That this House has considered dementia research in the UK.
I thank the Backbench Business Committee for granting this important debate, the all-party parliamentary group on dementia, of which I am the co-chair with the wonderful Baroness Sally Greengross, and the Alzheimer’s Society for all its work to support the APPG. I also thank the many Members who agreed to sponsor the debate, although being just before recess it is obviously a difficult slot to fill.
Dementia is one of the biggest health challenges that we face today. It is the UK’s biggest killer and, with an ever-ageing population, the number of people living with dementia in the UK and around the world is set to grow. Indeed, figures from the Alzheimer’s Society show that around 900,000 people are currently living with the condition in the UK, and that number is set to grow to 1.3 million by 2030. There will be few of us who do not know somebody who is either living with dementia or affected by it.
That includes me. My mum was 64 when she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and unfortunately she died 10 years later. The work I do on the APPG is in her memory, and in recognition that there are millions of families affected by dementia and who are currently caring for people they love who have one of the many degenerative brain diseases that cause dementia. We frequently talk about dementia as though it was just one disease, but it is not. Dementia is a set of symptoms, but there is an array of degenerative brain diseases that make up dementia, of which Alzheimer’s disease is probably the best known.
My hon. Friend talks movingly about her mum. My mum also had frontotemporal dementia as the cause on her death certificate in 2017, 10 days before polling day—thanks, mum! Towards the end they have a mixture of intransigence, stubbornness, regression and paranoia. A minibus from Ealing Council used to come and take her to a memory clinic in Acton, but it was largely old chaps playing dominoes, and that was not really her scene. She loved entertaining, and it was so sad that someone who used to cook for so many forgot how to swallow by the end. Does my hon. Friend agree that, as well as the shocking “moonshot” that we were promised in the 2019 Conservative manifesto, which has never happened, research should look at culturally and gender-appropriate solutions to this awful disease? As she says, so many of us know people who are afflicted by it.
I thank my hon. Friend, who makes a powerful point about her own experience with her mum’s frontotemporal dementia and the importance of ensuring that we understand, from different cultural perspectives and different ethnicities, the impact of dementia and how we care for our loved ones who have it.
I want this debate to be about hope. That is so important. My hon. Friend has just spoken about her mum, and it was very hard for my mum. She could not speak and could barely move. She could not feed herself. It was a very sad state. However, there is huge optimism and reasons for hope, and that is what I want this debate to be about. I firmly believe that, as with many other conditions, research will find a cure for dementia.
We have one of the best life sciences sectors in the world, as we have seen over the past few years with the work that the University of Oxford and others have undertaken with the covid vaccination programme. Our researchers are rarely talked about, but they are our unsung heroes and we should be immensely proud of the work they do and the significant contribution they make to the economy. I believe it is a matter of when, not if, we will see the breakthroughs that are desperately needed for therapies in dementia research.
However, that is fundamentally dependent on adequate investment. Despite the ever-increasing prevalence of dementia, research into it is consistently and disproportionately underfunded. There is news from the United States of treatments such as aducanumab, which has just been approved by the Food and Drug Administration and is expected to help people when they are diagnosed with dementia. This is a great and exciting opportunity for the Government to support the field and cement the UK’s place as a world leader in dementia research.
As my hon. Friend has just mentioned, we know that during the 2019 general election the Conservative party promised to double dementia research funding from £83 million to £166 million a year over a 10-year period—the “dementia moonshot”. Similarly, the Labour party has committed to that. We have cross-party consensus, but we are still waiting for the Government to bring forward any of that additional funding. Last year, in fact, there was a 10% fall in the amount of funding provided to dementia research, so it received only £75 million instead of £83 million. That is a huge missed opportunity to expand our research capabilities in that area, to support the inspiring academics working in the field and to provide hope to the millions of people affected by dementia across the UK. It also does not make economic sense, as I will move on to later.
My mum died of dementia at the start of the covid outbreak. She formed a great attachment to Madam Deputy Speaker, of whom she was very fond, and Madam Deputy Speaker was very fond of her. Her name was Marion. She went from being a sparkling presence to somebody who, at the start of the pandemic, was locked in for her own protection and I was not able to go and see her. I had never before understood the whole idea of somebody turning their face to the wall, but she just stopped eating and drinking, and within a week, she was dead. I hope that when the story of the pandemic is written, we will remember all those people who died because of it and who will never be recorded as having died of covid. They died through loneliness, which is so important for us all to remember.
