Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 16 January 2025 to Question 23243, if he will publish a breakdown of spending on brain cancer research in 2023-24, including UK Research and Innovation funding bodies.

Research is crucial in tackling cancer, which is why the Department of Health and Social Care invests over £1.5 billion per year in research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). NIHR research expenditure for all cancers was £133 million in 2023/24. Cancer is a major area of NIHR spend, reflecting its high priority.

In 2023/24, total NIHR spending on direct research awards on brain cancer was £2.1 million spent across 22 active studies with a total lifetime value of £11.8 million. In the same year our wider infrastructure investments, which enable the country’s leading experts to develop and deliver high-quality translational, clinical, and applied research funded by ourselves, charities and industry partners, allowed an additional 1,107 people to participate in potentially life-changing brain cancer research in the National Health Service. Information about research projects funded through NIHR Research Programmes, including on brain cancer, is available at the following link:

https://fundingawards.nihr.ac.uk/

The NIHR works closely with other Government funders, including UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), funded by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, which conducts research through its nine research councils. UKRI figures for spending on brain cancer research in 2023/24 have yet to be finalised.