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Dr. Reid: I will not give my right hon. Friend a specific answer to that specific question, but in general terms he will not be displeased by the next 15 minutes of my speech. The national cancer research networks are a huge success, and he echoed that point. They have hit the target of doubling the number of patients engaged in trials in only two years. I make the simple point that, just as investment elsewhere saves lives and reduces pain, investment in cancer research saves, and has saved, lives for the national health service.
We recognise the potential of the new genetics to have an impact on health care. The whole field of genetics offers the possibility of much more personalised treatments and prevention strategies. Accordingly, we invested in six genetics knowledge parks—five in England and one in Wales—to develop for us knowledge of how advances in genetics will affect the national health service. In addition, we have just finished commissioning research work on gene therapy for single gene disorders and safety studies. Investment in research on genetics saves lives for the national health service and for the people of this country.
We are as ambitious for the British people as they are for themselves and their families. Since we know that this investment saves lives for the national health service and the country, the Government will now go further and faster in investing in clinical research. Our experience with the National Cancer Research Institute taught us that the real power to solve some of our outstanding health problems comes from the Government's investing in collaboration and in partnership. That is why my right hon. Friend the Chancellor announced last Thursday an increase in funding for medical research.
I can report today that I am making available an additional £25 million in each of the next four years, over and above the inflation-linked increases that have already been agreed, to secure the necessary development of our medical research here in this country. That is an additional £100 million per year by 2007–08, which represents the largest sustained increase in NHS research and development funding ever announced in this House. The hon. Member for South Suffolk (Mr. Yeo) is yawning. I hope that when he rises to his feet he will give a more substantial response to my announcement.
It is anticipated that that investment, together with the additional resources that are expected to be made available to the Medical Research Council, should allow combined Government spending on medical research to rise to £1.2 billion a year by 2007–08—investment in
medical research to save lives in this country through and with the national health service.
Rev. Martin Smyth: In announcing that investment in the health service, the Secretary of State will recognise that the Northern Ireland Office has to allocate the funds. Does he agree that the new centre of excellence at the Belfast city hospital, which has international links, is making tremendous advances in research on cancer problems; and will he encourage the Chancellor to ensure that some of the extra money goes there?
Dr. Reid: I will go half way with the hon. Gentleman. Having have seen the prowess of those at that hospital and the developments that have taken place there, I agree that they are significant and worthy of great plaudits. I cannot allocate any of the money that is disbursed in Northern Ireland, since, alas, I moved on from being in a position to do so some two years ago, but I can assure him of two things: first, that under the Barnett formula there will be significant moneys for disbursement on health in Northern Ireland; and secondly, that the Under-Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, my hon. Friend the Member for Basildon (Angela Smith), will judiciously exercise her discretion over that disbursement. I hope that that is to the benefit of the institutions that he mentions.
Linda Gilroy: If the Secretary of State can accept the invitation to Plymouth that I extended to him, he will appreciate the way in which the new Peninsula medical school is helping us to train more doctors for the health service. However, it is one of eight new medical schools that are seriously exercised by the lack of research funding. Will he give his personal consideration to the new medical schools' need for some of the research funding?
Dr. Reid: I shall bear my hon. Friend's comments in mind. She would not expect me to make an instant allocation, although I am attracted by the prospect of a visit to her constituency.
I reiterate that investment in research saves lives. It is not simply a matter of retaining our place at the forefront of research and development in this country—although I am proud of that, too—but of saving the lives of our fellow citizens. The Government therefore wish to make Britain the best place in the world bar none for research, development and innovation. I want to ensure that the NHS contribution to medical research is one of the centrepieces of that ambition.
Alongside investment we shall also introduce reform. Accordingly, the Government have decided to create a new United Kingdom clinical research collaboration involving the NHS, patients, the Medical Research Council, the Wellcome Trust, the medical charities and industry. The purpose is to create a partnership to oversee the effective and efficient translation of scientific advances into patient care. I should like them to promote the following elements in particular: the development of a clinical research infrastructure embedded in the NHS; an expansion of United Kingdom clinical research, including clinical trials; an extensive and sustained increase in the research work force, and the development and spread of best practice for statutory regulations.
We already punch above our weight in health science. The United Kingdom, with 1 per cent. of the world's population, funds 4.5 per cent. of the world's science, produces 8 per cent. of the world's scientific publications and receives 9 per cent. of the citations. Fifteen of the world's top 75 medicines were discovered and developed in Britain. It is a tradition round which this country's reputation and renown have been wreathed with laurels for decades. The Government will ensure that that continues. We shall waste no time in doing that—the inaugural meeting takes place next month.
Mr. Lansley: I share the Secretary of State's appreciation of the quality of clinical research. Many of the organisations to which he referred expressed serious reservations about the proposed structure in the Human Tissue Bill. Will he assure hon. Members that when the Bill returns to the House for Report, he will have made substantive amendments to deal with the anxieties that the Medical Research Council, the Wellcome Trust and others expressed?
Mr. Reid: My hon. Friend the Minister of State has met representatives of those who expressed such anxieties. If she decides to make any changes, she will present them to the House. All hon. Members will have noticed the eager support of the hon. Member for South Cambridgeshire (Mr. Lansley) for the comments about our renown, reputation and investment in scientific research and development. We therefore await with bated breath the Opposition's response to our announcement of investing some £200 million extra in that research to ensure continuing quality in Britain.
Mr. Paul Burstow (Sutton and Cheam) (LD): In explaining the Government's approach on investment in medical research, will the Secretary of State also set out their plans to expand investment in research to preventive health care and public health? Although there is some investment, it is dramatically less than the amount that he has announced so far for medical research.
Dr. Reid: That is the subject of considerable and extensive consultation throughout the country. The appropriate time to comment on that is when we publish the White Paper on public health at the end of the consultation.
As I said, the inaugural meeting will be held next month, and this research will be developed in relation to a number of early priorities. Accordingly, we have been developing a United Kingdom strategy to deliver progress on drugs for use with children. This strategy will network paediatrics research centres and resources to fund the necessary clinical research. I have decided that that should go ahead as quickly as possible, not least because investment in research will save children's lives, which is important to all of us.
We have already made a start on mental health research by creating the first phase of a research network within the National Institute of Mental Health for England. I am now in a position to give extra resources to expand this network and make it more inclusive. That is critical, because up to now mental health research has not properly informed policy and practice, as too many
studies have been too small and too local to permit valid general conclusions to be drawn. Investment in research will therefore help to relieve distress for the mentally ill.The Department of Health has worked closely with a wide range of stakeholders to consider other diseases that involve vulnerable groups. I have mentioned particularly children and those suffering from mental illness, but I also want to mention other diseases that involve vulnerable groups or that have associated with them a high level of underlying health need and potential to bring rapid benefit to patients through research. Consequently, in addition to the research already outlined for children and the mentally ill, some of the additional resources for research will be put into three diseases which result in a disproportionate burden on our elderly population: Alzheimer's disease, stroke and diabetes. Investment in this research will also save lives and ease pain and distress.
We intend that these clinical research networks should use the extra investment to enable research to be conducted across the full spectrum of disease and clinical need. Research that saves the lives of the public costs investment.
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