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Dementia Services

Yes, we are part of the world community on that. It is entirely appropriate that Britain should play as full a part in research as it can. It might be that the important breakthrough will be made somewhere else and that we will develop it—that is the way things happen in medical research. Private research is intensive, because the first company to develop a treatment will do well out of it, and frankly I would not begrudge any company that success, because it would be doing a lot for humanity. I therefore accept the hon. Gentleman's point, but we should not create illusions either. Even if we can treat such conditions, it might be that as people live longer and longer, the prospect of our mental capacity on average gradually declining will inevitably be an invisible rider beside us. It might be that although we can alleviate the problem, we will never completely remove it.