Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reason Tuberculosis was excluded from the scope of the £10 million Small Business Research Initiative competition on antimicrobial resistance in humans.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Small Business Research Initiative competition is funded by a Department of Health and Social Care non-Official Development Assistance budget. Research specifically on Tuberculosis (TB) pathogens was deprioritised for this competition as there are established global funds targeting the development of new treatments for TB.
The United Kingdom is contributing to a reduction in drug resistant TB by implementing the Collaborative TB Strategy for England, which parallels and integrates with the aims and actions of the UK Antimicrobial Resistance strategy.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reason Tuberculosis was excluded from the scope of the £10 million Small Business Research Initiative competition on antimicrobial resistance in humans.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Small Business Research Initiative competition is funded by a Department of Health and Social Care non-Official Development Assistance budget. Research specifically on Tuberculosis (TB) pathogens was deprioritised for this competition as there are established global funds targeting the development of new treatments for TB.
The United Kingdom is contributing to a reduction in drug resistant TB by implementing the Collaborative TB Strategy for England, which parallels and integrates with the aims and actions of the UK Antimicrobial Resistance strategy.
Asked by: Lord McCabe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 29 January 2018 to Question 124433, on Medicine: Research, how much money the Government has invested in (a) medical research and development and (b) medical research and development carried out by private companies since 2010.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The Government invests money in the Medical Research Council (MRC) and Innovate UK, both of which are non-departmental public bodies. The MRC funds (a) medical research and development, while both MRC and Innovate fund (b) medical research and development carried out by private companies.
(a) MRC funding of medical research and development
The Medical Research Council (MRC) supports research through a range of grants and personal awards to scientists in universities, medical schools and other research institutes and welcomes investigator-initiated research proposals in all areas of research relevant to human health. Awards are made on the basis of the scientific quality of the proposals.
Year | MRC gross expenditure |
2010/11 | £775.11m |
2011/12 | £736.82m |
2012/13 | £769.79m |
2013/14 | £877.32m |
2014/15 | £801.38m |
2015/16 | £927.79m |
2016/17 | £754.98m |
Notes:
(b) MRC and Innovate UK funding for medical research and development carried out by private companies
Innovate UK has funded medical research and development across a number of thematic areas, and funding also comprises a share of the that awarded through its Open Programme and other responsive funding programmes. Innovate UK also indirectly supports investment in medical R&D through the core funding it provides the Cell & Gene Therapy Catapult and the Medicines Discovery Catapult
The MRC provides funding for research and development to private companies on an exceptional basis through the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement & Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs) CRACK IT scheme using the Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) process from Innovate UK. The scheme drives the development of better and more predictive tools and technologies for drug and chemical development that will impact positively on the replacement, refinement and reduction of animals in research. The scheme funds universities and SMEs to work together to develop these tools so they are fit for purpose for broad uptake.
Year | MRC expenditure to private companies (spend) | Innovate UK (commitment) |
2010/11 | £0m | £25.12m |
2011/12 | £0.02m | £29.43m |
2012/13 | £0.09m | £80.05m |
2013/14 | £0.32m | £66.64m |
2014/15 | £0m | £41.72m |
2015/16 | £0m | £24.42m |
2016/17 | £0.59m | £63.20m |
Please note that spend and commitment figures are not directly comparable as funding may be committed in one year but spent in another.
In addition the Department of Health and Social Care funds research into all aspects of human health through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) at the level of £1bn per year including on programmes on research which encourage collaboration with industry.
Asked by: Norman Lamb (Liberal Democrat - North Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy how much funding from the public purse was allocated though the Small Business Research Initiative programme by each Government Department in 2016-17.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The value of Small Business Research Initiative contracts in 2016/17 as reported to Innovate UK by Departments is set out below:
Department/Public Body | Total Contract Value (£k) |
Department for Business Innovation and Skills | £649 |
Department of Health | £20,579 |
NHS England | £13,437 |
Home Office | £4,777 |
MoD | £13,996 |
NC3Rs (National Centre for Replacement and Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research) | £2,294 |
Department for Culture Media and Sport | £450 |
Department for Education | £125 |
Department for International Development | £497 |
UK Space Agency | £737 |
Innovate UK | £2,028 |
Devolved Administrations | £14,811 |
Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP) projects | £4,641 |
Total | £79,021 |
Source: Innovate UK Management Data |
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Asked by: Mark Menzies (Independent - Fylde)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to support innovation in assistive technology for use by people with dementia.
