Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to help ensure that brain tumour patients have access to whole genome sequencing; and what estimate she has made of the proportion of patients who are diagnosed each year having the whole genome of their tumours sequenced.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Genomic testing for patients with a suspected brain tumour, including glioblastoma, is included in the National Genomic Test Directory. This testing can be delivered using a range of technologies, including whole genome sequencing (WGS) or Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) technology (large cancer gene panels) to ensure that a patient receives the most appropriate genomic testing depending on their individual circumstances. Anyone who meets the eligibility criteria outlined in the National Genomic Test Directory will be able to access this genomic testing offer.
Patients with a suspected brain tumour, including glioblastoma, receive standard of care testing via an NGS cancer panel for this clinical indication. In total, between April 2021 and September 2023, over 179,500 NGS panel tests have been performed, for all cancer clinical indications.
Since the WGS service was launched for paediatric patients in November 2020 and adult patients in April 2022, in addition to standard of care testing, as of 1 December 2023, 533 patients have received WGS because of a suspected brain tumour.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she plans to provide further funding to support National Institute for Health Research into brain tumour research.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department invests in health research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR invests in research, clinical expertise, specialist facilities, workforce, and support services across a range of clinical areas. NIHR expenditure on cancer research was £101.2 million in 2021/22.
The Government is committed to funding high-quality brain tumour research. The May 2018 Government announcement of £40 million for brain tumour research as part of the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission remains available and if we can spend more on the best quality science we will do.
We welcome high-quality applications for brain tumour research funding. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition. The NIHR continues to follow its normal high-quality processes in making funding recommendations to the Department. It is worth noting that all applications that were fundable in open competition have been funded.
Asked by: Dominic Raab (Conservative - Esher and Walton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Answer of 4 September 2023 to Question 195426 on Brain: Tumours, how much and what proportion of the National Institute for Health and Care Research's allocated spend was spent on research infrastructure in each year since 2018.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR)’s infrastructure investment funds the world-class facilities, expertise, and skilled delivery workforce for research across the National Health Service and wider health and care system in England from early translational clinical research through to applied health and care research.
It is difficult to attribute this funding to specific disease and therapy areas as the staff and facilities funded through the NIHR infrastructure support research across disciplines. For example, the NIHR Clinical Research Network supported almost one million participants to take part in health and care research in England in 2022/23 across 5,000 studies and 30 specialties, and the 20 NIHR Biomedical Research Centres supported 8,700 experimental medicine studies in 2021/22.
Whilst audited data for NIHR expenditure for 2022/23 is not yet available, the following table shows the NIHR spend on research infrastructure each financial year between 2018/19 and 2021/22 as well the proportion of spend on research infrastructure compared to overall NIHR spend:
| 2017/18 | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | |
| Infrastructure spend | £521,892 | £545,974 | £548,613 | £541,361 | £615,077 |
| Total allocated spend | £1,012,711 | £1,012,920 | £1,036,723 | £1,116,137 | £1,259,436 |
| Infrastructure spend as proportion of total allocated spend | 52% | 54% | 53% | 49% | 49% |
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
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.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
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.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, with reference to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Brain Tumours Inquiry Report Pathway to A Cure, published in February 2023, what steps the Department for Health and Social Care is taking to support early-stage researchers to develop their skills in the field of brain tumour research.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is working closely with the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission (TJBCM) in hosting customised workshops for researchers, and training for clinicians. These actions will grow capacity for brain cancer research, attracting new researchers, developing the community, and supporting researchers to submit high-quality research funding proposals.
The TJBCM recently announced two appointments to the inaugural Tessa Jowell Fellowship programme. These 12-month fellowships will 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.
Additionally, the TJBCM have designated 28 adult Tessa Jowell Centres of Excellence within the National Health Service, which has created a world-class network of brain tumour treatment and research centres to provide the best care and share best practice.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the APPG on Brain Tumours' Inquiry Report entitled Pathway to a Cure, whether her Department is taking steps to attract researchers from other research fields into the field of brain tumour research.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care welcomes the APPG report, recommendations of which continue to be worked through with the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology, and UK Research and Innovation and the Medical Research Council (MRC), and with the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).