Order. May I interrupt to say to the hon. Gentleman and to the House that his mother was a sparkling presence and a lovely lady? I was very fond of her and it is tragic that he has lost her. We all feel it very deeply with him.
I similarly add my sincere condolences to the hon. Member. I could not agree more with his sentiments. It does affect everybody and it is moving to hear how different hon. Members have been affected by their loved ones. I want to provide hope as well, and I hope that what I go on to say will provide a bit of comfort to him. We must do more on it, though, must we not?
The Government have said that we can expect to see their plans on dementia research in the national dementia strategy. I am grateful to see the Minister in his place, because we have worked together on dementia in the past and I know that he feels as passionately about it as I do. Given that there has been a real hiatus from the manifesto in 2019 to where we are now, and that we have actually slipped backwards, I would be grateful if he could commit to discussions with the Treasury about an announcement in the spring statement next month. That is way overdue and we must provide hope to hon. Members on both sides of the Chamber.
It would be remiss of me not to mention the success of previous Governments in the last 15 years. We had our first dementia strategy in 2009. My right hon. Friend, now the Mayor of Greater Manchester, was the author of that fine strategy. We must also pay tribute to the former Prime Minister David Cameron for his work on it. He managed to increase dementia research from just over £28 million to £82 million during his incumbency. Government-led initiatives, such as his challenge on dementia, establishing the UK Dementia Research Institute, and leading the world during our 2014 G8 presidency by hosting the world’s first dementia summit, put us on a good footing to lead the world in this field. We need to build on that, but as I say I fear we are slipping backwards.
I mentioned the importance and urgency of fulfilling that commitment, but I also want to stress the economic argument. We heard last week, in the Government’s levelling-up White Paper, about the huge potential economic benefits of investing in research and development, particularly in the life sciences. Our life sciences sector in the north-west, spanning from Liverpool all the way to Hull, has magnificent research institutes and organisations. We know that extra Government investment acts as a catalyst to unlock private funding. A study conducted by Oxford Economics in 2020 found that each £1 of public money—Government money—is at least doubled. If we look at what that would mean for dementia research, a moonshot investment of £800 million over the next decade could unlock £1.6 billion to £1.8 billion of additional private investment. This is an answer to the levelling-up issue to which the Government have said they are committed. I urge them. This is a source of addressing some of the issues they are facing on that particular policy promise.
James Sunderland (Bracknell) (Con)
I was not going to speak today because of a clash with a Bill Committee, but I have been asked by several constituents to come in to listen to the debate. The hon. Lady is putting forward a persuasive case. I want briefly to pay tribute to the hidden army of carers across the UK: the current estimate is that there are about 6.5 million of them. They are perhaps saving the Treasury over £100 billion in lost wages. Does she agree that we should do more to increase carer’s allowance and to formally recognise those very selfless and diligent people?
I thank the hon. Member for his intervention. I am very grateful to him for coming here. I agree totally with the points he has made to acknowledge the army of family carers who support people living with dementia and the fact that they are supported by a pittance. We need to do much, much more in that regard.
I was coming on to talk about the importance of the work of charities such as Alzheimer’s Research UK and the Alzheimer’s Society. About half of all the research undertaken is as a result of the funding raised by the Alzheimer’s Society. As many would expect, like other charitable sectors, medical research charities were hit particularly hard as a result of the pandemic. The Association of Medical Research Charities estimated that the pandemic has caused a shortfall of UK medical research investment of at least £310 million. That huge loss of income has of course impacted on funding decisions for these charities. The Alzheimer’s Society had planned to fund two research calls last year, but it was unable to do so because of its financial situation. The same thing was felt across the entire research community. An Alzheimer’s Society survey found that 85% of researchers reported that the pandemic had led to fewer funding opportunities being available for them.
Similarly, like those in nearly every UK sector, dementia researchers have been hard-hit by the effects of the pandemic. For many, lockdowns meant that their labs had to close and participants could no longer take in part in trials. I spoke to a researcher in Manchester who had spent months growing brain cells for her research, only for them to have to be thrown away—months of work wasted. The pandemic also had an impact on the work of researchers who worked outside labs. For example, it affected those working in areas that require face-to-face contact with participants—including people with dementia—such as drug, clinical and care intervention trials.
