Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of clinical commissioning group budgets is allocated to prostate cancer research, awareness and prevention in 2014-15.

National Health Service funding has risen in each year of this parliament and is £12.7 billion higher in cash terms in 2014-15 than in 2010-11. Health funding will again grow in real terms in 2015-16, which means an additional £2.1 billion.

NHS England has responsibility for clinical commissioning group (CCG) allocations and, as a result of Government protecting the overall health budget for NHS England, NHS England has in turn ensured that all CCGs are receiving a funding increase at least matching inflation, as predicted at the time of the announcement, in 2014-15 and 2015-16.

The funding that CCGs receive is not ring fenced and as such it is up to CCGs at a local level to decide how to allocate their funding in regards to awareness and prevention.

The Government’s Mandate to NHS England requires it to ensure that the new commissioning system promotes and supports participation by NHS organisations and NHS patients in research funded by both commercial and non-commercial organisations. This includes ensuring payment of treatment costs for NHS patients taking part in research funded by Government and Research Charity partner organisations. The main Government funders of health research are the National Institute for Health Research and the Medical Research Council.