My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Ivan Lewis) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.

Today the Government are publishing Transforming the Quality of Dementia Care: Consultation on a National Dementia Strategy.

In August 2007, I announced a programme of work to develop the first national dementia strategy for England. This document is to stimulate debate on how we can develop the final strategy and ensure a better life in the future for people affected by dementia.

This consultation marks one of the most important stages in this programme, and invites people with dementia, their families and carers and those involved professionally in health and social care to tell us what they think we need to do to improve dementia care.

I would like to place on record my thanks to all of those who have worked so hard to bring the programme to this point in such a short space of time. In particular, Neil Hunt of the Alzheimer’s Society who chaired the external reference group of stakeholders, and Professor Sube Banerjee and Jenny Owen who led the project group.

The consultation will run until 11 September 2008, and the department will publish a report that summarises the responses to this consultation alongside the final version of the national dementia strategy later in the year.

A copy of the document has been placed in the Library and copies are available to honourable Members from the Vote Office.