Nick Thomas-Symonds – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Thomas-Symonds on 2015-12-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department has taken to seek the views of pensioners on (a) his Department’s policies and (b) dementia since the closure of the UK Advisory Forum on Ageing.
Alistair Burt
We are committed to continuing to listen to and act on the wishes of older people. For example the Department plans to carry out an engagement programme with stakeholder groups representing older people as part of the forthcoming Carer’s Strategy.
The Government is clear that dementia remains a priority and will implement the Prime Minister’s Challenge on Dementia 2020 in full to make sure that dementia care, support, awareness and research are transformed by 2020. The 2020 Challenge aims to build on the achievements of the Prime Minister’s challenge on dementia 2012-2015.
The Department continues to engage with a range of people with dementia and carers including stakeholders who represent them in both delivering the Prime Minister’s Challenge 2012-2015 and in developing and implementing the Prime Minister’s Challenge 2020. The Department also works closely people with dementia and carers through its work with the Dementia Action Alliance.
The Department has funded a number of projects on dementia education and training which have worked directly with people with dementia, in order to better understand the training needs of the staff who support and care for them.
More generally through the Health and Care Voluntary Sector Strategic Partner Programme, the Department, NHS England and Public Health England are already able to work directly in partnership with well-connected voluntary sector organisations. The programme provides a way for policy makers to reach thousands of voluntary and community sector organisations. Many of these groups whom support and represent older people within their communities through the extensive depth and reach of the partners’ networks. This helps to ensure that the voice of small voluntary and community sector organisations is in direct contact with national bodies at the heart of decision making. Age UK is one of the 22 strategic partners, ensuring that older people’s needs are strongly represented.
