HC Deb 05 February 1990 vol 166 cc481-2W
Mr. Pawsey

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his reply to the hon. Member for Rugby and Kenilworth of 22 January,Official Report, column 555, if an application has been received for funds from his Department from the Environmental Medicine Foundation.

Mr. Freeman

No application has been received in the Department of Health.

Mr. Pawsey

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what are the criteria used by his Department for making funds available to organisations such as the Environmental Medicine Foundation.

Mr. Freeman

The Medical Research Council (MRC) is the main agency through which the Government support biomedical and clinical research in the United Kingdom. The Department of Health funds health and personal social services research which meets departmental objectives in public health. The criteria employed are the relevance and scientific promise of the work proposed. The then Minister for Health, the late Lord Trafford, wrote to the chairman of the foundation last year, advising it of the role of the MRC in funding medical research, and of the availability of facilities in the United Kingdom for analysing low concentrations of chemicals in human tissue.