§ Mrs. Ray MichieTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what funding is available for breast cancer research; if she will give details of funding for each year since 1979; and if she will make a statement.
§ Mr. SackvilleThe Government are committed to encouraging research into breast cancer. Within the Department's centrally commissioned research programme, £700,000 is expected to be spent on research specifically into breast cancer in 1993–94. Figures for cancer research funded by the Department broken down specifically for breast cancer are only available from the financial year 1990–91 onwards. These are:
£000s 1990–91 417 1991–92 477 1992–93 5311 The main agency through which the Government support biomedical and clinical research is the Medical Research Council (MRC), which receives its grant-in-aid from the office of my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. We understand that MRC expenditure into breast cancer research was £2.7 million in 1990–91 and £1.6 million in 1991–92, the latest years for which figures are available.