§ Gregory BarkerTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how much money his Department has spent on research into(a) breast cancer, (b) lung cancer, (c) prostate cancer and (d) leukaemia for each year since 1997. [75792]
§ Ms BlearsIt is not possible to give meaningful estimates of these figures, for two reasons. First, it is difficult to distinguish expenditure on research that is relevant to one particular turnour site from research on other or all cancers. Second, over 75 per cent. of the 735W Department's total expenditure on research, including that on cancer, are devolved to national health service and details of these figures are not collected centrally.
We are tackling both of these difficulties. The National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) is developing a database of research funded by NCRI members. Research projects are being classified according to the "Common Scientific Outline" system drawn up by the National Cancer Institute in the United States of America. This will enable all NCRI members to use the same system for distinguishing expenditure on research that is relevant to one particular turnour site from research on other or all cancers.
The modernisation of the NHS research and development funding system should enable a significant proportion of funds that are currently devolved to the NHS to be entered on to the NCRI database and analysed in a similar way.