§ Mr. Pawseyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the current level of spending on research into the causes and cure of tinnitus and how that compares with 1979.
§ Mr. BrookeI have been asked to reply.
The Medical Research Council, which receives its grant-in-aid through the Department, is the main Government agency for the promotion of medical research in the United Kingdom. I understand that in the financial year 1983–84 MRC's expenditure on research on tinnitus was £160,000 compared with £118,000 in the financial year 1981–82. No comparable figures on this condition are available prior to 1981–82, nor as yet for 1984–85.
The council is always willing to consider soundly based research proposals for support through its grant schemes in competition with other applications.
In addition to the work supported by the MRC, at the Institute of Hearing Research and elsewhere, research work on, and relevant to, tinnitus may also be conducted in universities and medical schools using funds allocated for teaching and research on the advice of the University Grants Committee, but details of such work are not collected centrally. The medical charities may also be conducting work in the field.