Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the National Institute for Health and Care Research's news story entitled NIHR launches £13.7 million investment into brain tumour research, published on 19 December 2025, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of funding the NIHR Brain Tumour Research Consortium and Brain Tumour Research Centres of Excellence on the level of patient access to tumour tissue freezing within routine NHS neuro-oncology pathways, including access for patients treated outside specialist centres to sequencing, research, and clinical trials.

The Department invests over £1.6 billion each year in research through the National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR).

In January 2026, the NIHR announced increased investment of over £25 million in the NIHR Brain Tumour Research Consortium. The world-leading consortium aims to transform outcomes for adults and children and their families who are living with brain tumours, ultimately reducing lives lost to cancer. Its activities will include:

• enrolling patients to a ‘Real World’ study tracking their progress in everyday medical settings, before matching them to new clinical trials based on their cancer subtype;
• developing pioneering new clinical trials, including platform trials, to test medicines and radiotherapy technologies, immunotherapies, and novel gene therapies. This includes targeted precision medicine; and
• developing new training programmes for those working in brain cancer research to build capacity and increase skills among the next generation of researchers.

It is anticipated that this funding will include costs associated with freezer capacity to house frozen tissue and liquid biopsy samples specifically to support the consortium’s activities. The consortium will also engage with partners on the standardised pathways for tissue storage and whole genome sequencing for all patients for stratification into clinical trials.

In addition, the NIHR’s investments for capital equipment, technology, and modular buildings support National Health Service trusts across England to deliver high-quality research to improve the health of the population. This investment includes cutting edge research equipment and fixed assets such as ultra-low and cryogenic freezers, to strengthen research capacity and improve access to samples for research.