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 fund research into potential treatments for brain tumours to help (a) extend life expectancy and (b) alleviate suffering.

Research is crucial in tackling cancer, which is why the Department of Health and care invests over £1.5 billion per year in health research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). NIHR research expenditure for all cancers was £121.8 million in 2022/23.

In the five years between 2018/19 and 2022/23, the NIHR directly invested £11.3 million in research projects and programmes focused on brain tumours. In addition, our wider investments in NIHR research infrastructure, including facilities, services and the research workforce, are estimated to be £31.5 million, between 2018/19 and 2022/23, and have enabled 227 brain cancer research studies to take place in the same period. In total, NIHR investments have enabled 8,500 people to participate in potentially life-changing research in the National Health Service over this time.

In September 2024, the NIHR announced new research funding opportunities for brain cancer research, spanning both adult and paediatric populations. This includes a national NIHR Brain Tumour Research Consortium, to ensure the most promising research opportunities are made available to adult and child patients, and a new funding call to generate high quality evidence in brain tumour care, support, and rehabilitation.

The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including cancer. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made based on the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality.