Norman Lamb – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Norman Lamb on 2016-01-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to increase the number of mixed race stem cell donors; what discussions he has had with the Anthony Nolan Trust and others on diversifying stem cell registries; and if he will make a statement.
Jane Ellison
The Department’s delivery partners, NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) and the Anthony Nolan Trust, ensure that all patients regardless of ethnicity can gain maximum benefit from the United Kingdom’s registry of volunteer bone marrow donors and from its inventory of altruistically-donated cord blood.
In March 2015 the Department gave £3 million of funding to NHSBT and the Anthony Nolan Trust to continue their work saving and improving lives through stem cell and cord blood donation. Part of this funding will support the collection of an additional 3,000 Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) adult donors.
The provision of cord blood stem cells remains an important part of the overall strategy and this year will see a continued expansion of the cord blood bank with a target that 40% samples are collected from the BAME community.
The Department continues to support the work of the National BAME Transplant Alliance that helps to coordinate the work of BAME organisations working to promote all forms of donation including bone marrow stem cells.
The Department is currently working with Anthony Nolan and NHSBT to consider possible future funding in the light of the spending review and set against other spending priorities.
