HC Deb 12 January 2004 vol 416 cc619-20W
Mr. Burstow

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will set out for each year since 1996 the amount(a) budgeted for and (b) spent on research and development; what proportion of the departmental, including NHS, budget this represents; how much of the research and development budget has been (i) allocated and (ii) spent on public health; and what proportion of the research and development budget this represents. [145082]

Miss Melanie Johnson

The amounts initially allocated for each of the past six years and spent in each year from the combined budgets for the departmental policy research programme (PRP) and for national health service research and development are shown in the table.

£million
Initial allocation Expenditure
1997–98 450 452
1998–99 453 446
1999–2000 464 466
2000–01 480 483
2001–02 510 510
2002–03 540 547

Note:

Policy research programme and NHS R&D combined budgets.

Research is also carried out by some of the Department's arm's length bodies. Total Departmental expenditure on research and development, and what proportion of the Department's total net expenditure this represents, is shown in the following table.

Total R&D spend (£ million) R&D as proportion of total net Departmental spend(Percentage)
1997–98 486 1.38
1998–99 481 1.05
1999–2000 501 1.02
2000–01 510 1.01
2001–02 538 0.80
2002–03 574 0.86

Expenditure before 1998–99 is on a cash basis. Spend figures from 1999–2000 are on a resource budgeting basis, and total net spend for these years includes NHS pensions. Figures are not therefore directly comparable across the period.

No amount is allocated separately for research and development relating to public health. Research in this field is funded from the PRP and NHS research and development budgets and comprises most of the research carried out by the Department's arm's length bodies, including the Health Protection Agency. Management of much of the research on public health supported by NHS research and development funding is devolved and expenditure at project level is not held centrally by the Department. Details of on-going and recently completed research projects funded by, or of interest to, the NHS are available on the national research register at www.doh.gov.uk/research/nrr.htm.