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 17 November 2025 to Question 77307, on Cancer: Health Services, how his Department intends to support businesses and organisations based in the Ely and East Cambridgeshire constituency to develop cancer research programmes.

Research is crucial in tackling cancer, which is why the Department invests £1.6 billion each year on research through its research delivery arm, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), with cancer research as one of the largest areas of spend, at over £141.6 million in 2024/25, signalling its high priority.

The NIHR Research Support Service (RSS) provides expert support and advice to applied health, public health, and social care researchers on the design and delivery of research and the development of research funding applications. This is a national service and researchers based in the Ely and East Cambridgeshire constituency who are applying to national, open and peer-reviewed research programmes, including all domestic NIHR funding programmes, UK Research Councils, and national health and care charities, can access this support. Further information on the RSS is available at the following link:

https://www.nihr.ac.uk/support-and-services/research-support-service

The NIHR continues to welcome funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including all cancer types. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition.