§ Mr. Vaughan-Morganasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether he will make a statement about the future development of clinical research, and the part which the Medical Research Council is to play in this development.
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterYes. For some time a Joint Committee representing the138W Standing Medical Advisory Committee of the Central Health Services Council and the Medical Research Council, who have worked in close consultation with the Advisory Committee on Medical Research in Scotland, have been studying the best ways and means of coordinating and developing clinical research work—that is to say, research directly concerned with sick persons. Their Report is being published today and I have arranged for copies to be placed in the Library.
The recommendations provide both for centralised and decentralised research. The former will be directed through a Clinical Research Board covering the whole country, to be appointed by the Medical Research Council, the latter through the hospital boards.
These proposals have been welcomed and accepted, subject to detailed consideration of their practical application, by the responsible Ministers, namely, the Lord President of the Council, the Secretary of State for Scotland and the Minister of Health, as well as by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer. All concerned are agreed that the time is ripe for reorganisation and development in this field.
No additional burden on public funds will be involved this year, but my right hon. Friend is ready to agree in principle to reasonable additional financial provision from the Exchequer, on the lines suggested in the Report, as the work develops.
As regards Scotland, the Advisory Committee on Medical Research in Scotland will continue to advise on the allocation of National Health Service funds for decentralised research projects, and will also advise on the allocation of funds by the Hospital Endowments Research Trust to be constituted under current legislation.