Answered by Jane Ellison
Dementia is a key priority for the Government. That is why in February 2015, the Prime Minister launched his Challenge on Dementia 2020. The Government will implement the Prime Minister’s Challenge in full to make sure that dementia care, support, awareness and research are transformed by 2020.
As part of the 2020 Challenge, we want to see greater provision of innovative and high quality dementia care, delivered in a way that is personalised and appropriate to the specific needs of the person with dementia, their family and carers. This includes providers incorporating new ideas including technology solutions into everyday practice. We also want to see research on assistive technologies and assisted living, including research on how information and communication technologies can best help people with dementia and carers.
The Department and NHS England recently launched seven ‘Test Bed Sites’ in England. These sites will evaluate the real world impact of technologies, testing them together with innovations in how the NHS services are delivered, to improve health and care outcomes. Three of the Test Beds will have a focus on dementia.
A number of programmes have been launched to support usage of technology for the benefit of people including those with dementia and their carers. These include:
- The Technology Enabled Care Services (TECS) Programme;
- A TECS resource for Commissioners; and
- The Small Business Research Initiative Healthcare and Regional Innovation Fund initiative.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the budget (a) allocated from central Government to and (b) awarded by the Small Business Research Initiative for healthcare was in each financial year since its inception.
Answered by George Freeman
The Department has run a number of competitions under the Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) and has had a budget as follows: fiscal year 2012-13 £2 million; fiscal 2013-14 £5 million; fiscal 2014-15 £2 million and fiscal 2015-16 £6 million. The Department has awarded contracts valued as follows:
2012-13: £1.07 million, the Department also contributed £1 million to other health related SBRI competitions.
2013-14: £5.59 million
2014-15: £10.15 million
It should be noted that SBRI is now firmly embedded within NHS England’s Small Business Research Initiative for Healthcare (SBRI Healthcare). Hence, the Department has not launched any new competitions since 2013.
SBRI Healthcare was established in 2013 by NHS England. As such, NHS England is responsible for setting this programme’s budget, which it has done as follows: fiscal year 2013-14 £10 million; fiscal 2014-15 £20 million; fiscal 2015-16 £20 million. The budget, once allocated to SBRI Healthcare, is then delegated to the Academic Health Science Networks to manage the implementation of the programme.
NHS England has awarded contracts valued as follows:
2013-14: £13.49 million
2014-15: £22.29 million
2015-16: £15.94 million to-date.
Further assessments are due to take place this month which could result in additional awards of around £1.6 million.
The level of investment in SBRI Healthcare reflects NHS England’s ongoing commitment to promoting innovation in the National Health Service and United Kingdom economic growth.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of academic health science networks on uptake of medical technology.
Answered by George Freeman
Speeding up the adoption of innovation into practice to improve clinical outcomes and patient experience has been one of the four core contractual objectives for Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs) since their establishment in 2013.
AHSNs have taken a range of approaches in delivering their objectives which have been selected in response to the priorities of their local populations and health economies. AHSNs are supporting over 150 active programmes and projects across a range of clinical and cross-cutting themes, many of which support the spread and adoption of innovations in their localities. In addition, AHSNs also host the Small Business Research Initiative and are facilitating the creation of Test Beds - both of which involve supporting the development and spread of healthcare technologies.
As part of NHS England’s assurance process, AHSNs are expected to publish annual reports to update their stakeholders on their achievements against their business plans. Annual reports can be found on individual AHSN websites.
Case studies and exemplars of how AHSNs are supporting the speed up adoption of innovation into practice can be found in the resources section of the AHSNs Network website: www.ahsnnetwork.com
Asked by: Chuka Umunna (Liberal Democrat - Streatham)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 18 March 2015, what (a) value and (b) number of Small Business Research Initiative contracts has been awarded in 2014-15 (i) in total, (ii) by the Ministry of Defence, (iii) by the Department of Health, (iv) by NHS England, (v) by the Department of Energy and Climate Change, (vi) by the Department for Transport, (vii) by the Home Office, (viii) by the Department for the Environment and Rural Affairs, (ix) directly by Innovate UK, (x) by research councils, (xi) by other parts of his Department and (xii) by other Government Departments and agencies to date.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
This information is being researched and will be placed in the Libraries of the House as soon as possible.
Asked by: Stephen McPartland (Conservative - Stevenage)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department is taking to encourage UK-based pharmaceutical companies to increase their contribution to global health research and development.
