Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, with reference to the APPG on Brain Tumours report Pathway to a Cure, published in February, what consideration they have given to developing or extending National Institute for Health and Care Research fellowships specifically to support brain tumour researchers.

The Department is taking actions to help develop or extend fellowships to support brain tumour researchers. For example, in July 2023, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) jointly funded with the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission (TJBCM), the first two TJBCM Neuro-Oncology Fellowships, a new Fellowship Programme to support high quality training in neuro-oncology clinical practice and research to ensure clinicians are equipped with the relevant research skills needed to lead neuro-oncology trials that change practice.

Other capacity-building initiatives underway include, the designation of 28 TJBCM adult Centres of Excellence within the National Health Service, creating a world-class network of brain tumour treatment and research centres to provide the best care and share best practice; the Tessa Jowell Academy Programme, a free national learning and networking digital platform for National Health Service brain tumour professionals to share excellence in research, treatment and care, and the TJBCM Brain Tumour Research Novel Therapeutics Accelerator programme, to review and provide guidance on the translation and development of novel treatments, guided by a multidisciplinary international group of experts.