Brain: Tumours
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much public funding has been allocated to brain tumour research in each of the last five financial years.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill
Government responsibility for delivering brain cancer research is shared between the Department of 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’s investment in the NIHR facilitates the direct funding of research projects through NIHR programmes, support for researchers to develop and conduct research through NIHR translational infrastructure, and a workforce to deliver research on behalf of other funders through NIHR research delivery infrastructure.
The following table shows the committed funding via NIHR research programmes alongside estimated NIHR infrastructure spend for brain cancer research between the financial years 2020/21 and 2024/25:
Financial year | NIHR research programme investment | NIHR infrastructure spend |
2020/21 | £2,524,725 | £6,957,561 |
2021/22 | £5,128,868 | £6,645,775 |
2022/23 | £584,260 | £6,557,611 |
2023/24 | £608,696 | £5,934,365 |
2024/25 | £1,532,715 | £6,848,635 |
2020/21 to 2024/25 | £10,379,264 | £32,943,947 |
Investment in brain cancer research is calculated retrospectively, with a time lag due to annual reporting cycles, therefore 2024/25 is the most recent year we have complete data for.
As NIHR infrastructure primarily funds staff and National Health Service support costs for research delivery, this spend is not directly attributable to specific research studies for the most part, but an estimate is derived based on the number of studies in brain cancer research against the annual infrastructure spend.
The data does fluctuate due to changes such as contract variations and updated information regarding financial reconciliations and support activity.
The NIHR continues to welcome high quality applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including brain cancer. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to the public and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality.
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