I thank the hon. Member for Oldham East and Saddleworth (Debbie Abrahams) for a first-class introduction to the debate. Dementia is an awfully debilitating condition. We all have many constituents who have asked us to pay attention to it and to attend the debate. I have been asked to speak and consider it a duty to do so.
My mother died while suffering from dementia. It was horrid to see a dynamic, wonderful person reduced so greatly that she did not even recognise my sister, who had cared for her. I totally sympathise with the description given by my friend the hon. Member for Ochil and South Perthshire (John Nicolson) of what happened to his mother. My mother was lonely, she was lost, and it was terrible—a terrible end for her.
As we have heard, the UK has 850,000 dementia sufferers, and it gets so much worse once we are beyond 65. I reckon that roughly one in 70 of the population have dementia. One thing that really strikes me about dementia—it is a vivid image—is how often dementia sufferers are so frightened. I gather—I have not seen it—that they are particularly frightened when they walk into a room with a dark carpet or mat on the floor. They shrink back, because they think it is a hole that would devour them.
I pay tribute to the people who look after those suffering with dementia. That is not just formal carers; it is normally the family. Everyone who has experience of dementia sufferers knows that those carers do so much for those people whom they love, yet they do not get recognition for it. They are looking after someone whom they care about but get no response. It is really difficult. It asks one hell of a lot of people to keep doing it, but, my goodness, they do, often for no money whatsoever; it is simply because of love and what the person was before.
I am pleased to have been briefed by the Alzheimer’s Society, and I am now what it calls a dementia friend. May I urge all colleagues to take the Alzheimer’s Society’s “Dementia Friends” course? I did it in my office. It takes about half an hour. People come and explain about dementia. We may all think we know it, but let people come and talk about it. Then, the more of us who know what it is like and can talk about it, the more of us who can influence Government and the more we can help those poor devils who suffer from dementia and those people who, by extension, are affected so deeply by dementia because they have to look after dementia sufferers.
I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Oldham East and Saddleworth (Debbie Abrahams) on securing and leading today’s important debate, and I have enjoyed all the contributions. I thank her for the work of the all-party parliamentary group on dementia, which she co-chairs, and the excellent report it published last year on dementia research. The report rightly sets out the need for the Government to honour their commitment and bring forward the dementia moonshot funding as soon as possible. The report also sets out some of the key challenges the sector is facing and where that additional funding could be best used. I know that the Government are currently working on a new national dementia strategy, and I hope that the Minister will use the APPG’s report in its development.
I echo the words of my hon. Friend in her opening contribution: dementia is one of the biggest health challenges facing us today. There are currently 900,000 people in the UK living with dementia. In my city, there are already around 2,690 people living with dementia, and that figure is expected to grow to more than 3,800 by 2030. It is one of the consequences of our ageing population. Dementia does not just affect those who have the condition; it also has a profound impact on family, carers and loved ones. Many, if not all of us know someone who is facing the challenges of living with dementia, and we owe it to them and their families to do what we can to make life that bit easier in the future.
As we all know, there is currently no cure for dementia. Finding a cure must be a key aim, but it is not the only one; we must also invest in research to explore how people with dementia can best be treated and cared for. Dementia is a progressive condition, with the symptoms likely to get worse over time. That has severe implications for family members providing care. I take this opportunity to highlight the work of the Centre for Dementia at the University of Nottingham, based in the Institute of Mental Health. It is addressing precisely that issue. The centre’s mission is to improve the lives of people with dementia and their carers through high-quality, useful research, looking at how people with dementia spend their time and what can help them to get the maximum quality from life.
It is always a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Nottingham South (Lilian Greenwood). I join her in thanking the hon. Member for Oldham East and Saddleworth (Debbie Abrahams) for securing the debate, and for all her work as joint chair of the all-party parliamentary group on dementia.
It is a real pleasure to contribute to the debate on dementia research in the UK. As the hon. Member for Nottingham South said, Dementia affects around 944,000 people in the UK, which is 1.33% of the population, and also takes them away from us, sometimes too early. It was the leading cause of death in December 2021, when dementia and Alzheimer’s accounted for 12.4% of all deaths. In 2021, when we were rightly fixated on covid and its impact, covid accounted for 5.4% of deaths. Frankly, we do not talk enough about dementia and what it does. Perhaps if we talked more about the impacts, people might join us in pressing for more change. As the hon. Member said, funding for research is relatively low. Cancer attracts three times as much, despite the statistics I have just given.
