§ Mr. Llew SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to(a) support research into ways of mitigating the effects of epilepsy and(b) meet representatives of groups representing epilepsy sufferers. [44110]
§ Ms JowellThe main agency through which we support bio-medical and clinical research is the Medical Research Council (MRC). The MRC is an independent body which receives its grant-in-aid from the Office of Science and Technology, which is part of the Department of Trade and Industry. The MRC funds a good deal of research into epilepsy, which amounted to some £600,000 in 1996/97. However, the MRC does not currently support any research specifically and exclusively into mitigating the effects of epilepsy.
The Department's policy research programme (PRP) and the central National Health Service research and development programmes are not currently supporting any research into epilepsy, due to pressure of other priorities. However, records are not held centrally of all research carried out in the NHS.
The Department is currently supporting several epilepsy organisations through its section 64 scheme of grants. Recently, it also contributed £10,000 to the costs of the annual conference of the British Epilepsy Organisation. We have met recently with one of the epilepsy organisations and officials from the Department are in regular contact with the main epilepsy organisations and the Joint Epilepsy Council, an umbrella organisation for epilepsy organisations.