§ Mr. Nigel JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what research commissioned by his Department has been carried out into attention deficit disorder syndrome in the last three years. [64910]
§ Ms JowellWe fund health and medical research in a number of ways:
The Department funds research and development to support its work on policy development and evaluation in health and social care. The Department also manages the National Health Service research and development levy which is used to support research and development of relevance to the National Health Service in hospitals, general practice and other health care settings, and to fund the NHS research and development programme. In addition, the Medical Research Council—which receives most of its income via grant-in-aid from the Office of Science and Technology in the Department of Trade and Industry—funds medical research as part of the Government's funding of the science and engineering base.
Details of projects directly funded by the Department or supported through the NHS research and development levy can be found on the National Research Register (NRR). This is available in most medical libraries and in the Library on CD Rom, and on the Internet: http://www.doh.gov.uk/nrr.htm. The NRR also contains many details of projects/trials funded by the MRC and other funders.
NHS Executive, South Thames have commissioned a project "Pathways to treatment in children at risk of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and hyperkinetic disorder" at Kings College Hospital.
The MRC supports a number of studies into the causes and treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Current support is centred on cognitive and behavioural strategies carried out at the MRC Child Psychiatry Unit in London. There have also been some recent MRC funded genetics studies carried out at the Institute of Psychiatry and the University of Manchester.
The NRR indicates that other NHS trusts are undertaking research in the field.
Priorities for Departmental research and development support for the development of policy are determined through discussion with policy colleagues, the Departmental Research Committee and Ministers. In the NHS research and development programme, priorities 251W take account of widespread consultation with those using, delivering and managing services, with a framework overseen by the Central Research and Development Committee for the NHS. In all cases, priorities for our budgets reflect analysis of the burden of disease, potential benefits, Government priorities and take account of the responsibilities and work of other funders.
Regional offices of the NHS Executive run response mode funding schemes to which applications of relevance to the NHS can be made. The MRC also always welcomes high quality applications for support into any aspect of human health and these are judged in open competition with other demands on funding. Awards are made by both the NHS and the MRC according to the scientific quality and importance of proposals.