Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding his Department (a) allocated to and (b) spent on research on brain tumours in each year since 2018.

In May 2018 the Government announced £40 million for brain tumour research as part of the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).

The £40m funding will remain available; if we can spend more on the best quality science, we will do. The level of funding for brain tumour research depends on funding applications received. It is worth noting that all applications to NIHR that have been assessed as “fundable” in open competition have been funded and this will continue.

The following table shows NIHR’s committed spend on research into brain tumours in each year since 2018:

Additionally, NIHR research infrastructure supports brain tumour research studies, mainly in the National Health Service. This infrastructure – people and facilities - is instrumental to the delivery of research funded by the NIHR, charities and others. Resources are significant, though it is difficult to disaggregate purely brain tumour spend to add to the figures above.