Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she plans to increase funding for research on low‑grade gliomas and other rare brain tumours.

The Department invests over £1.6 billion per year in research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).

The NIHR is continuing to invest in brain tumour research. For example, in December 2025, the NIHR announced the pioneering Brain Tumour Research Consortium to accelerate research into new brain tumour treatments. NIHR is investing an initial £13.7 million in the consortium with significant further funding due to be awarded early in 2026. The world-leading consortium aims to transform outcomes for adults and children and their families who are living with brain tumours, ultimately reducing lives lost to cancer.

Brain tumours are one of the toughest cancers to treat. This new NIHR investment will help researchers and clinicians understand the disease better, test new treatments earlier and make trials available to more adults and children closer to home.

The consortium brings together 48 organisations from across leading universities, National Health Service trusts, and charities, along with patients, to help deliver better research, faster. It is a coordinated national effort to improve the development and evaluation of treatments for brain tumours across adult and paediatric populations.

The NIHR continues to welcome high quality funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including low-grade glioma and other rare brain tumours.