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Dementia Strategy

The hon. Gentleman is right to ask me about that. If there were time to do so, I would be more than pleased to develop that point. [Laughter.] Suffice it to say, before the Minister has complete hysterics, that the NHS board and the NHS autonomy and accountability Bill, which will be introduced in the first year of a Conservative Government, would be the chaser and enforcer of such matters. That is what is so absent from the Government's plans—they give headline announcements but have nothing to chase them through, so the accountability fails. I hope that the Minister will take that point seriously, rather than seek to laugh it off, and that we can move to the second concern, which is the vagueness with which the dementia strategy laid out its funding sources for the next decade. To date, the Government's impact assessment has identified only £533 million of efficiency savings over 10 years, which leaves nearly three quarters of the £1.9 billion budget unaccounted for. The Government have yet to give a detailed indication of where the money will come from, and I hope that the Minister will provide details on that. Clearly, those savings have already been announced, and we do not need to wait for the Budget for them—that is the normal cover claimed by Ministers at the moment. There is an opportunity this morning to put those details on the record at last. The third concern with the strategy was highlighted by my hon. Friend the Member for Banbury and also mentioned in the NAO report; it is the Government's need to tackle the gaping hole in the skills set of all professionals who encounter dementia patients as part of their job. We sought reassurance on that matter during the Opposition day debate, and the Secretary of State said that he had commissioned Skills for Health and Skills for Care to assess training needs. However, he did not specify whether the Government were looking specifically at dementia training or at the broader work force agenda, and I hope that the Minister will take the opportunity to clarify that point. The hon. Member for Sutton and Cheam mentioned the important issue of the evolving discussion that started with the early-hit headline announcement of memory clinics in every constituency. That was downgraded to memory services, and then to services that seem to exist already, mainly psychiatric services and centres. Perhaps the Minister will update us on where he has got to with putting a memory clinic "in every town", to be precise with the quote. Let us see whether the strategy has been delivered on and has fulfilled the hopes that were raised by the headlines that were secured by the Government's announcement. Dementia research is another vital area. We must ensure that we match the commitment to research—particularly where that research has Government funding—that involves tracking the anticipated and known demography coming down the track. We have pledged to give greater priority to research on dementia and Alzheimer's within Government research budgets, and we hold to that pledge. Hopefully, that will be matched, and I am encouraged by the Government's more recent announcement of a new ministerial group on dementia research. It would be helpful to find out what progress has been made to date—I think that there has been a meeting—and to learn what support is on offer. We can then ensure that our research, which is world-class and in which we are leaders, can be capitalised on, so that benefits to patients can be developed and accelerated. I come to a point that has not yet been mentioned, but which is vital. We recognise—uniquely at the moment, although we would be more than happy if other parties were prepared to match the pledge—the need to widen the remit of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence. It should include not only cost and clinical effectiveness in its assessments, but the wider societal cost, which is vital. That would require primary legislation, and we have been calling for that change for four and a half years. The best example is, of course, Aricept, which can postpone, and therefore relieve, many of the early onset needs of Alzheimer's patients, thereby postponing the time when a much greater care package needs to be found. We have sought to look at the problem of residential care, but the fear of going into residential care needs to be addressed. Tony Blair identified that issue in 1997, but it has not been addressed for 13 years. The arguments for our home protection scheme have been well rehearsed, so I will not rehearse them again today. The scheme seeks to address that element of the care requirement, which is something that particularly affects dementia patients because so many end up going into residential care. That is why the issue is of such vital importance. In this debate, and as we come to the end of this Parliament, there is an opportunity to hold a stocktake, and I make no apology for doing so. We have heard a lot of promises from the Government, and a considerable number of headlines have been generated. However, despite the warm words and the other utterances that secure headlines—that is the result of any ministerial announcement—it must be right to hold the Government to account, and to ask them to report on how they have delivered, rather than simply promised, not only on the dementia strategy, but on other strategies allied to it. In the 11 minutes that the Minister has in which to reply, he has the opportunity to report on the delivery of those strategies, rather than simply on the promises.