness Elles
My Lords, is the Minister aware that within the research and development programme of the European Community which the Government have not yet ratified—at least, they had not done so as of last night—there is a large AIDS programme? Can the Minister give us any assurance that some money will be coming from the Community and that there will be collaborative projects which were already on-going up to the time of the failure to sign this agreement?

§ Baroness Hooper
Yes, indeed, my Lords. The European Community's research programme on AIDS forms part of a wider Community framework programme for research. The Government are currently considering whether this overall framework of 6.5 billion ecus, as proposed by the Belgian presidency, is acceptable. We shall, of course, co-operate as much as possible in this area.

§ Lord McIntosh of Haringey
My Lords, I should like to congratulate the noble Baroness on the new status in which she addresses questions of education and science from that Dispatch Box. In so far as AIDS research is carried out in institutions of higher education, would she care to confirm, as has been discussed on a number of occasions in this House, that most of the so-called increase in finance to institutions of higher education for research purposes is, in fact, being taken up by increased salaries rather than allowing for increased real expenditure?

§ Baroness Hooper
No, my Lords. While I thank the noble Lord for his kind opening remarks, I must refute completely the suggestion which he raised. The Medical Research Council has been given new money for this important AIDS research and it is a sign of the Government's response to this very serious emergency.

§ Lord Merrivale
My Lords, as reference has been made to collaborative projects, can my noble friend say whether the Medical Research Council is co-operating in any way with the Institut Pasteur in France, which is very experienced in quite a number of areas of medical research?

§ Baroness Hooper
My Lords, I regret that I cannot inform my noble friend precisely whether there is collaboration with that particular institution. But there is general basic research in molecular biology, immunology and virology which is potentially relevant to AIDS. Other research councils are involved in this and are currently undertaking additional spending. However, I can assure my noble friend that at the international level there is a connection between the Institut Pasteur and the work being carried out by the Medical Research Council.