Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Baroness Jay of Paddington (Labour). It was answered on Wednesday, 2 December 2009.

Dementia

Question: My Lords, I declare an interest as a patron of the Alzheimer’s Research Trust. Following the Minister’s response to the last question, does she agree that the real issue is to devote more resources to research into dementia as a whole and particularly, as the Nuffield report suggests, into the social research, which covers all the aspects of care and people’s experience when they suffer with this disease? In a sense, that is one thing that is sadly lacking in present research resources.

Answer: My noble friend makes an important point. We are currently commissioning research into best-interest decisions taken under the Mental Capacity Act. As part of the strategy, my honourable friend the Minister has, as my noble friend will know, established a ministerial group of which the Alzheimer’s Society is part, following on from the dementia research summit which pointed to many of those priorities.

Secondary information