In this section, we outline our analysis of the direct, indirect, and induced impacts associated with the operational and capital expenditures of the CRUK Scotland Institute and the School of Cancer Sciences. Analyses of these impacts consider institutions as economic units creating output within their local economies by purchasing products and services from their suppliers and hiring employees. Specifically, these direct, indirect, and induced economic impacts are defined as follows:
- Direct effect: This considers the economic output generated by the CRUK Scotland Institute and the School of Cancer Sciences, by purchasing goods and services (including labour) from the economy in which it operates.
- Indirect effect: The CRUK Scotland Institute’s and the School of Cancer Sciences’ purchases generate income for the supplying industries, which they in turn spend on their own purchases from suppliers to meet the institutions’ demands. This again results in a chain reaction of subsequent rounds of spending across industries, i.e., a ‘ripple effect’.
- Induced effect: The employees of the institutions and businesses operating in the CRUK Scotland Institute’s and School of Cancer Sciences’ supply chain use their wages to buy consumer goods and services within the economy. This in turn generates wage income for employees within the industries producing these goods and services, who then spend their own income on goods and services – leading to a further ‘ripple effect’ throughout the economy as a whole.
3.1 Methodology
To measure the direct economic impact of the purchases of goods, services, and labour by the CRUK Scotland Institute and the School of Cancer Sciences, we used information on their operating expenditures (including staff and non-staff spending), capital expenditures, as well as the number of staff employed (in terms of full-time equivalent (FTE) employees) by the institutions in 2021-2212.
The assessment of the indirect and induced economic impacts associated with these operating and capital expenditures were estimated using economic multipliers derived from an Input-Output analysis (capturing the degree to which different sectors within the UK economy are connected, i.e., the extent to which changes in the demand for the output of any one sector impact on all other sectors of the economy).13 In particular, we applied the estimated average economic multipliers associated with organisations in Scotland’s professional and support activities sector to estimate the total direct, indirect, and induced economic impacts associated with the CRUK Scotland Institute’s expenditures, and the multipliers associated with organisations in Scotland’s government, health, and education sector to assess the impact associated with the expenditures of the School of Cancer Sciences14.
To arrive at the total direct, indirect, and induced impact associated with the CRUK Scotland Institute’s and the School of Cancer Sciences’ institutional spending, we then deducted the total research income accrued by the institutions, as well as their fee waivers and bursary spending, to avoid double-counting with other strands of impact included here.
Public support for cancer research in Glasgow
There is a long-established culture of public engagement with, and community support for, the work of the School of Cancer Sciences and CRUK Scotland Institute. Both institutions undertake a variety of public engagement activities with charity partners, local politicians, supporters, volunteers and local schools, to promote the important cancer research being done in Glasgow.
The esteem and affection in which both are held is most clearly demonstrated by the generosity and commitment shown by supporters, who have donated and raised significant funds to ensure that Glasgow continues to be recognised as the home of ground-breaking developments in the understanding and treatment of cancer.
The Beatson Pebble Appeal successfully raised around £10 million in public donations to fund the construction of the Wolfson Wohl Cancer Research Centre in 2014, which is home to the School of Cancer Sciences and neighbour of the CRUK Scotland Institute. The Beatson Pebble Appeal continues to support the ongoing work of the School, which helps it to maintain a high-quality research environment and continue to attract the best cancer scientists from around the world.
Public donations also helped to fund the building of the Paul O’Gorman Leukaemia Research Centre in 2008, which is based at Glasgow’s Gartnavel Hospital and is part of the School of Cancer Sciences. This support has continued through the Friends of The Paul O’Gorman Leukaemia Research Centre, which was established in 2009 by a group of patients, volunteers and donors. The group organises a range of events, such as this year’s POG15 Summer Challenge, which help to raise awareness of the centre’s work and contribute directly to supporting its important research programme.
References
- Based on staff and financial data provided by the University of Glasgow. Again, the analysis is based on the CRUK Scotland Institute’s 2021-22 financial year (i.e., April 2021 to March 2022).
- Please refer to Annex A2.2.2 for more detail on the underlying methodological approach.
- The use of different multipliers here effectively categorises the School of Cancer Sciences as an institution within the Scottish education sector, whereas the CRUK Scotland Institute is categorised as part of the Scottish scientific, research, and development sector (which is included in the wider ‘professional and support activities’ sector within the relevant Input-Output tables). In other words, this approach asserts that the spending patterns of the CRUK Scotland Institute and the School of Cancer Sciences reflect the average spending patterns across organisations operating in Scotland’s professional and support activities sector, and Scotland’s government, health, and education sector, respectively.
