§ Mr. McTaggartasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will publish in the Official Report the total amounts of funds his Department has allocated to medical research in each of the past five years.
§ Mr. Geoffrey FinsbergThe Department does not fund medical research unless it relates to the provision of health services in England and Wales. Biomedical research is supported by the Medical Research Council from the DES science budget. Questions about its funding are therefore a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education and Science. DHSS expenditure on research and development† in the past five years was:
351W
£M (cash) (outturn) 1978–79 13.3 1979–80 15.7 1980–81 17.7 1981–82 22.2 *1982–83 22.8
* Estimated. † The DHSS R and D budget covers research on health, personal social services and social security; bio-engineering; equipment, appliances and supplies for the NHS; building and engineering; and NHS computing. Details of the research funded by the Department are published in the annual "DHSS Handbook of R and D", copies of which are in the Library.