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Dementia Services

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker. The figures show that nationally there are about 700,000 people with dementia, but the number will double and rise to about 1.5 million. In Leicestershire, the county I represent, the figures for 2008 were about 8,000, and by 2025 it is reckoned the number will be 14,000. In my constituency, the Hinckley and Bosworth figures are 1,231 for 2008, rising to 2,114. There is no doubt about the scale of the problem. It is not surprising given that we have an ageing population. One of the key problems is the mismatch between the availability of funds and those who are required to supply the services. I hope to develop that point. Conservative-controlled Leicestershire county council has done a very good job in that respect, but it has not been provided with the funding that would have been reasonable to supply the services it wants to offer. I shall not try to cover everything. When I first came into the House, I remember a senior Member telling me—about somebody else's speech—that there was too much pudding in it. Three points in a speech is probably a good thing, particularly when other Members want to speak. My last point is about the negative impact of anti-psychotic drugs. The issue was also raised by the Secretary of State and commented on by the hon. Member for Broxtowe (Dr. Palmer), the hon. Member for Leeds, North-West (Greg Mulholland), who is no longer in the Chamber, and others. Anti-psychotic drugs can cause strokes and they can cause elderly people to fall. I very much welcome Professor Sube Banerjee's review of anti-psychotic drugs. The Minister may say something about it later on, as he was prompted to do so earlier. It is a major issue and I hope to suggest some other products that might help in such cases, although I have to be careful as I may be corrected by the doctor on the Labour Benches. I was intending to say that not enough planning had been done. However, I was pleased to hear about the forthcoming White Paper, which I think will be helpful. Leicestershire county council is a top-performing authority, with an established home assessment and reablement team helping older people to stay independent, living in their own homes for longer and reducing the numbers going into residential care. I speak for the county when I say that it takes great pride in that. It also has a specialist dementia team to help keep people independent with the use of various forms of assisted technology. Leicestershire county council has achieved that despite its low Government grant. As a county, we are right at the bottom of the pile. Despite various reviews during the tenure of the Labour Government, Leicestershire's funding is right at the bottom. We come back to the shire county versus inner city arguments. There are many different formulae but we do not get a lot of money. The grant covers only 28 per cent. of our social care budget. Nationally, there is a £6 billion shortage in social care, so it is regrettable that in general the Government have offloaded a lot of financial responsibilities to counties. No doubt, that is part of the reason why there are pressures in Nottinghamshire. I shall not go down the route of discussing the policy of privatising some of the homes there, mentioned by the hon. Member for Broxtowe. Not all privatisation is bad. Sometimes we can achieve efficiencies. In the past, we have seen private organisations develop ideas that may not have come about in the public sector.