All that matters very much to me as MP for Bexhill and Battle, because there are 2,413 people in the constituency living with dementia. That is 2.34% of all my constituents. Of our 650 constituencies, mine has the second highest number of constituents living with dementia. I thank everyone, both in my constituency and across the country, who cares for those living with dementia, and I send my best wishes to all those who have dementia. I want to press for more, so that we get a better deal for those with dementia, and for those who are so selfless and give so much in looking after them, whether they are doing so through their employment or because the person they are looking after is a loved one.
On local interaction, I am very lucky, because we have built up a good deal of expertise through our links in East Sussex. My office team have been trained as dementia friends, thanks to the Alzheimer’s Society. That has helped me to engage a lot better with constituents who face personal challenges. When I was first elected in 2015, I went to a specialist dementia care home in Heathfield. We MPs do not get training for that type of thing—or for many other things—so I asked the matron running the unit, “How do I deal with it when something occurs?” Her advice was: “Just go into the same world as them. Don’t be embarrassed; just go there and be part of it.” I have remembered that advice and followed it ever since. We have ended up doing some very funny things, but I have never once felt silly; I felt as though I was engaging and having fun, and that has stayed with me.
I myself remember starting to dance with an old lady, and the dance was endless. It was one ballroom dance, then another, a third and a fourth. Finally, the care home attendant had to come and take me away, and he said, “She is a former professional dancer. She will dance with you all afternoon, unless we stop.” Is there a problem that people are scared of folk with dementia? Should we be teaching dementia awareness, which the hon. Gentleman raised, at schools?
The hon. Member is absolutely right. I feel that a lot of us are scared. Actually, a lot of hon. Members are perhaps scared that they are making a fool of themselves, but they are not. They are making their constituents happy that they are there with them. I have done something very similar to the hon. Gentleman. It is right to teach young people about dementia in schools and almost require every single school to have that partnership, to encourage young people to feel as if they can let go. It is an excellent suggestion. I hope the Minister heard it and will take it into account.
We are fortunate to have local pioneers. Mention has been made of ensuring that people get tested, because early intervention can help a great deal. A year or so ago, I visited a pioneering local memory assessment service based in Bexhill, which supports patients with dementia across both my constituency and the wider East Sussex coast. Dr Stephen French, who leads the memory assessment service, is a GP, which makes the service quite novel. I took part in a memory assessment test and went all the way through it myself, to see exactly what those who participate have to undertake and how difficult it is.
The service has been running for seven years and has proved successful with local residents. What is great about it is that it is a community-based dementia service, so anyone presenting with a memory problem will be seen by their local GP in the first instance. After they have gone through other causes of memory loss, such as depression or circulatory disease, they will be referred to a local dementia specialist for a full assessment, at a GP close to their home. So, they could be having that difficult test with their own GP. That means that those who are already worried about memory loss are able to go into a setting with which they are more familiar. It is less intimidating than going to a hospital or mental health hospital, which is where such tests sometimes take place. Unsurprisingly, it means more people will take up the offer and attend the test. That is hugely important for a constituency such as mine, where there are so many people who are impacted.
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It was because of the lack of Government movement on the issue that last year the all-party parliamentary group decided to undertake a dementia research inquiry. As well as making the case for the moonshot, the resulting report, “Fuelling the Moonshot”—do look at it on the Alzheimer’s Society website—set out how the money could be best used to support the sector. Throughout the inquiry, we sought to look at the entire dementia research system. It is important to recognise that, when we talk about dementia research, we do not just mean exploring for cures and treatments, although that is obviously vital; it is also about researching diagnostic methods, how dementia can be prevented and exploring how people with dementia can best be cared for.
Over the course of the inquiry, we took written and oral evidence from hundreds of people living with and affected by dementia, academics, charities, research institutes and research participants. I thank everybody who took part. We could not have produced the quality report we did without their input. They ranged from Exeter, where researchers are investigating how we can improve the quality of life for people with dementia, to Edinburgh, where leading academics are researching the links between dementia and head traumas in sport. What we found was a rich, diverse and passionate set of people working tirelessly to improve the lives of people with dementia and their families, but they need our support and they need Government support.
Understandably, many clinical staff were redeployed to work in the frontline NHS throughout the pandemic, and that heavily impacted on the progress of dementia research. An Alzheimer’s Society survey from April 2021 found that almost a quarter of its funded researchers said that they or another team member had been redeployed in the NHS or in frontline services during the pandemic. We know that much of the clinical research that is undertaken depends on the effective clinical running of routine NHS dementia services, and many of those were seriously affected during covid.
