Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much funding is being invested by UKRI in understanding the biological mechanisms of ageing.

Through the Ageing Society Grand Challenge (ASGC), the Government has set an ambitious mission to “ensure that people can enjoy at least five extra healthy, independent years of life by 2035”.

UKRI is a key part in addressing this Challenge. We have announced £98m of funding for healthcare innovation to support healthy aging, through the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, and £69.5 million through UKRI’s Strategic Priorities Fund to unlock new treatments that allow people to lead healthier and longer lives.

In 2018/19, UKRI spent £81.9m on a huge breadth of healthy ageing research. Within this, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and Medical Research Council (MRC) are the main funders of research into the biological mechanism of ageing. In 2017/18:

• MRC spent £39.1m on research directly related to ageing, as part of this, £14.9m was specifically for research directly relating to the biological mechanisms of ageing.
• BBSRC spent £16.8m on research that covers the biological mechanisms for ageing.