Mental Illness: Research

(asked on 4th June 2019) - View Source

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether UK Research and Innovation has plans to increase the proportion of funding allocated to research into mental illness in the next financial year.


Answered by
Chris Skidmore Portrait
Chris Skidmore
This question was answered on 12th June 2019

We are increasing spending on R&D by £7 billion over 5 years by 2021-22. This will be the largest increase ever.

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), a partner organisation of BEIS, funds research relating to health. Funding decisions are based on the quality of the proposals, with researcher-led proposals welcomed into any aspect of human health, with the primary considerations being research excellence and importance to health.

Within UKRI, the Medical Research Council (MRC) is the primary, but not exclusive, funder of medical research. Over the last five years, MRC has provided the following health funding:

MRC Health Research (HRCS)

2013/14 (£)

2014/15 (£)

2015/16 (£)

2016/17 (£)

2017/18 (£)

All Health Categories

617,605,780

625,128,039

723,428,975

599,790,930

585,079,573

Of which Mental Health

30,240,645

31,222,399

30,585,328

28,557,922

39,879,007

Of which Neurological

79,901,444

79,832,753

109,809,894

80,286,626

74,631,328

All Prevention Research

26,587,238

24,479,417

22,348,094

24,157,949

30,297,781

Of which Mental Health

815,707

587,725

453,152

391,856

415,533

Of which Neurological

17,006

22,812

25,047

33,037

36,383

Please note this does not represent the MRC’s entire research spend as some investments, such as infrastructure and underpinning research are not included in the analysis.

Research relating to mental health is funded by all UKRI councils. As well as UKRI, other government bodies fund health research, such as the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). The UK Clinical Research Collaboration undertakes UK Health Research Analysis. An analysis of data for 2018 is expected to the published in summer 2019. The most recent report (in 2014) included data from seven of UKRI’s nine councils as well as other government departments and charitable organisations. The report and data are available at https://hrcsonline.net/reports/analysis-reports/

Further related initiatives include:

  • UKRI Mental Health Networks support prevention alongside targeted mental health care

On 5 December 2018, the government announced up to £79 million of Industrial Strategy funding for a new programme of research that will harness the power of artificial intelligence and big data to dramatically change the way major diseases are detected, diagnosed and treated. The funding, which forms part of the government’s Life Sciences Sector Deal 2, will support the establishment of a landmark cohort of up to five million people to take part in research aimed at revolutionising early detection and diagnosis of a range of diseases, including Alzheimer’s and other dementias. The programme will bring together the NHS, industry and leading charities including Alzheimer’s Research UK, Cancer Research UK and the British Heart Foundation.

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