Written question asked by Tracey Crouch (Conservative) on Monday, 22 October 2012, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 24 October 2012. It was answered by Norman Lamb (Liberal Democrat) on Monday, 29 October 2012 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Older People: Loneliness

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what estimate he has made of the number of people aged over 65 who suffer from extreme loneliness;

[124884]

Answer

The information requested is not collected. However, the Campaign to End Loneliness has estimated that there are over a million people over the age of 65 reported feeling lonely.

On 15 March 2012, the Department co-hosted a summit on loneliness which saw charities, businesses, hon. Members and public sector organisations come together to start a discussion about loneliness and isolation in older age and how it could best be tackled. The Department also commissioned and funded work on a ‘digital toolkit’ for Health and Well-being Boards to support local councils and the national health service to take action to address the issue of loneliness in their area which was launched on 10 July 2012.

In addition, in 2013-14, the Department plans to include shared measures of well-being across both the Public Health and Adult Social Care Outcome Frameworks with a focus on developing suitable measures of social isolation.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 124884; 552 cc95-6W
Session: 2012-13
Subjects: Older people Loneliness
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk

Older People: Loneliness

Secondary information

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