Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding has been allocated to early-stage and discovery brain cancer research in the last five years; and what assessment he has made of the adequacy of that funding for building a pipeline of new treatments.

Government responsibility for delivering cancer research is shared between the Department for Health and Social Care, with research delivered by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, with research delivered via UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

The Medical Research Council (MRC), part of UKRI, primarily supports the discovery science and fundamental biological research. NIHR’s research is complementary to the MRC's focus, supporting the translation of discovery science into patient benefit through a range of mechanisms, including direct funding through our research programmes and through funding to underpin and enable research to take place.

UKRI plays a significant role in supporting interdisciplinary cancer research to bring new discoveries closer to patient benefit and commercialisation. UKRI invests in cancer research to understand the underpinning biology of cancer to inform prevention, diagnosis and treatment options, and to support academic and industry-led innovation in new cancer therapeutic discovery, medicines manufacturing, and precision medicine.

More than half of UKRI’s active projects in this area focus on developing and testing more effective treatments for brain tumours, including reducing side effects.

We are committed to furthering our investment in brain cancer research and have already taken steps to stimulate scientific progress and build scientific capacity to do research on brain cancer.

In the five years between 2020/21 and 2024/25, the NIHR has directly invested £10.4 million into research projects and programmes focussed on brain tumours. The NIHR’s wider investments in research infrastructure, including facilities, services, and the research workforce, further allowed leverage of research funding from other donors and organisations. These NIHR investments in infrastructure are estimated to be £32.9 million over the same period.

Over six years, from the financial year 2018/19 to 2023/24, UKRI committed £46.8 million to brain tumour research. In addition, in January 2026 the NIHR announced increased investment of over £25 million in the NIHR Brain Tumour Research Consortium. 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.

We’re also strengthening our partnership with Cancer Research UK, including approximately £3 million to co-fund Brain Tumour Centres of Excellence. This investment will accelerate the move from foundational research to delivering innovative treatments for patients.

The NIHR continues to welcome high quality applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including brain cancer. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to the public and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality.