Mr. Jim Callaghanasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he is satisfied with the present resources given to cancer research in the United Kingdom; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mrs. Shirley WilliamsI have been asked to reply.
As I indicated in my reply to the hon. Member for Cambridge (Mr. Rhodes James) on 22nd February—[Vol. 944, c. 667]—I am satisfied with the adequacy of the overall support for cancer research. Expenditure by the Medical 705W Research Council relevant to cancer research amounted to £9.6 million in 1976–77. The health departments commissioned research having a bearing on cancer in the same year amounting to about £1.3 million. Research is also undertaken by universities and medical schools but the total expenditure is not recorded centrally. A considerable amount of research in this field is also sponsored by voluntary bodies, of the five major areas of MRC research, cancer receives the largest allocation of funds.