§ Lord Kennetasked Her Majesty's Government:
What is the current level of funding, either by the taxpayer or by the pharmaceutical companies. of contraception research; how this compares with funding (in real terms) 15 years ago; and, in the light of the Minister for Overseas Development's recent remarks to the effect that "population planning is … desired by hundreds of millions of couples who cannot get it" (HC Deb., 14th Oct. col. 18) what improvement in provision is anticipated.
§ The Minister of State, Department of the Environment (Baroness Blatch)During the past 15 years the Overseas Development Administration has considerably increased its funding of contraception research for developing countries, through its support to the WHO's Human Reproduction Programme. In 1991 it contributed £2.55 million to this programme, more than any other donor agency, compared to £338,01)0 in 1976 (at 1991 prices). It will remain a substantial contributor.
86WAThe ODA has also substantially increased its support for developing country population programmes. Overall, the ODA's population spending amounted to some £24 million in 1990, which represents a 120 per cent. increase in real terms since 1981. It plans to do even more in future, under a population initiative announced last August by my right honourable friend the Minister for Overseas Development.
The main government agency for funding medical research in the UK is the Medical Research Council, which receives its grant-in-aid from the Department of Education and Science. In the last financial year (1990–91) the council spent £389,000 on major contraception research projects. In 1977–78 (the earliest financial year for which figures are available) the council spent £803,000 at 1990–91 prices on comparable research. However, in 1990–91 the council also spent £848,000 on minor projects—for which comparable earlier year figures are not available—and is funding several major initiatives in basic research which may produce results relevant to contraception. It is essentially for the council itself to decide the future level of its expenditure on contraception research. It is always ready to consider in competition with other applications soundly based research proposals in this field.
The health departments and authorities, universities and medical schools may be funding research on contraception in the UK. Information on this and on research expenditure by the pharmaceutical companies is not collected centrally.