One area I was particularly concerned to hear about during the inquiry was the impact of the pandemic on early career researchers. These are researchers who are at the PhD or post-doctoral stage of their careers. For many of them, much of their time and focus is taken up with concerns about where their funding will come from, or whether they will be able to progress any further. One researcher told the all-party group that
“typical…contracts go on for 3 years, and you have to spend a lot of your time in year 3 applying for your next tranche of funding—affecting your productivity.”
She went on to say that
“instead of concentrating on research, academics are having to worry about their mortgage.”
Of course, that has only been exacerbated by the pandemic.
There was a concern that having to suffer a break in their research left today’s early career researchers uncompetitive in the job market. There is a fear among those researchers that, when they apply for funding for the next stage of their career, they will not be looked on as favourably as others. In May 2021, the Government announced a fund of £20 million to support those charity-funded ECRs. I would be grateful if the Minister, in his closing remarks, responded to the recommendation that we made in our inquiry report on how we can further support these important researchers, without whom we will not see the next breakthroughs. They are absolutely vital and should not be overlooked.
Throughout my time as co-chair of the all-party group, and particularly during the inquiry, I have been lucky enough to hear at first hand from people living with dementia, and from their families. During the inquiry, I spoke to inspiring people who live with dementia or who have cared for people with dementia, and who gave up their time to participate in dementia research. I was struck by the sense of empowerment that this gave them. They know that the activities that they are undertaking may not help them directly, but they recognise that the research may support better care, treatments and even a cure for someone in the future.
To ensure that the UK is a world leader in dementia research, we must be able to attract participants to take part in trials. As one research participant put it:
“Too often research feels something that is just done to someone, rather than something that people can be a part of.”
People often do not know how they can be involved in dementia research. I want to draw everyone’s attention to Join Dementia Research UK. I encourage everyone, including hon. and right hon. Members, to sign up to it. It can link them up to research projects happening across the UK, and that is how we will help to make progress. The service is currently trialling writing to people with dementia after their diagnosis to invite them to participate in research. I would be grateful if the Minister said a little bit about how his Department could support Join Dementia Research UK with its pilot and help to roll it out.
Former England rugby union player Ben Kay is one such research participant who has also taken part in our inquiry. He has spoken quite openly about how important it is for him to be involved in the Alzheimer’s Society’s funded research programme that investigates the links between rugby and dementia. I am sure many Members here will be familiar with this not just in rugby, but in football. Nobby Stiles springs to mind, but we also know that Bobby Charlton, a particular hero of mine, has been affected. We need to understand head trauma in all forms of sport: not just those that use the different shaped balls that boys in particular play on football and rugby fields, but other sports as well. That issue, the Minister will know, has been of growing interest, particularly in the media. Again I would be grateful if he said how, with his cross-departmental work, he has been able to support this. Extra funding through the moonshot could really expand our knowledge of that area, so we can ensure that everybody can participate in sport safely. It is also important to ensure that people understand the risks and what steps they can take to minimise them, which is another area of research being undertaken.
One of the most exciting areas in dementia research at the moment is diagnosis. There is a real prospect that very soon we could see blood biomarker tests readily available to help to ensure people receive not just an accurate, but an early diagnosis, and I am talking many decades before we actually see the physical, behavioural and cognitive symptoms that we are familiar with in dementia. These can be cheap and easy to administer, much like the countless other blood tests that happen day in, day out. Again, I would be very grateful if the Minister responded on how we can make sure that, as those come on line, we can make them readily available.
Before I close my remarks, I would like to highlight some of the excellent research already taking place in the UK, particularly through the UK Dementia Research Institute. Set up 2017, this is the biggest investment the UK has ever made in dementia, thanks to the £290 million donation from founding funders the Medical Research Council, the Alzheimer’s Society and Alzheimer’s Research UK. I met the director of the institute during the inquiry and heard of the important work that it is doing.
The UKDRI has over 650 researchers working towards treatments and technologies to improve the lives of people living with dementia, with sites across all parts of the UK, including London, Cardiff and Edinburgh. The director, Professor Bart De Strooper, estimated that about a third of his researchers had been attracted to the UK from other parts of the world because of its infrastructure and research capabilities. That shows what a leading role the UK can be proud to play in this area—a world leader. With the Government funding for UKDRI running up to 2023, at which point progress will be reviewed, it is important that this vital asset in the UK’s dementia research system is supported to continue its work. We are only a year away from that, so I hope the Minister is able to say more about that.