The Department is taking actions to help grow capacity for brain cancer research by attracting new researchers from other research fields and developing the community. The Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission (TJBCM) recently announced two appointments to the inaugural Tessa Jowell Fellowship programme. These 12-month fellowships will 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. Additionally, the TJBCM have designated 28 adult Tessa Jowell Centres of Excellence within the National Health Service, which has created a world-class network of brain tumour treatment and research centres to provide the best care and share best practice.
In May 2018 the Government announced £40 million for brain tumour research as part of the TJBCM through the NIHR. The £40 million funding will remain available; if we can spend more on the best quality science, we will do.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the APPG on Brain Tumours' Inquiry Report entitled Pathway to a Cure, whether she is taking steps to ensure that the relevant tissue collection infrastructure is in place to conduct high quality brain tumour research.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care welcomes the APPG report, recommendations of which continue to be worked through with the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology, and UK Research and Innovation and the Medical Research Council (MRC), and with the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).
The Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission reports that over 70% of UK neuro-oncology centres now have biobanking infrastructure in place to collect samples and tissue for research, and that these centres are collaborating to improve tissue collection opportunities via the Tessa Jowell Academy.
Asked by: Jane Hunt (Conservative - Loughborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of implementing the recommendations of the APPG on Brain Tumours report entitled Pathway to A Cure – breaking down the barriers, published on 28 February 2023; whether his Department is taking steps to support brain tumour research applications to the National Institute for Health and Care Research; and whether his Department has plans to ring-fence funding for (a) discovery, (b) translational and (c) clinical research into brain tumours.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department welcomes the All-Party Parliamentary Group report. We are taking steps to ensure that funders work closely together to coordinate work along the translational pathway, from the discovery and early translational science typically supported by the MRC, feeding through to the applied health and care research funded by the NIHR.
It is not usual practice to ring-fence funds for particular topics or conditions. As with other Government funders of health research, the NIHR does not allocate funding for specific disease areas. The level of research spend in a particular area is driven by factors including scientific potential and the number and scale of successful funding applications.
NIHR is taking action to help researchers develop high-quality proposals, including working with the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission on workshops and courses for applications in development. Similarly, the NIHR Research Support Service will support researchers applying for funding with expert advice, to help them develop the best funding applications.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the APPG on Brain Tumours Inquiry Report entitled Pathway to A Cure, whether his Department plans to work with the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency to encourage the inclusion of brain tumour patients in early phase cancer trials.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care welcomes the All-Party Parliamentary Group report, recommendations of which continue to be worked through with the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology, and UK Research and Innovation and the Medical Research Council.
A series of new measures are to be introduced by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency with support from partners to make it faster and easier to gain approval and to run clinical trials in the United Kingdom. As part of this, comprehensive new guidance, co-designed with various stakeholder groups, will be introduced to accompany the new legislative measures. This will ensure that UK clinical trials work in partnership with patients and the public and are representative of the diversity of people who may benefit from a medicine if the data generated ultimately lead to regulatory approval. The guidance will outline how to include patients meaningfully into the design and conduct of trials, and how to achieve diversity in trials in a way that is proportionate and achieves the best results.
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of (a) accepting the recommendations of the report by the APPG on Brain Tumours entitled Pathway to A Cure, published on 28 February 2023, and (b) providing additional funding for multidisciplinary research into brain tumours.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care welcomes the All-Party Parliamentary Group report, recommendations of which continue to be worked through with the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology, and UK Research and Innovation and the Medical Research Council (MRC), and with the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).
The Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission (TJBCM) recently announced two appointments to the inaugural Tessa Jowell Fellowship programme. These 12-month fellowships will 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. Additionally, the TJBCM have designated 28 adult Tessa Jowell Centres of Excellence within the National Health Service, which has created a world-class network of brain tumour treatment and research centres to provide the best care and share best practice. These actions will help grow capacity for brain cancer research, attracting new researchers from multiple relevant disciplines and developing the community.
In May 2018, the Government announced £40 million for brain tumour research as part of the TJBCM through the NIHR. The £40 million funding will remain available; if we can spend more on the best quality science, we will do.