Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding was allocated from the public purse to dementia research in 2016-17.

The Department funds research on health and social care through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). NIHR does not usually ring-fence funds for specific disease areas such as dementia. NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health including dementia. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality. In all disease areas, the amount of NIHR funding depends on the volume and quality of scientific activity. NIHR funding for dementia research grew to £44.6 million in 2016/17, up from £37 million in 2015/16. This is a major contribution to meeting the commitment under the Government’s 2020 Dementia Challenge, to maintain funding at £60 million a year. The other main public funders of dementia research are the Medical Research Council, which in 2016/17 spent £36 million, and the Economic and Social Research Council, which spent £2.5 million, to bring total Government spending on dementia research to £83.1 million.