Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to increase the number of clinical trials available to patients with one of the less survivable cancers.

The Department funds research into all aspects of human health through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) at the level of £1 billion per year. Cancer comprises the largest proportion of this in terms of disease area.

The NIHR Clinical Research Network has over 800 cancer trials and studies recruiting or in set-up. Through the NIHR Clinical Research Network, the proportion of patients entering cancer clinical trials and studies is more than double that in any other country for which data exists, including the United States.

As with other Government funders of health research, the NIHR does not allocate funding for specific disease areas. The level of research spend in a particular area, such as less survivable cancers, is driven by factors including scientific potential and the number and scale of successful funding applications. We would welcome more high-quality research applications, including applications for clinical trials, on less survivable cancers.

We work closely with research funding partners such as Cancer Research UK, the Medical Research Council, and cancer specific charities, who fund research into new scientific discoveries. Cancer Research UK has prioritised increasing research in hard-to-treat cancers including lung, pancreatic, oesophageal cancers and brain tumours. We stand ready to translate these new discoveries as quickly as possible into new treatments and diagnostics for patients via the NIHR.

In May the Government announced £40 million over the next five years for brain tumour research as part of the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission. Funding will be invested through the NIHR to support a wide range of research to support the translation of laboratory discoveries into treatments and better care for patients. We are relying on researchers to submit high-quality research proposals in this very difficult area. To encourage such applications we have released a NIHR Highlight Notice on brain tumour research asking research teams to submit collaborative applications building on recent initiatives and investments.