How much has the Welsh Government spent on funding cancer research in Wales in the last 10 years, broken down by year?
The Welsh Government, through Health and Care Research Wales, invests in a number of cancer related research programmes. These cover a wide portfolio of clinical and laboratory based research.
We return our cancer research spend to the National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) each year for compilation in the NCRI Cancer Research Database (CARD).
This includes all our own grant schemes, those relevant schemes that we co-fund with partners, e.g. National Awareness and Early Diagnosis Initiative (NAEDI), National Prevention Research Initiative (NPRI), and our own infrastructure investments such as the Wales Cancer Research Centre.
We have reported the following figures to NCRI for the last 10 years:
|
Year |
Amount (£) |
Notes |
|
2008 |
1,602,216 |
|
|
2009 |
1,548,567 |
|
|
2010 |
2,877,377 |
|
|
2011 |
3,060,556 |
|
|
2012 |
3,798,247 |
|
|
2013 |
3,924,421 |
|
|
2014 |
3,515,904 |
|
|
2015 |
6,972,908 |
|
|
2016 |
2,262,050 |
Doesn't include workforce / R&D allocations |
|
2017 |
2,182,541 |
Doesn't include workforce / R&D allocations |
It is important to note that some of the variation in the annual figures is explained by changes to what data have been included. Funding of Wales Cancer Research Network (WCRN) was included from 2008 until 2014.
WCRN then became part of an all Wales R&D infrastructure across the NHS that WG now invests over £20 million per year in. Through this investment, Health and Care Research Wales provides support and delivery assistance for clinical research studies throughout Wales. The nature of many of the delivery roles means that work spans across a broad range of disease areas including cancer.
Attempts were made to calculate how much of the all Wales R&D infrastructure investment across the NHS was specifically used to support cancer studies. A figure of £4,561,689 was estimated for 2015, resulting in the 2015 amount being the highest in the table. Due to difficulties in calculating an accurate figure, it was decided not to provide a specific breakdown from 2016.
Cancer remains a high research priority in Wales and the resources provided to support cancer research is commensurate with the level of activity undertaken. (In 2017/18 36% of all non commercial research portfolio studies across NHS Wales were cancer related.)
Welsh Government investment also leverages additional funding support for cancer research, including Cancer Research UK (CRUK) in an Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre in Wales and in CRUK Research Nurses to support cancer clinical trials within NHS Wales. This agreement is ongoing and has been provided by Cancer Research UK since 1998 and it is anticipated will result in an investment of over £300,000 for 2018/19.