Mr. NicholasBrown asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will make a statement regarding the cutback in funding for the neuroendocrinology unit at Newcastle general hospital; and if he will assess its consequences for research into the workings of the central nervous system, senile dementia, schizophrenia and depression.
§ Sir Keith JosephI have been asked to reply.
The neuroendocrinology unit is a research unit supported by the Medical Research Council, which receives an annual grant-in-aid from the Department's science budget. I understand that the MRC has found it necessary to impose selective reductions on those elements of all its units' 1984–85 budgets which are for consumable items. These reductions will inevitably affect the amount of research which units can undertake, and I know that the council is well aware of the implications for research in the field of neuroendocrinology as in other fields.