Brain: Tumours

Government responsibility for delivering cancer research is shared between the Department for Health and Social Care, with research delivered by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, with research delivered via UK Research and Innovation.

The Department of Health and Social Care invests over £1.8 billion each year on research through the NIHR. Cancer is a major area of NIHR spending at £141.6 million in 2024/25, reflecting its high priority.

We are committed to furthering our investment in brain cancer research and have already taken steps to stimulate scientific progress and build scientific capacity to do research on brain cancer.

As announced in the National Cancer Plan, investment in the NIHR Brain Tumour Research Consortium, co-funding of the Cancer Research UK Brain Tumour Centres of Excellence, and other direct programmatic spend through NIHR funding streams totals a combined investment of £32.3 million since July 2024, and a total of £45.2 million since 2018, all of which is designed to accelerate brain cancer research. In addition, the NIHR’s wider investments in research infrastructure, including research centres, which run studies, facilities and services, and the research workforce, leverages research funding from other donors and organisations. These NIHR investments in infrastructure are estimated to be £44.5 million over the period 2018/19 to 2024/25, enabling 298 brain tumour research studies to take place.

Whilst no assessment has been made of the adequacy of funding for brain tumour research or the adequacy of information on opportunities to contribute to medical research for patients undergoing surgery for brain tumours, the Department is committed to ensuring that all patients, including those with brain tumours, have access to cutting-edge clinical trials and innovative, lifesaving treatments.

The NIHR funds research and research infrastructure which supports patients and the public to participate in high-quality research. The NIHR provides an online service called Be Part of Research which promotes participation in health and care research, by allowing users to search for relevant studies and register their interest. This makes it easier for people to find and take part in health and care research that is relevant to them.

It is not the usual process of the NIHR to ringfence funds for research into specific conditions, although there have been times when we have responded to Government commitments to spend pre-specified amounts of money on research in particular areas.

The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including brain tumours. Our approach to funding research is through open and fair competition and peer review to ensure that the highest-quality proposals, most likely to deliver real impact for patients, are funded without imposing financial targets or limits.