Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of leaving the European Research Area on access to EU framework programme funding for UK-based cancer research projects.

European Union Framework Programme funding for United Kingdom-based projects, including those on cancer research, will not necessarily be linked to the UK’s involvement in the European Research Area.

If we leave with the Withdrawal Agreement, UK participants will still be eligible for funding from Horizon 2020, including for cancer research projects. As a responsible Government, we are continuing to prepare for a ‘no deal’ scenario. In a ‘no deal’ scenario, the Government has committed to fund all successful UK bids to Horizon 2020 submitted before the end of 2020 and for the lifetime of projects. This guarantee will enable UK researchers and businesses to continue to access funding required to participate in Horizon 2020 and will support ongoing world-leading collaboration, including in cancer research.

Looking beyond Horizon 2020, in any scenario we want to continue to back the UK research and innovation community by supporting the provision of opportunities for world-class collaborative research. We are continuing to seek a relationship with the European Union on science and innovation including the option of future association to excellence-based EU research and innovation funding programmes.

National Institute for Health Research cancer research expenditure has risen from £101 million in 2010/11 to £136 million in 2017/18. This constitutes the largest investment in a disease area. A large proportion of this funding comprises support for the delivery of Cancer Research UK-funded research in the National Health Service.