Fund research for childhood cancers with the worst survival rates
109,179 people signed this petition to the UK Parliament after it opened on 5 March 2020; it closed on 5 September 2020. The Government responded on 24 March 2020. MPs debated it in Westminster Hall on 7 December 2020.
The petition
The petition's creator is not named in the Petitions site's published record. Quoted in full from the UK Parliament petitions site.
Fund research for childhood cancers with the worst survival rates
12 kids in the UK are diagnosed with cancer daily. 1 in 5 will die within 5 years, often of the deadliest types like DIPG (brainstem cancer) - fatal on diagnosis & other cancers on relapse. Yet there has been little, or no, funding for research into these cancers and little, or no, progress.
The Government must state how much has been given for childhood cancers and DIPG specifically.
The Government, through the NIHR, must ringfence funds for childhood cancer research. The figures must be transparent as must the Government's answers about the lack of progress in curing these diseases.
The Government should fund awareness campaigns such as Childhood Cancer Awareness Month & Sarcoma Awareness week. Awareness + research = cure Our children keep suffering and dying.
The Government's response
The Government published its response on 24 March 2020; the petitions site lists the Department of Health and Social Care as responsible. Its summary:
In May 2018 the Government announced £40 million over five years for brain tumour research as part of the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission. This includes funding for childhood brain tumour research.
The opening 366 words of the 750-word response:
We know that a cancer diagnosis is devastating to families. That is why cancer survival is our priority made clear in the NHS Long Term Plan.
To ensure better outcomes for those affected by cancer we must focus our efforts on innovative research, and into new methods of diagnosis and treatment.
That is why we have invested £1bn per year in health research through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). NIHR cancer research expenditure has risen from £101 million in 2010/11 to £132 million in 2018/19, the largest investment in a disease area.
Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission (TJBCM)
In May 2018 the Government announced £40 million over five years for brain tumour research as part of the TJBCM. This includes funding for childhood cancers research and diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma.
Funding will be invested through the NIHR to support a wide range of research from early translation (experimental medicine), through clinical, and on to applied health and care research. In essence this will support the translation of laboratory discoveries into treatments and better care for patients, including children.
The Department is working actively as part of the TJBCM to improve research and care for people with brain cancer. We welcome the launch of the Tessa Jowell BRAIN MATRIX. This is an exciting new trials platform that will give people with brain cancer, including children, access to trials of treatments that are best-suited to their individual tumours. The Brain Tumour Charity is providing £2.8 million research funding for the study, which will enable doctors to treat brain tumours with drugs that are more targeted than ever before.
Together with NHS England, NHS Improvement and the National Cancer Research Institute, the Department joined the Less Survivable Cancers Taskforce recent research roundtable event to consider how the number of high-quality research applications can be increased for these difficult-to-treat cancers.
As with other Government funders of health research, the NIHR does not generally allocate funding for specific disease areas. The level of research spend in a particular area, such as childhood cancers and diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, is driven by factors including scientific potential and the number and scale of successful funding applications.
Experimental Cancer Medicine Centres (ECMCs)
Read the full response on the petitions site.
Where the signatures came from
Signatures came from 650 constituencies on the boundaries used until the 2024 general election. The largest number, 2,559, came from East Renfrewshire.
108,379 of the signatures were from the UK and 800 from elsewhere, by the location signers gave.
| Constituency | Signatures |
|---|---|
| East Renfrewshire | 2,559 |
| Southend West | 2,128 |
| Epping Forest | 1,617 |
| Rochford and Southend East | 1,606 |
| Rayleigh and Wickford | 1,418 |
| Castle Point | 1,119 |
| Glasgow South | 775 |
| Hertsmere | 727 |
| Broxbourne | 664 |
| Bosworth | 650 |
| Region | Signatures |
|---|---|
| East of England | 20,938 |
| South East | 17,023 |
| Scotland | 16,645 |
| London | 11,823 |
| North West | 7,914 |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | 6,300 |
| South West | 6,135 |
| East Midlands | 5,956 |
| West Midlands | 5,817 |
| Wales | 3,105 |
| North East | 2,353 |
| Northern Ireland | 1,474 |
Debate in Parliament
MPs debated the petition in Westminster Hall on 7 December 2020. Read the debate in Hansard. House of Commons Library debate pack.
Source and receipt
- https://petition.parliament.uk/archived/petitions/300027.jsonUK Parliament Petitions API · read 2026-10-15 · SHA-256
b541dd816f21dde2… - The petition on petition.parliament.uk
The petition's words are its creator's and the response is the Government's; this site quotes both and gives no view on either. Signature counts can still change while a petition is open. To report an error, send a correction request.