§ Mr. Nigel JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the funding allocated for research into psoriasis for each of the last five years for which figures are available, and if he will make a statement. [15269]
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§ Mr. HoramThe main agency through which the Government support biomedical and clinical research is the Medical Research Council which receives its grant in aid from the Department of Trade and Industry. In 1995–96, the MRC gave a project grant of £30,000 to Glasgow university for its "Molecular Genetic Analysis of Familial Psoriasis" project.
The MRC is an independent body deciding what research to support on its own expert judgment. The council is always willing to consider soundly based scientific proposals in competition with other applications.
The national health service research and development health technology assessment programme has recently issued a call for proposals for a systematic review of different treatments for severe psoriasis.
§ Mr. JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list by health authority area the number of patients treated for skin ailments in each of the last five years for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [15334]
§ Mr. HoramThe Department of Health does not collect figures on the numbers of patients treated for a condition or range of conditions. Figures are collected on the number of finished consultant episodes by specific medical condition. These are available from the annual hospital episode statistics published by the Department of Health, copies of which are available in the Library.