Lord Wills – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Wills on 2015-11-17.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they have taken to secure funding for research into mesothelioma over the last two years.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The usual practice of the Department’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and of the Medical Research Council is not to ring-fence funds for expenditure on particular topics: research proposals in all areas compete for the funding available. Both funders welcome funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including mesothelioma. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition.

The NIHR launched a ‘themed call’ for mesothelioma research proposals in 2014. Fifteen individual applications have been received, of which two have been approved for funding to date, two are under review, and eleven have been rejected.