Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much his Department has spent on research into Patau and Edwards Syndrome in each of the last five years.

The Department's National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) has not directly funded any specific research on Patau’s or Edwards’ syndromes during the last five years. The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including Patau’s and Edwards’ syndromes. 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 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.

The Research Councils support investigator-led research in response to proposals from the academic community and do not normally allocate funds to particular topics. The Medical Research Council (MRC) welcomes high quality applications for support into any aspect of human health. Proposals are subject to peer review and judged in open competition with other demands on funding. MRC awards are made according to their scientific quality and importance to human health and therefore information on future funding that may be awarded for this area is not available.