Yesterday (Tuesday) evening, Portcullis House in Westminster was the setting for a meeting of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Brain Tumours (APPGBT), for which Brain Tumour Research provides the secretariat.
These termly meetings are always packed and yesterday evening's was no exception, with 11 MPs rubbing shoulders with campaigners, patients and charity representatives.
The meeting heard updates from the November event and reviewed recent brain tumour-relevant news from Westminster. Scott Arthur MP also informed attendees about his Private Members' Bill, which will be presented to the House of Commons in March and has a focus on less survivable cancers.
The majority of the meeting, though, was devoted to a presentation from our CEO, Dan Knowles, on progress made against recommendations contained in the 2023 APPG inquiry report, Pathway to a Cure – breaking down the barriers.
The key takeaway was that, while things may be moving in the right direction, they aren’t moving anywhere quickly enough, and for this progress to be accelerated the Government need to play a full, active and increased part in the funding of research and the removal of the barriers to research breakthroughs. This needs to happen now.
Dan’s presentation was followed by a robust discussion and the APPG is now set to further engage with Government funding bodies and with the new minister with responsibility for cancer, Ashley Dalton, who has taken up her post this week.
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