During the current financial year the Department of Health and Social Security is supporting research in mental illness to the extent of rather more than £140,000. Expenditure by the Department is 50 per cent greater this year than last, and it is likely to continue to increase over the next few years.

The main Government agency for the advancement of medical research is the Medical Research Council. Very broadly, the research the Council supports is essentially basic research, whereas the research supported by the Department is mainly service orientated.