3.2 Impact of the institutions’ spending
The total direct, indirect, and induced impacts on the UK economy associated with the operating and capital expenditures incurred by the CRUK Scotland Institute and the School of Cancer Sciences in 2021-22 was estimated at £77 million in economic output terms (see Figure 4):
In terms of impact type, £50 million (64%) of the total impact was attributable to the direct effect of this expenditure, while the remaining £27 million (36%) was associated with the indirect and induced effects of this spending.
In terms of region, the majority of this impact (£56 million, 73%) was generated in Scotland, with £21 million (27%) occurring in other regions across the UK.
In terms of sector, in addition to the impacts occurring in the government, health, and education sector (£22 million, 29%) and the professional and support activities sector (£20 million, 27%) itself, there are also large impacts felt within other sectors, eg distribution, transport, hotel, and restaurant sector (£10 million, 12%), and the production sector (£9 million, 12%)15.
In terms of the number of jobs supported (in FTE), the results indicate that the expenditures of the CRUK Scotland Institute and the School of Cancer Sciences supported a total of 560 FTE jobs across the UK economy in 2021-22 (of which 445 were located in Scotland). In addition, the impact in terms of gross value added (GVA) was estimated at £49 million across the UK economy as a whole (with £37 million generated within Scotland).16
Figure 4 Total economic impact associated with the CRUK Scotland Institute’s and the School of Cancer Sciences’ expenditure in 2021-22, by region and sector (economic output, £)
By Region
| North East | £1m |
| North West | £3m |
| Yorkshire & the Humber | £2m |
| East Midlands | £2m |
| West Midlands | £2m |
| East of England | £2m |
| London | £3m |
| South East | £2m |
| South West | £2m |
| Wales | £1m |
| Scotland | £56m |
| Northern Ireland | £1m |
| Total | £77m |
By sector
| Agriculture | £0m |
| Production | £9m |
| Construction | £2m |
| Distr., transport, hotels & restaurants | £10m |
| Information & communication | £2m |
| Financial & insurance | £3m |
| Real estate | £6m |
| Professional & support activities | £20m |
| Government, health & education | £22m |
| Other services | £2m |
| Total | £77m |
References
- For more detail on which specific industries are included in this high-level sector classification, please refer to Table 8 in Annex A2.2.5.
- Full results in economic output, GVA, and employment terms (by region and sector) are provided in Figure 9 and Figure 10 in Annex A2.2.4.
Case study 2: Transforming bowel cancer screening
Bowel cancer is the second-most common cause of cancer-related deaths in the UK and is particularly prevalent in Scotland (Cancer Research UK, 2022a).
Consequently, bowel cancer is a key area of research focus within Scotland, particularly within the University of Glasgow’s School of Cancer Sciences and the CRUK Scotland Institute. The two institutions work together closely on bowel cancer research and collectively possess expertise that helps yield insight into how the disease progresses at its earliest stages, develop innovative screening tools, and investigate new treatments to improve late-stage cancer patients’ quality of life. This wide-ranging expertise is evidenced by several prominent bowel cancer research networks that are led from Glasgow, including the ACRCelerate Colorectal Cancer Stratified Medicine Network, the Cancer Research UK RadNet Glasgow Centre, and the Integrated Technologies for Improved Polyp Surveillance (INCISE) collaboration.
INCISE, which is led by Professor Joanne Edwards at the University of Glasgow, aims to transform bowel cancer screening in the UK. The collaboration has led to the INCISE project, a £3.37 million project led by the University of Glasgow in partnership with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and several industry partners. The project team is developing a diagnostic tool that predicts which patients are at risk of developing pre-cancerous lesions (polyps) and tumours.
Currently, patients who test positive for blood in their stool are invited for a colonoscopy. Approximately 5% of those patients will have cancer, whilst over 30% will have polyps. These polyps are removed in a procedure called polypectomy; however, approximately half of those patients will go on to develop new polyps. Presently, all patients found to have polyps are scheduled for repeated colonoscopies, meaning that many people undergo unnecessary and invasive procedures.
INCISE seeks to transform polyp surveillance by developing a comprehensive risk stratification tool that will, for the first time, predict polyp recurrence by utilising the latest developments in digital pathology, machine learning, and next generation sequencing. The project has the potential to help the NHS realise significant cost savings and improve outcomes for patients, by focusing resources on individuals with a higher risk of polyp recurrence. This will minimise the extent to which those patients who do not develop further polyps have to undergo unnecessary, invasive, and time-intensive treatment.
As well as delivering benefits for patients and the NHS, INCISE also has the potential to contribute to the growth of Glasgow’s innovation economy. It is one of eleven projects, six of which are linked to the University of Glasgow, that will receive support from Glasgow City Region’s share of £100 million Levelling Up funding to further accelerate the growth of the region’s high-potential innovation clusters. The project is also this year’s recipient of the Innovative Collaboration Award at Scotland’s Life Sciences Awards 2023, further highlighting the impact of the project to date and its potential to transform bowel cancer screening in Scotland and beyond.