§ Mr. SalmondTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how much his Department has spent on research into(a) E. coli 0157 and (b) campylobacter in each year since 1990 and from 1 January to date; [7210]
- (2) if he will list the research applications his Department has (a) granted and (b) rejected to study (i) E. coli 0157 and (ii) campylobacter in each year since 1990 and from 1 January to date. [7209]
§ Mr. Horam[holding answer 2 December 1996]Information on the amount spent by the Department of Health on research and surveillance into campylobacter and E. coli 0157 since 1990 can be provided only at disproportionate cost. Information on funding since 1993 is available by financial year only and is given in the table:
Campylobacter and E. coli Department of Health research and surveillance expenditure £000 Financial year Campylobacter E. Coll 1993 –94 399 185 1994 –95 405 397 1995 –96 702 459 1996 –971 608 797 1Amount committed to spend through contracts. Lists of research and surveillance projects funded by the Department of Health into campylobacter and E. coli 0157 since 1990 have been placed in the Library.
In addition to the information provided in the tables, there are a number of projects which in part include research-surveillance on campylobacter and E. coli 0157. These are not included in the listings or the costings.
Many of the campylobacter and E. coli 0157 research and surveillance projects funded by the Department arose from recommendations made by the Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food. The ACMSF's interim report on campylobacter (1993) and the report on verocytotoxin-producing Escherichia coli (1995)—copies are in the Library—made a number of recommendations for research and surveillance on these organisms. In response to these recommendations, the Department of Health held an open competition for proposals on campylobacter in 1994 and verocytotoxin-producing E. coli—VTEC—in 1995. In both competitions, projects were selected on the basis of a peer review which considered their relevance to policy objectives, feasibility, if they were of high scientific quality, did not duplicate published or currently funded work and represented good value for money.
After review, 10 of 39 campylobacter proposals and 13 of 49 VTEC proposals were approved for funding.
Since 1991, the Department of Health has rejected six E. coli and seven campylobacter research and surveillance applications which were submitted to the microbiological food safety research and surveillance programme outside the open competitions.
It would breach the applicants' confidentiality to list those applications which have been rejected.