The Government announced the outcome of the Spending Review on 20 October 2010. 

The Department of Health, through the NIHR and the DH Policy Research Programme, will increase spending on health research in real-terms over the spending review period.

From this, additional funding will be made available so the NIHR can lead the way in pulling basic scientific advances through into benefits for patients and the economy. 

The Government also announced that, to complement this increase in health research funding through the NIHR, the budget for the Medical Research Council will be maintained in real terms.

Finally, it was announced that the Department of Health, through the NIHR, will provide £220 million of capital funding for the UK Centre for Medical Research and Innovation (UKCMRI).

Professor Dame Sally Davies, Director General for R&D at the Department of Health said:

“This is a great settlement. The Government has again confirmed its support for health research in the strongest way possible - by increasing the budget for NIHR above and beyond the rate of inflation for the next four years. This is an explicit recognition of the key role played by health research in driving improvements in the health of the population and in the economic growth of our country. It is also a ringing endorsement of the place that NIHR now occupies in the landscape of the UK - thanks to the hard work of all of you.  Now we look forward to the challenge of pulling through basic science into benefits for patients.”