Asked by: Norman Lamb (Liberal Democrat - North Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to his oral contribution on 26 March 2019 to Question 910028 on Antimicrobial Resistance: Vaccines, what steps his Department is taking to stimulate research and development into vaccines, including for tuberculosis, as an alternative to antibiotics.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
The United Kingdom national action plan on antimicrobial resistance (AMR), published on 24 January 2019, contains the commitment to continue to support research into new and alternative treatments, vaccines and diagnostic tests.
The Government has invested over £350 million in AMR research and development since 2014, including research funding calls with vaccination in scope, most recently the £32 million capital funding call lead by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), and the Small Business Research Initiative competition which announced its awards in January 2019. We would expect to consider the role of vaccines for AMR in future programmatic funding.
The UK supports the development of vaccines through UK Aid programmes such as the Global AMR Innovation Fund (GAMRIF) and the UK Vaccine Network. GAMRIF is a £50 million fund to support innovative research and development for AMR, for the benefit of people in low- and middle-income countries, and invests £30 million into preventative measures in human and animal health, including vaccines for AMR not including tuberculosis (TB). The fund includes a £1 million work package with the Bacterial Vaccinology Network which supports early stage research and development around the world to drive the development and uptake of vaccines for AMR in humans and animals.
The UK supports TB vaccine research through the Medical Research Council (MRC), with support to the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership, and through the Joint Global Health Clinical Trials programme represented by the Department for International Development (DFID), MRC, NIHR and Wellcome. DFID’s Agriculture research team is supporting work on bovine TB vaccine development in partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Asked by: Norman Lamb (Liberal Democrat - North Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to his oral contribution on 26 March 2019 to Question 910028 on Antimicrobial Resistance: Vaccines, what funding he plans to make to stimulate research and development into vaccines as an alternative to antibiotics.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
The United Kingdom national action plan on antimicrobial resistance (AMR), published on 24 January 2019, contains the commitment to continue to support research into new and alternative treatments, vaccines and diagnostic tests.
The Government has invested over £350 million in AMR research and development since 2014, including research funding calls with vaccination in scope, most recently the £32 million capital funding call lead by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), and the Small Business Research Initiative competition which announced its awards in January 2019. We would expect to consider the role of vaccines for AMR in future programmatic funding.
The UK supports the development of vaccines through UK Aid programmes such as the Global AMR Innovation Fund (GAMRIF) and the UK Vaccine Network. GAMRIF is a £50 million fund to support innovative research and development for AMR, for the benefit of people in low- and middle-income countries, and invests £30 million into preventative measures in human and animal health, including vaccines for AMR not including tuberculosis (TB). The fund includes a £1 million work package with the Bacterial Vaccinology Network which supports early stage research and development around the world to drive the development and uptake of vaccines for AMR in humans and animals.
The UK supports TB vaccine research through the Medical Research Council (MRC), with support to the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership, and through the Joint Global Health Clinical Trials programme represented by the Department for International Development (DFID), MRC, NIHR and Wellcome. DFID’s Agriculture research team is supporting work on bovine TB vaccine development in partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
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: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
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 (Conservative - 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 (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
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 - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy)
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 (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
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 - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy)
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.