§ Mr. BarkerTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what funding has been made available by his Department for research into Alzheimer's disease for each year since 1997; how many people were diagnosed as suffering from Alzheimer's for each of those years; and if he will make a statement. [37906]
§ Jacqui SmithThe main Government agency for research into the causes of and treatment for diseases is the Medical Research Council (MRC), which receives its funding via the Department of Trade and Industry.
The Department of Health (DH) is supporting research into Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia, but does not separately identify expenditure for Alzheimer's disease only. Management of much of the research supported by the NHS is devolved and expenditure at project level is not held centrally by the Department.
The available figures for DH and MRC expenditure on research on dementia are as follows:
£000s DH MRC* 1996–97 149 4,780 1997–98 198 5,549 1998–99 287 6,050 1999–2000 245 7,200 2000–01 220 8,200 * These figures include Alzheimer's disease, general dementia, AIDS related dementia, Pick's disease and Huntington's disease. The Department of Health does not routinely collect data on the numbers of people diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.