asked Her Majesty's Government:

What support they are giving to the Wolfson Molecular Imaging Centre in Manchester; and whether they have any plans to increase their support.

Major equipment for the centre is being provided via the Government's North West Science Initiative and will be funded jointly by the Medical Research Council (MRC) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). The North West Science Initiative funding will provide cyclotron and radiochemistry facilities to support PET (positron emission tomography) imaging, an animal PET scanner for tracer development, a high field (3T) MR scanner for functional imaging, support for developing novel PET detectors and exploring the clinical potential of monochromatic X-ray imaging, and support for building and testing two new medical imaging systems. The applicants Professor David Gordon (Manchester) and Dr Christopher Hall (Daresbury Laboratory) refer to this investment forming an institute for functional and molecular imaging (IFMI). Co-applicants include Professors Pat Price and Terry Jones, and also researchers from Liverpool and Salford. Total investment is £5.7 million split equally between MRC and EPSRC. The applicants are also involved in an MRC e-science award of a little over £1 million and a MRC co-operative.

There is no direct NHS involvement in the funding of the Wolfson Centre. However, the centre has received funding from National Translational Cancer Research Network (NTRAC) Manchester to appoint three core posts, radiochemist, radiographer and a data analyst/modeller. Further funding from NTRAC Manchester will be decided at local level. In 2002 the Department of Health announced that NTRAC nationally will receive £11.16 million over 5 years.