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Written question asked by Lord Freyberg (Crossbench) on Tuesday, 16 July 2019, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 30 July 2019. It was answered by Lord Henley (Conservative) on Tuesday, 23 July 2019 on behalf of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

Medicine: Research

Question

To ask Her Majesty's Government what proportion of the current public spending on research and development they intend to spend on health in (1) 2019, and (2) each of the next five years.

Answer

We are increasing spending on R&D by £7 billion over 5 years by 2021-22. This will be the largest increase ever. The government has acknowledged the importance of investment in medical and health R&D to the continued health of the UK and to the continued excellence of our healthcare system. The government’s commitment to this is laid out in the Industrial Strategy and the life science sector deal.

The Government funds health related R&D primarily through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). Within UKRI the main funder of health related research is the Medical Research Council (MRC). However, all of UKRI’s councils fund projects that are connected to health e.g. Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) which has strategic investments in both human and animal health (including long term institute programmes at the Babraham Institute, the Quadram Institute and The Pirbright Institute). Innovate UK also supports business led innovation in healthcare and is involved in wider cross cutting UKRI programmes such as the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund which has several challenges related to healthcare including the £210 million ‘Data to Early Diagnosis’ Challenge.

UKRI funding decisions are based on the quality of applications, balancing this against wider opportunities and allowing for investigator-led proposals to inform priorities. As such, a total number for spending on health R&D is not available for 2019.

NIHR and MRC have budgets for 2019 of £1,078 million and £745 million respectively.

Allocations for 2020 onwards are subject to the Spending Review.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
HL17207
Session
2017-19
Subjects
Finance Medicine Research
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk