HC Deb 23 October 2003 vol 411 c730W
Mrs. Anne Campbell

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on implementation of the promise made by his Department to match charitable spending on cancer research pound for pound in 2003. [133190]

Miss Melanie Johnson

In the NHS Cancer Plan, the government stated its commitment to increasing funds for cancer research so as to play a full part alongside its funding partners. We said that, by 2003, we would be investing an additional £20 million each year in the infrastructure for cancer research and an extra £4 million on prostate cancer research. This new funding would mean that, for the first time, Government (through the Department, the Higher Education Funding Council and the Research Councils) would match the current investment of the voluntary sector.

In June 2002, we confirmed to the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee that Government investment in cancer research had already reached the level of the charities. Nevertheless, we remain committed to investing the extra £24 million, as described in the Cancer Plan.

Paul Holmes

To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much money will be spent in 2003–04 on research into(a) cures and (b)early diagnosis of (i) mesothelioma, (ii) breast cancer, (iii) other lung cancers, (iv) prostate cancer and (v) skin cancer; and if he will make a statement. [133496]

Miss Melanie Johnson

Over 75 per cent. of the Departments total expenditure on research, including that on cancer, is devolved to national health service providers and details of these figures are not collected centrally.

The International Cancer Research Portfolio database at www.cancerportfolio.org contains details of projects supported by cancer research funding organisations in the United Kingdom and the United States. Data submitted by the National Cancer Research Institute includes the research portfolios of the 15 largest Government and charitable funders of cancer research in the UK where the research was active on 1 January 2003. The database can be searched by type of cancer, area of research, and funding organisation. It does not contain details of research funded through allocations to NHS providers.