Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to ensure that the Major Conditions Strategy will include a funded plan for timely diagnoses of dementia.

The Major Conditions Strategy will set out a strong and coherent policy agenda with a shift to integrated, whole-person care. The Strategy will cover prevention and treatment of dementia, including diagnosis.

Over the next phase of the Major Conditions Strategy, we will focus on areas where we believe we will make the greatest impact across all conditions; this focus will include embedding early diagnosis and treatment delivery in the community.

The launch of the Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Mission, which aims to speed up the development of new treatments, was supported by £95 million of Government funding; £131 million committed to the next five years of the UK Dementia Research Institute; and £11 million investment into digital innovations to detect and diagnose dementia.

This contributes to delivering the Government’s commitment to double funding for dementia research to £160 million a year by 2024/25. This will span all areas of research, including diagnosis and treatment of dementia, enabling the best possible care and quality of life for people with dementia.