§ Mr. KeetchTo ask the Secretary of State for Health What funding there is in the current year for medical activities relating to(a) prostate, (b) breast and (c) testicular cancer; if he will break down each figure into (i) treatment, (ii) prevention, (iii) detection and (iv) research; and if he will make a statement. [112331]
§ Yvette Cooper[holding answer 1 March 2000]: The information on overall spending on cancer is not currently held centrally. Spending on cancer in-patient care is estimated to account for 6.3 per cent. (£1,479 million) of National Health Service hospital expenditure but there is no measure of the additional spending on cancer services not normally provided on an in-patient basis, for example cancer screening, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and community palliative care services. Breast screening for women aged 50–64 is estimated to cost around £37 million per annum. However, information is not available on the annual spend for cancer diagnosis, treatment and prevention for individual cancer tumour types.
Government funding for cancer research is provided through the Medical Research Council (MRC) which receives most of its income via grant-in-aid from the office of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry. The MRC funds medical research as part of the Government's funding of the science and engineering base and is the main agency through which the Government support research on the causes and treatment of disease. The Department also funds research to support policy development in health and social care and manages the NHS research and development budgets.
The Department also provides support for research commissioned by charities and the MRC that takes place in the NHS. Over £63 million per year of this funding supports cancer research, with £16 million going to the Royal Marsden Hospital alone.
Total Government expenditure on cancer research is estimated to be £110 million per annum. This does not include basic biomedical research, which may lead to breakthroughs for cancer treatment.
The latest figures available for annual Government (Department of Health/NHS, MRC and other Government Departments—principally devolved Health Departments) expenditure on breast cancer, prostate cancer and testicular cancer:
788W
£ million Breast 9.33 Prostate 1.55 Testicular 0.49 We have recently agreed an additional £1 million for prostate cancer research next year.
These figures underestimate the total expenditure, as detailed estimates of NHS support funding expenditure are not collected routinely.
New research projects are being funded regularly through both the MRC and DH/NHS directly commissioned programmes and priorities for research funding are kept under review.