§ Mr. Gordon PrenticeTo ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how much the Medical Research Council spent on research into multiple sclerosis in(a) 1993–94 and (b) the current year.
Mr. Robert G. HughesThe Medical Research Council is the main agency through which the Government support medical and related biological research. It receives its grant in aid from my Department. The MRC is an independent body deciding what research to support in the light of its own judgment of priorities and the quality of research application it receives. The council is always willing to consider soundly based scientific proposals in competition with other applications for research funding.
The MRC supports a wide range of neurological research relevant to multiple sclerosis—in particular, studies of the neuromuscular system. The 1993–94 funding in this area was a total of £19 million.
The council's specific expenditure on multiple sclerosis in the financial year 1993–94, the latest year for which figures are available, was £137,000. It is not yet possible to provide figures for the current financial year. In addition, the MRC's initiative on the neuroscience approach to human health will help to promote several approaches which may he relevant to the disease.
Besides MRC-funded work, there is also research being undertaken in various universities and NHS hospitals with 424W public funding. However, information is not collected centrally on other Government-funded research on multiple sclerosis.