§ Mrs. Ann Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) how much money has been spent by the Government on research into techniques of interspecies fertilisation in each of the last 10 years; and what proportion of total Government spending on research into infertility this figure represents in each of those years;
(2) if he will list all those individuals or establishments which have received Government funds for research into interspecies fertilisation in each of the last 10 years; how much money each received; and for what precise purpose those funds were intended;
(3) if he will give the names of individuals and the establishments where they work who are currently, involved in research into interspecies fertilisation between humans and other animals;
(4) what Government funds have been made available since 1954 for research into interspecies fertilisation between humans and other animals; to whom the funds were paid; and for what precise purpose.
§ Mr. BrookeI understand that the work supported by the Medical Research Council on "interspecies fertilisation" is solely related to the egg penetration test in which432W measurements are made of the ability of human sperm to penetrate hamster eggs. This is a test of male fertility; the test takes less than a day to perform and no embryos can develop. Project grant support was provided from 1980–83 to the department of obstetrics and gynaecology, King's College hospital medical school for a study in heterologous sperm penetration: a dynamic test of male fertility, to develop improved methods for the diagnosis of infertility in men. Expenditure was as follows:
£'000s 1980–81 6 1981–82 9 1982–83 4 1983–84 Nil The council also funds research at its reproductive biology unit, Edinburgh, which makes use of techniques of inter-species fertilisation, for the study and diagnosis of infertility in men. The costs are as follows:
£'000s 1980–81 6 1981–82 7 1982–83 8 1983–84 9 The council estimates that its total expenditure on research relevant to infertility since 1980–81 has been as follows:
£'000s 1980–81 1,301 1981–82 1,528 1981–82 1,528 1982–83 1,586 1983–84 1,581 The percentage of the total represented by the work on inter-species fertilisation is therefore:
Per cent. 1980–81 0.9 1981–82 1.0 1982–83 0.8 1983–84 0.6 No figures are available for MRC expenditure on research in this area prior to 1980–81. It is possible that research work relevant to interspecies fertilisation is also being conducted in universities and medical schools using funds allocated for teaching and research on the advice of the University Grants Committee, but no details of any such work are available.
§ Mrs. Ann Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) how much money has been spent by the Government on research into techniques of artificial insemination for humans in each of the years since such funding commenced; and what proportion of total Government spending on research into infertility this figure represents in each of those years;
(2) if he will list all those individuals or establishments which are currently in receipt of Government funding for research into artificial insemination techniques for humans; how much money each received in the current year; and for what precise purpose the funds were intended.
§ Mr. BrookeThe Medical Research Council, which is the Government's main agency for the support of 433W biomedical research, is not supporting any research specifically into artificial insemination techniques for humans.
However, the council is supporting research at its reproductive biology unit in Edinburgh into ways of treating human sperm to improve its potency for use in artificial insemination. The cost of this aspect of the unit's research has been:
1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 Relevant unit expenditure £'000s 7 8 9 10 Per cent, of total MRC expenditure on research relevant to infertility 0.5 0.5 0.6 0.6 No figures are available for MRC expenditure on research in this area prior to 1980–81. It is possible that research work relevant to artificial insemination is also being conducted in universities and medical schools using funds allocated for teaching and research on the advice of the University Grants Committee, but no details of any such work are available.
§ Mrs. Ann Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) how much money has been
£000' s 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 Reproductive biology unit 55.5 66.3 68.6 79.0 Relevant work supported by project grants 5.6 10.7 11.6 4.9 Per cent, of total MRC expenditure on research relevant to infertility 4.6 5 5 5.3 No figures are available for MRC expenditure on research in this area prior to 1980–81. It is possible that research work relevant to in vitro fertilisation techniques is also being conducted at universities and medical schools using funds allocated for teaching and research on the advice of the University Grants Committee, but no details of any such work are available.