Volume 1

Medical research and the NHS reforms / House of Lords, Select Committee on Science and Technology.

  • Great Britain. Parliament. House of Lords. Science and Technology Committee.
Date:
1995
Catalogue details

Licence: Open Government Licence

Credit: Medical research and the NHS reforms / House of Lords, Select Committee on Science and Technology. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    eee Table 7: MRC expenditure 1993-94, £m Research units and external staff Grants Training awards and fellowships Source: MRC Annual Report 1993-94 48. The MRC is thought of principally as a source of funds for high-quality biomedical research. However it has a long history of involvement in health services research (HSR - p69), and is currently developing an Initiative in HSR, with an emphasis “on research into methodology underpinning HSR, further applied HSR and on training and career development” (pp45, 68, Q82). The MRC has developed a major HSR centre in Bristol, with a network of collaborating centres; has increased support for research on the determinants of health and disease; has established HSR fellowships, some co-funded with RHAs, and joint RHA-MRC small grant schemes (Q83); and has rechristened its HSR Committee the Board for Health Services and Public Health Research. The proportion of MRC expenditure devoted to HSR has risen slowly in real terms since 1981; in 1993- 94 it was 1.5 per cent (£4.4m out of £288m); the MRC expects it to rise a little more steeply over the next few years (p455). Other Research Councils 49. The contributions of the EPSRC, BBSRC and ESRC to medical research are smaller but not insignificant. The EPSRC has set out for us how it puts £5m each year into research in medical engineering, chemistry and medical informatics (p442). Charities 50. In 1993-94, the members of the Association of Medical Research Charities contributed £317m to UK medical research, more than the MRC. 96 per cent of charities’ extramural grants go to universities (Q185); only about £6m goes directly to the NHS (Culyer report, Appendix G, paragraph 19). Table 8: Major UK medical charities research expenditure budgets, £m British Heart Foundation 26.2 (1994-95) Arthritis and Rheumatism Council 15.8 (1993-94) Leukaemia Research Fund 10.5 (1993-94) Source: AMRC Handbook 1994-95 51. The Wellcome Trust deserves special mention. Alone among the major medical charities, it is free to fund research in any field (including animal health and the history of medicine); it derives its funds from a single large endowment rather than continuous voluntary giving; its income has grown enormously since it began to sell its shares in Wellcome plc in 1986 (£15m in 1984, £250m in 1994), and will receive a further boost to around £300m p.a. from the sale of the Trust’s remaining shares to Glaxo. It therefore occupies a position comparable with that of the MRC. Although hitherto most of the Trust’s activity has been confined within the British Isles, the will of the founder, Sir Henry Wellcome, imposes no geographical restriction; according to a recent policy statement, “The Trust is reviewing its international programme, and re-assessing its portfolio of grant-giving in countries outside the UK” (Sources: Wellcome Trust Statement of Policy 1995; POST Select Committee briefing February 1995, Glaxo and Wellcome; and 2nd Report by the Commons Science and Technology Committee 1994-95, HC 256).