Health written question – answered at on 18 November 2004.
Mr Kevin Hughes
Labour, Doncaster North
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department has spent on research into (a) Alzheimer's disease, (b) Parkinson's disease, (c) Huntingdon's disease, (d) multiple sclerosis and (e) motor neurone disease in the last three years.
Miss Melanie Johnson
Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department of Health
The main agency through which the Government supports medical and clinical research is the Medical Research Council (MRC). The MRC is an independent body funded by the Department of Trade and Industry via the Office of Science and Technology.
The Department funds research to support policy and to provide the evidence needed to underpin quality improvement and service development in the national health service. Spend by the Department's national research programmes in the three years to 2003–04 on projects related to the diseases listed was as follows:
| £ million | |
|---|---|
| 2001–02 | 1.4 |
| 2002–03 | 1.6 |
| 2003–04 | 2.3 |
Over 75 per cent., of the Department's total expenditure on health research is devolved to and managed by NHS organisations. From this funding, the NHS reported spending in support of research related to older people and on neurological conditions as follows:
| Older people | Neurological conditions | |
|---|---|---|
| 2001–02 | 37 | not available |
| 2002–03 | 34 | 28 |
| 2003–04 | 39 | 30 |
Details of individual projects can be found on the national research register at www.dh.gov.uk/research
Yes3 people think so
No3 people think not
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