§ Mr. ÖpikTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what funding his Department has allocated for each of the last three financial years for(a) research into and (b) the treatment of autism; and if he will make a statement. [87010]
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§ Mr. HuttonThe Department has not directly commissioned national research on autism recently but a new research initiative on learning disabilities will be launched in the autumn which may attract proposals for research into autism.
The Department also manages the National Health Service research and development levy which is used to support research and development to the NHS in hospitals, general practice and other health care settings, and to fund the NHS research and development programme.
Management of much of the research supported by the NHS research and development levy is devolved and details of expenditure at project level are not collected routinely by the Department.
Project details of work directly funded by the Department or supported through the NHS research and development levy can be found on the National Research Register (NRR), copies of which are available in the Library. The NRR lists over 30 projects concerning autism for which the Department will be providing support funds.
In addition, the Medical Research Council (MRC)—which receives most of its income via grant-in-aid from the office of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry—funds medical research as part of the Government's funding of the science and engineering base.
The figures for the expenditure by the MRC on autism over the last 3 years are:
Year £000 1995–96 770 1996–97 825 1997–98 905 The MRC have also recently made 2 major awards to researchers in the field (spend for which will not yet be reflected in the figures). These are: Professor P. A. Jacobs (Universities of Cambridge and Southampton) £1,100,000 over five years; and Professor A. Bailey (Institute of Psychiatry)£1,800,000 over four years.
The Department does not specifically allocate resources for the treatment of autism. It is for health authorities to decide how best to use the resources that have been allocated to them.
§ Mr. ÖpikTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans his Department has to investigate the use of the drug Secretin for treating sufferers from autism; and if he will make a statement. [87009]
§ Mr. HuttonI understand that Secretin has been used by a number of professionals in the treatment of autism particularly in the United States. However, it is not licensed for use for that purpose either here or in the United States. We are keeping the developing situation in the United States under review.