§ Mr. Gordon PrenticeTo ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the oral statement of the Under-Secretary of State, the hon. Member for Chelmsford (Mr. Burns), of 10 February,Official Report, column 119, on Department of Health and Medical Research Council funding of multiple sclerosis over the last six years, if he will reconcile that statement with the answer to the hon. Member for
"Cold related conditions" in December and January—main diagnosis. Estimated number of Finished Consultant Episodes (FCEs), ordinary admissions and day cases combined, NHS hospitals, England Pneumonia Influenza Bronchitis Hypothermia Total1 December 1989 13,469 2,327 2,147 216 18,159 January 1990 7,684 413 1,370 136 9,603 December 1990 8,418 150 1,183 239 9,989 January 1991 7,778 213 1,162 262 9,415 December 1991 9,404 188 1,302 205 11,098 January 1992 8,759 337 1,108 171 10,375 December 1992 7,425 80 1,021 239 8,766 January 1993 7,973 88 1,110 151 9,322 December 1993 10,023 401 1,301 202 11,927 January 1994 8,018 108 1,115 159 9,399 December 1994 9,197 83 1,270 195 10,745 January 1995 8,842 140 1,237 218 10,437 Source:
Hospital Episode Statistics (HES):
ICD9 code 480–486 (Pneumonia); 487 (Influenza); 490–491 (Bronchitis); 991.6 (Hypothermia).
1 Some totals do not add up because of rounding.
440WPendle of 10 December 1996, Official Report, column 151, setting out Department of Health and MRC funding on MS. [15897]
§ Mr. Burns[holding answer 14 February 1997]: I regret that, due to a clerical error, the figure quoted in the oral statement on 10 February 1997 at column 119 should have been just over £1 million and not the figure of £2 million used.
The hon. Member may be interested to know that the Medical Research Council also spent £6,280,000 in 1995–96 on research under the broader headings of autoimmune disorders and diseases of the central nervous system and is providing £4.9 million in core and capital building funding, and £1,840,000 for on-going research, for the MRC interdisciplinary centre in brain repair, Cambridge which carries out work on neurodegenerative diseases in a multidisciplinary environment.