Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of removing the relevant target from the NHS Operational Planning Guidance 2025-6 on the dementia diagnosis rate.

The Darzi Investigation found that there are too many targets set for the National Health Service, which made it hard for local systems to prioritise their actions or to be held properly accountable.

Our aim is to give more power to local systems and let them decide how they use local funding to best meet the needs of their local population.

NHS Planning Guidance is not an exhaustive list of everything the NHS does, and the absence of a target does not mean it is not an area of focus. We remain committed to recovering the dementia diagnosis rate to the national ambition of 66.7%.

We will deliver the first ever Frailty and Dementia Modern Service Framework to deliver rapid and significant improvements in the quality of care and productivity. This will be informed by phase one of the independent commission into adult social care, expected in 2026.

The Frailty and Dementia Modern Service Framework will seek to reduce unwarranted variation and narrow inequality for those living with dementia, and will set national standards for dementia care and redirect NHS priorities to provide the best possible care and support.