Asked by: Charles Walker (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the level of NHS funding for brain tumour research compared to research into other cancers; and if she will provide the quantum of NHS research funding into brain tumours for each of the last five financial years.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department invests over £1 billion per year into health research, through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), whose research spending for all cancers was £121.8 million in 2022/23. Funding for the delivery of brain cancer studies in the National Health Service cannot be disaggregated from other studies, but to indicate scale, in 2022/23 the NIHR Clinical Research Network supported 61 brain cancer studies and recruited 4,317 participants to these studies.
Over the past five financial years, the NIHR has spent over £11.3 million in funding for brain cancer research. The following table shows the amount of funding awarded for brain cancer research, from 2018/19 to 2022/23:
Financial Year | Funding amount |
2018/19 | £2.9 million |
2019/20 | £150,000 |
2020/21 | £2.2 million |
2021/22 | £5.3 million |
2022/23 | £750,000 |
Total | £11.3 million |
Note: the amount of funding awarded will differ to actual spend in a given year, as total spending will include that of multi-year awards made in previous years.
The NIHR funds research in response to proposals received from scientists, rather than allocating funding to specific disease areas. It is not usual practice to ring-fence funds for particular topics or conditions. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality.
To increase the quality, diversity, and number of brain cancer research proposals, the NIHR is working with the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission and the research community, to develop research capacity in the brain cancer community.
Asked by: Charles Walker (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will hold discussions with insurers on encouraging car owners to fit car security systems to (a) deter theft and (b) reduce their insurance premiums.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
New cars and light commercial vehicles require systems to prevent unauthorised use, immobilisers and a vehicle alarm system to enable them to be registered.
Department for Transport officials regularly liaise with representatives of the motor insurance industry on a variety of issues such as the cost of insurance. However individual insurers are responsible for setting the terms and conditions of the policies that they offer. The Government does not intervene or seek to control the market.