Answered by George Freeman
The UK life sciences sector, which includes pharmaceuticals, is one of the most productive in the world. The pharmaceuticals sector also remains the largest contributor to UK research and development, accounting for 22% of the total spend in 2013.
Since 2011, the Government has invested £2 billion in health and life science research, through the UK Research Councils, Innovate UK and the Department of Health’s research programme (National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)), leveraging over £3.5 billion of private sector investment, and making the UK the leading European destination for life science fundraising. Alongside, the NIHR Clinical Research Network (CRN) has developed tools to help companies to deliver their research in the NHS to quality, time and target.
There has also been significant direct support to business including £232m of the £240m Biomedical Catalyst awarded to over 250 business and Higher Education Institutions, attracting £118m in industry match-funding and supporting fundamental research from discovery through to commercialisation to deliver patient benefit. The Regional Growth Fund and Advanced Manufacturing Supply Chain provided over £92 million to 27 projects, leveraging a further £337 million. This funding has enabled companies from all parts of the life sciences sectors to invest in innovative research and development, and direct and indirect funding support for businesses and relevant wider infrastructure will continue to be available through successor public programmes.
The Small Business Research Initiative will continue to generate new business opportunities for companies, enabling the development of innovative products and services through the public procurement of research and development.
The Cell Therapy Catapult (CTC) Centre was set up to help translate promising scientific discoveries towards clinical impact for this new and emerging field. The CTC will be opening a world-leading manufacturing centre in Stevenage in 2017 to support companies to manufacture and supply Phase 3 clinical trials – important components of the research and development cycle.
Uptake and demand from the NHS for innovation complements industry investment in research and development in the UK by ensuring there is a market for new cost-effective products. The Accelerated Access review will make recommendations to Government by the end of this year, on accelerating access for NHS patients to cost-effective, innovative medicines and medical technologies.
The Early Access to Medicines Scheme (EAMS) provided a platform for drugs to be brought to patients at a much faster rate than ever before. Seven Promising Innovative Medicine (PIM) designations and the first early access Scientific Opinion were awarded in the first year. The Accelerated Access Review will include a review of the first year of EAMS.
Government has also introduced a series of measures through the taxation system to create the conditions for business growth and encourage business investment. These include R&D Tax Credits for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and relief for larger firms; The Patent Box; Enterprise Investment and Venture Capital Trust schemes as well as Entrepreneur’s Relief.
Asked by: Chuka Umunna (Liberal Democrat - Streatham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what technologies are being developed with support from the Small Business Research Initiative programmes of (a) his Department and (b) NHS England; and what assessment he has made of the future potential uses of those technologies.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The Department, through the Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI), is currently funding the development of a number of technologies aimed at promoting patient empowerment and sustainability in kidney care. Six phase 2 SBRI contracts valued at £2 million were awarded in February 2015. The technologies being developed range from diagnostics to digital solutions, for use in the home and in secondary care. Potential uses include early infection detection in patients on peritoneal dialysis, prevention of acute kidney injury and renal patient transport.
The Department is also supporting, through SBRI, the development of enabling technologies for genomics sequence data analysis and interpretation. In March 2015 five phase 2 SBRI contracts, valued at £8 million, were awarded for the development of next generation sequencing technologies which were assessed as having the potential to help deliver the Prime Minister’s 100,000 Genome Project. Potential uses are in the areas of diagnostics related to genome screening, clinical research, gene-discovery and wider use of stratified medicine. The technologies are hoped to provide more accurate variant calling and annotation pipelines, new ways of expressing the reference genomes, improving human leukocyte antigen genotyping and intuitive user interfaces to allow clinicians to interpret variants from next generation sequencing machines.
The NHS England SBRI Healthcare programme currently has 138 contracts with companies to develop innovative technologies to address known healthcare needs. These range from diagnostics to digital management solutions; embracing conditions such as cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, dementia and patient safety and bringing solutions for mental health, primary and acute care. Assessment of the programme by the Office of Health Economics and the SBRI Healthcare team in 2014 has shown that since 2012 the pipeline has a potential to secure £434 million efficiency savings each year for the next decade. Assessment of the programme also shows that 150 jobs have been created, 31 patents awarded and over £10 million of additional investment has been leveraged.
The technologies supported include a light therapy sleep mask for the prevention of diabetic retinopathy; ultraviolet scope enabling intraoperative visibility of cancer cells in surgery; a point of care cardiac diagnostic to fully diagnose a heart attack within 20 minutes and a blood test to definitively rule out a diagnosis of colorectal cancer.