Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what funding his Department is making into new treatment research and innovation for low grade brain treatments.

The Department recognises that brain cancer patients are often waiting too long for diagnosis. We are determined to change that, which is why we are developing a National Cancer Plan which will seek to improve every aspect of cancer care and the experience and outcomes for people with cancer, including brain cancer. Although low-grade brain tumours are non-cancerous, they can have similar, serious symptoms and require surgery or radiotherapy to treat them. The Department welcomes submissions on brain tumours to the new online platform, Shaping the national cancer plan. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/calls-for-evidence/shaping-the-national-cancer-plan

In the five years between 2018/19 and 2022/23, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) directly invested £11.3 million in research projects and programmes focused on brain tumours, including low grade brain tumours.  In addition, our wider investments in NIHR research infrastructure, which includes 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 that 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 low grade brain tumours. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality.