As part of the Autumn Spending Review, Chancellor George Osborne has committed to increasing science spending in real terms (which means increases at the rate of inflation); as such, science spending will rise by £500 million ($750 million) to £470 billion over the course of the next four years. Here Osborne stated: “In this Parliament I’m protecting it in real terms so it rises to £4.7 billion. That’s £500 million more by the end of the decade. Alongside £6.9 billion in the capital budget too.”
Included in the measures is a new public health science center of excellence. Here various parts of Public Health England will be brought together in a central hub in Harlow, Essex. The idea here is to enable the U.K. to better deal with an emergency health response, such as an Ebola crisis.
The other announcement of interest is the U.K.’s first Dementia Research Institute. This will be spearheaded by the Medical Research Council (MRC). The idea is to gather world leading expertise in discovery science in the fight against dementia. Bringing experts together is a matter of organization; whether they have sufficient funds to make inroads is a different matter. The announced funding for the project is £150 million ($200 million.)
Commenting on the proposal, Professor John Savill, Chief Executive of the MRC sated: “Dementia research is an extremely high priority for the Medical Research Council. We will work with our partners, and in particular with patients and their families, to build a vision for the UK Dementia Research Institute based on excellence in discovery science.”
In the spending review there was less good news for those concerned with the environment, with cuts made to flood defenses and research into animal diseases. There were also cuts announced for small business start-ups, including biotechnology companies.
