Annual research budget
Dear Department of Health,
Please can you provide figures for your annual spend on research e.g. through the NIHR Biomedical Research Centres.
Please provide details for past years and projected spend for the current year (2016-2017) - sufficient to indicate how the recent announcement of £816 million funding for NIHR Biomedical Research Centres fits within the annual Department R&D spending and how it compares to historical rounds of the same or similar funds.
The press release for that announcement specifically stated that this was the 'largest investment in health research ever' but did not state whether this was a new, additional fund or simply the latest channeling of a regular R&D budget (although perhaps marginally increased for this year).
Indeed, the press release (and those of recipients) point to the outputs of 'previous rounds of funding' and so this does appear to be the channeling of standard R&D budget rather than a completely new £800 million to sit on top of regular funding.
As the announcement was quite unclear it is hard to know how many years would be required to show this pattern. If, for example, there was a comparable round of funding announced 5 years ago, and the money is 'front loaded' in the first year, then perhaps 5 years of R&D spend would be necessary. Alternatively, if the talk of 'previous rounds' was just recognition of regular spend through these channels then perhaps only a couple of years are required to give context to this announcement.
Please also provide information about any 'front loading' of this new fund. i.e. will all £816 million be distributed in the first year or will it be spread evenly over the 5 years? There may be uncertainty around exact figures at present but rough estimation should be possible.
Thank you very much for your time taken in this endeavour.
Yours faithfully,
Dr Rob Davidson
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Dear Dr Davidson
Please find attached the Department's response to your recent FOI request
(our ref: 1050729).
Yours sincerely
Dorothy Crowe
Freedom of Information
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