§ Mr. RuaneTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what proposals he has to match fund charitable funding of(a) heart research and (b) medical research; [152617]
(2) what (a) his Department's and (b) charitable organisations' expenditure on heart research was in each of the last 10 years and what the projected expenditure is in each category over the next three years. [152626]
§ Yvette CooperGovernment funding for research on heart disease, as for other areas of medical research, is provided through a number of routes:
The research councils, who receive their funding from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)—the Medical Research Council (MRC) is the main Government agency for research into the causes of and treatments for disease; the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council also supports basic research relevant to health.
The Department of Health funds research to support policy and practice in health and social care.
Health Departments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland also provide support for research on health.
The Higher Education Funding Councils fund the research infrastructure in medical schools and other relevant research groups in higher education institutions. Funding for the Higher Education Funding Council for England is provided by the Department for Education and Employment.
The figures for the Department of Health's annual expenditure on heart research over the last ten years are not available in the form requested. In 1999–2000 the Department of Health spent approximately £49.6 million on research for cardiovascular disease and stroke. The MRC spent approximately £10.5 million on cardiovascular disease in the same year. It is not possible to predict what the future level of Department expenditure will be on specific areas of research as new research is regularly being commissioned.
Figures for annual expenditure by charities on heart disease research are not held centrally. According to their entry in the Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC) Handbook 2000, the British Heart Foundation, one of the largest charities involved in supporting heart disease research, anticipated research expenditure of £45 million in 1999–2000.
The Department of Health's research funding for cardiovascular disease includes support for the work of research councils and charities that takes place in the National Health Service. The Department is working more closely with relevant charities to improve the support for and co-ordination of research on heart disease. A cardiovascular research funders forum has been established, which aims to bring together the major funding
137Wbodies in this area to address research issues, ranging from basic and clinical research through to epidemiological studies related to prevention, screening, diagnosis and treatment, and to consider areas that would benefit from a co-ordinated approach. The forum will also help to improve information about on-going research, facilitate partnerships between funders and researchers, consider how to accelerate recruitment for clinical trials and how best to exploit the findings from research to develop new approaches to diagnosis and disease. The membership currently consists of the four United Kingdom Health Departments, the MRC and three charities: the Wellcome Trust, the British Heart Foundation and Diabetes UK. The work of the forum will inform the future pattern of Department of Health Research and Development expenditure on cardiovascular disease
Government expenditure on all medical and health related research is currently estimated at £1 billion per annum. The AMRC estimates that their member charities make a financial contribution to medical research of about £540 million a year. The Government seek to work closely with the medical charities to ensure the best use of all research resources for the benefit of patients.