Asked by: Kate Osamor (Independent - Edmonton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Government is on target to double dementia funding by 2024/25.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is dedicated to supporting research into dementia, and has committed to doubling the funding for dementia research to £160 million per year by the end of 2024/25. The Government’s responsibility for delivering dementia 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.
In 2022/23, the most recent year we have data for, we estimate that total Government spend on dementia research was £96.9 million. Spend is dependent on the number and quality of applications received, as well as the volume of research that requires infrastructure support, therefore research spend can only be calculated retrospectively after the end of the financial year.
The Government is making significant progress towards meeting the commitment and has instigated momentous new programmes of work, for instance investing almost £50 million over five years into the NIHR’s Dementia Translational Research Collaboration Trial Network, which will expand the United Kingdom’s early phase clinical trial capabilities in dementia, speeding up the development of new treatments. A new Clinical Trials Delivery Accelerator focused on dementia was also announced in the Autumn Statement 2023, with up to £20 million of funding to help innovation reach National Health Service patients even faster. Many new initiatives and research projects will begin to spend in 2024/25.
Asked by: Kate Osamor (Independent - Edmonton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how the additional £95 million investment in dementia care has been allocated.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Mission was launched in August 2022 with £95 million of Government funding. There is now more than £120 million of committed funding to the mission, which will be invested into three key pillars. The first pillar centres on biomarkers and experimental medicine, and will receive £50 million of the funding for the mission, with the intention of securing match funding from industry partners. As part of this pillar, Innovate UK launched a Small Business Research Initiative competition, with the aim of accelerating innovations in clinical biomarker tools and technologies for dementia, where organisations could apply for a share of £6 million of funding out of the allocated £50 million. These technologies will enable the discovery, validation, and implementation of a suite of decision-enabling biomarkers to help transform clinical trials and precision therapies. The competition closed on 4 September 2023, and the recipients awarded a portion of the £6 million will be announced soon.
The second pillar will focus on clinical trial infrastructure and innovation, with two recently announced initiatives to support its delivery. The first of these initiatives is the National Institute for Health and Care Research’s Dementia-Translational Research Collaboration Trials Network, with almost £50 million of funding over five years. This will expand the United Kingdom’s early phase clinical trial capabilities for dementia, speeding up the development of new treatments. The second initiative is the Clinical Trials Delivery Accelerator, focused on dementia, also named the Dementia Accelerator. This was announced in the Autumn Statement 2023, in response to Lord O’Shaughnessy’s independent review into commercial clinical trials in the UK, with up to £20 million of additional funding.
The third pillar will be focused on end-to-end implementation, specifically on aligning translational research, clinical practice, and regulatory frameworks to prepare health-systems for new dementia medicines. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, NHS England, the Department, the devolved administrations, and the Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Mission are already working closely together to plan for the implementation of new dementia medicines, should they gain approval in the UK.
Asked by: Kate Osamor (Independent - Edmonton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of trends in the number of technical issues in relation to home office applications since January 2023.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Increasingly since 2023, applications to remain in the United Kingdom have been processed on the new caseworking system, Atlas.
It is a complex system that has many integrated services such as security checking, sending notifications to applicants, triggering the production of BRP cards or creation of digital status. Whilst there have been some issues encountered as Atlas has been developed, no systemic issues have been identified that have caused concerns to be raised with the third-party IT suppliers helping develop and support Atlas.
Most technical issues are resolved within days.
Asked by: Kate Osamor (Independent - Edmonton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average time taken was to resolve technical issues in relation to processing home office applications in each month in 2023.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Increasingly since 2023, applications to remain in the United Kingdom have been processed on the new caseworking system, Atlas.
It is a complex system that has many integrated services such as security checking, sending notifications to applicants, triggering the production of BRP cards or creation of digital status. Whilst there have been some issues encountered as Atlas has been developed, no systemic issues have been identified that have caused concerns to be raised with the third-party IT suppliers helping develop and support Atlas.
Most technical issues are resolved within days.
Asked by: Kate Osamor (Independent - Edmonton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department has raised concerns with third-party providers on technical issues impacting claims since January 2023.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Increasingly since 2023, applications to remain in the United Kingdom have been processed on the new caseworking system, Atlas.
It is a complex system that has many integrated services such as security checking, sending notifications to applicants, triggering the production of BRP cards or creation of digital status. Whilst there have been some issues encountered as Atlas has been developed, no systemic issues have been identified that have caused concerns to be raised with the third-party IT suppliers helping develop and support Atlas.
Most technical issues are resolved within days.
Asked by: Kate Osamor (Independent - Edmonton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to tackle technical issues in relation to home office applications.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Increasingly since 2023, applications to remain in the United Kingdom have been processed on the new caseworking system, Atlas.
It is a complex system that has many integrated services such as security checking, sending notifications to applicants, triggering the production of BRP cards or creation of digital status. Whilst there have been some issues encountered as Atlas has been developed, no systemic issues have been identified that have caused concerns to be raised with the third-party IT suppliers helping develop and support Atlas.
Most technical issues are resolved within days.
Asked by: Kate Osamor (Independent - Edmonton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what is the cause of recent technical issues delaying home office applications.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Increasingly since 2023, applications to remain in the United Kingdom have been processed on the new caseworking system, Atlas.
It is a complex system that has many integrated services such as security checking, sending notifications to applicants, triggering the production of BRP cards or creation of digital status. Whilst there have been some issues encountered as Atlas has been developed, no systemic issues have been identified that have caused concerns to be raised with the third-party IT suppliers helping develop and support Atlas.
Most technical issues are resolved within days.