There is also great research happening across the UK in the area of care research. We heard from Professor Dame Louise Robinson, who leads an Alzheimer’s Society-funded centre of excellence in Newcastle University. These centres of excellence, which also have sites in Exeter and London, bring together leading researchers to investigate how people with dementia can best be cared for. I am conscious of the interventions that hon. Members made earlier. That research is valuable to those people who currently have dementia in looking at how we can make sure they are properly cared for.
What is concerning is that, although there is a plethora of evidence of how effective care research is, it is not being used. In contrast to the principle of evidence-based medicine and evidence-based care, it is not actually being used, which is staggering. Again, I would be very grateful for the Minister’s thoughts on that. Can I just mention this figure? In a review of 170 training manuals for person-centred care in dementia, researchers found that just four—four—provided evidence about what methods worked when tested in a research setting. That is what we are using to train our carers. There is an evidence base, yet it is not being used to underpin that training. We need to do much better on that.
The UK has come a long way in improving our dementia research sector, but it is imperative that we build on that. People living with dementia and their families deserve to see the Government delivering on their general election commitment to dementia moonshot funding and leadership in dementia research such as we saw with the covid vaccine development. I urge the Minister to liaise with the Treasury in the run-up to the spring statement next month and to deliver for the dementia research community and for the country. We can be a world leader in the field, but that will need the Government to fulfil their commitments.
The University of Nottingham is an excellent example of what can be achieved when there is investment in research, and I know from the Alzheimer’s Society, and from what my hon. Friend said, that there are similar programmes in Exeter and Newcastle. She highlighted their centres of excellence. I hope that the Government will work closely with the charitable funders of dementia research and look to replicate those best practice examples. That is very important for improving healthcare, but that investment in research and development, particularly when it is targeted outside of London, can provide real benefits to places such as Nottingham.
Since the pandemic began, we have seen what can be achieved by our life sciences sector when it has the funding, the leadership and the clarity of purpose it needs. The huge advances we have seen in the last decade around dementia research—whether that is the creation of world-leading research institutions, such as the UK Dementia Research Institute, or the vast increase in the number of people attracted to the UK to do dementia research—have all come about because of increased targeted funding and a national strategy to bring together charities, academics and private investors. It is worrying that the state of the UK’s dementia research sector is now at risk. To be honest, it is deeply disappointing that the Government, two years on from their initial promise of a moonshot, have not yet brought forward the funding. When the Minister replies, I hope that he will set out a timetable for when that will be delivered and confirm that the new strategy will be ambitious about what can be achieved.
One point that really struck me when reading my hon. Friend’s report was the impact of the pandemic and the lack of secure funding on researchers. It is clear from the report and researchers’ testimonies that for many of them this is not just a job but a vocation. Not only are they passionate about science, but many also have a personal link to dementia. Their motivation is to find a cure or treatment, or to improve the lives of people living with dementia, but even before the effects of the pandemic, which shut down many labs and prevented people from properly carrying out their work, it is clear that there was a career bottleneck, causing many researchers to leave the field.
There is no shortage of talent among dementia researchers in the UK, but there is a leaky pipeline. New cohorts of doctoral students are often encouraged to enter dementia research without the funding in place to ensure that they can continue and progress into post-doctoral research. Will the Minister tell us what is being done in the upcoming strategy to address that pipeline—to ensure that our talented researchers do not have to move abroad to continue their work or, worse still, leave the field altogether? I know that the Government gave £20 million last year to support charity-funded researchers, but that is far from what was promised; they must do more.
How can we ensure that more people with dementia and their carers can participate in research? As part of the 2020 dementia challenge, the Government set out an ambition for 25% of people living with dementia to be registered with Join Dementia Research, which my hon. Friend mentioned. However, just 2% of people living with dementia in England have registered on the site, despite the policy being written into NHS commissioning guidance and National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance. Attracting the world’s best researchers and private investment relies on us as a country being able to show that we can get the right number and right type of participants taking part in research, so what are the Government doing to encourage and enable that? Of course, it is about not just the benefit to the academic research, but the benefit to participants themselves; the report details how being involved in research can provide a sense of empowerment.
