asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if it is possible to give an estimate of the number of people suffering from senile dementia and at present in hospital or other residential care.

No firm figures are available, but 500,000 elderly people are believed to suffer from moderate or severe dementia. Of these, a great many live in the community, and between 11,000 and 13,000 occupy mental illness beds in NHS hospitals. Information about those in other hospital beds or other forms of residential care is not collected centrally.