Department for Science, Innovation and Technology written question – answered at on 10 January 2024.
Mary Glindon
Opposition Whip (Commons)
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to support the cancer research sector.
Michelle Donelan
The Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
The government is one hundred percent committed to tackling cancer. This is why we made cancer one of our eight healthcare missions, bringing together government, research funders, industry, NHS, and charities to tackle this critical challenge. Working together, the cancer mission will drive earlier diagnosis and improved therapies for UK cancer patients.
We also fund cutting-edge cancer research. The National Institute for Health and Care Research supports clinical research into all aspects of the disease, while UKRI spend on cancer research is in the region of £200M annually.
As well as academic research, we work with industry to bring the latest treatments to UK patients. Our strategic collaboration agreement with BioNTech aims to provide up to 10,000 UK patients with cutting-edge cancer immunotherapies by 2030. Through this partnership we have ensured UK patients are among the first to access clinical trials for ground-breaking cancer vaccines, with multiple trials already underway across the country.
Through my recent visits to Astra Zeneca and Bicycle Therapeutics in Cambridge, I have heard first-hand about some of the latest technologies for cancer diagnosis and treatment. As a government, we are committed to bringing cutting-edge innovations to our cancer patients.
Yes2 people think so
No5 people think not
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Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
The cabinet is the group of twenty or so (and no more than 22) senior government ministers who are responsible for running the departments of state and deciding government policy.
It is chaired by the prime minister.
The cabinet is bound by collective responsibility, which means that all its members must abide by and defend the decisions it takes, despite any private doubts that they might have.
Cabinet ministers are appointed by the prime minister and chosen from MPs or peers of the governing party.
However, during periods of national emergency, or when no single party gains a large enough majority to govern alone, coalition governments have been formed with cabinets containing members from more than one political party.
War cabinets have sometimes been formed with a much smaller membership than the full cabinet.
From time to time the prime minister will reorganise the cabinet in order to bring in new members, or to move existing members around. This reorganisation is known as a cabinet re-shuffle.
The cabinet normally meets once a week in the cabinet room at Downing Street.