My final point today is about prevention. We simply are not doing enough to communicate to the public what every one of us can do to prevent dementia—reducing our risk by keeping ourselves healthy. One of the key slogans about brain health is “healthy heart, healthy brain.” Cardiovascular problems all increase the risk of memory loss, thinking problems and dementia, but it is never too late in life to reduce those risks.
There are 12 modifiable risk factors for dementia, including smoking, alcohol consumption, exposure to pollution and traumatic brain injury. Cutting out or reducing those risk factors can reduce the likelihood of developing dementia, but despite clear research in this area, Alzheimer’s Research UK’s 2018 dementia attitudes monitor showed that just 34% of people thought that they could reduce their risk of developing dementia—far behind the equivalent figures for conditions such as diabetes and heart disease, which were 81% and 77% respectively. If people do not believe that they can do something about it, they will clearly not take the actions that they could. Will the Minister set out what the Government are doing to improve the health information provided to the public? Will that form part of the new national dementia strategy?
In conclusion, it is obvious that we have a wonderful, rich and diverse dementia research sector in the UK. We have passionate, dedicated academics who work tirelessly to improve the life of people with dementia, and of their families and carers. We have clearly come a long way. We have built terrific infrastructure, and have world-leading facilities, but just as dementia does not stop progressing, neither should we. We have to build on this, particularly given the impact that the pandemic has had on the field. We must offer opportunities and support to academics. If we do not, we are at risk of wasting all the great work done over the past decade. We must not allow that to happen, particularly when there are new, exciting developments that will drastically improve the life of people with dementia. As my hon. Friend the Member for Oldham East and Saddleworth said, we have to provide hope. The Government must bring forward a plan for delivering the moonshot funding as soon as possible. I look forward to the Minister giving us some hope when he responds.
I am really lucky with all our care homes and specialist units. I absolutely love to watch young children come from the schools to read to those in the care homes. Of course, some residents have difficulties with their short-term memory, but some of them have an extraordinary long-term memory. I remember one lady in Battle who did not contribute, but then stood up and recited, without a flaw, “I wandered lonely as a cloud”. It was an incredibly moving moment. The children were shocked, and I will always remember it.
Next week, I will visit a local charity, Young at Heart, where there is a lovely connection between young people from schools and preschools, and those who are older.
When the test is positive, that comes as a great shock to both the individual and their family, but with this particular service, two weeks after diagnosis patients receive a visit from a local dementia support worker to see how they are getting on and to discuss the range of support services available to them. Then there is aftercare, followed up by a medical review to see how the patient is coping and to assess the effectiveness of any medication. Their pathway then comes back into their own GP service, so it becomes one of the conditions that they are being treated for.
As well as talking about research, which I will go on to mention, I feel that we have to encourage early diagnosis in a local setting, and we have to take away the stigma of it. That comes back to the point made by the hon. Member for Ochil and South Perthshire (John Nicolson) around interacting. There is also a stigma about going to have the tests. I would encourage any colleague of mine to go and have the test, in the same way that I have. It is incredibly insightful.
Let me return to the main thrust of this debate, which is about research. I agree with the hon. Member for Oldham East and Saddleworth that this debate should be about hope. I agree with her that research will find that cure, and I agree with her that it is a case of “when”, not “if”, but I also agree with her that it requires continued funding of the amazing life science and research sector with which we are blessed in this country. I particularly note the UK Dementia Research Institute, which was set up in 2017. Its main hub is at University College London, but there are six other centres across the UK, funded by the Medical Research Council, Alzheimer’s Society and Alzheimer’s Research UK. It will be doing the job to deliver the moonshot cure that the hon. Member talked about, but it will require a good chunk of the £5 billion committed in the 2021 spending review to go into research on dementia.
I am encouraged by the Government’s track record. In the five-year plan in 2015, the Challenge on Dementia, there was a commitment to spend £300 million by March 2020. In fact that amount was spent by March 2019, and it was £344 million. So the track record is there, but there were some bold pledges in my own 2019 manifesto on what we would do as a party to help deliver that cure for dementia. Let me say to the Minister—I know that he cares deeply about this issue—that if he needs any help at all in trying to strong-arm as much of that budget as possible towards dementia, he will always have a friend in me.
It has been a pleasure to speak in the debate. This is an issue that affects so many of my constituents—so many wonderful people who care or who suffer. I am delighted that we have secured the debate, and have raised the flag for them.