§ Mr. Alfred MorrisTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will consult the Alzheimer's Disease Society over his Department's future plans for promoting of research into Alzheimer's disease; and if he will make a statement. [1397]
§ Mr. BurnsThe policy research programme supports policy and operational strategy in the Department. We aim to take into account the views of a wide range of interested groups, such as the Alzheimer's Disease Society, in determining future research specifically into Alzheimer's disease under the programme.
§ Mr. MorrisTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will publish details of research and development projects in the NHS focusing on Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases. [1400]
§ Mr. BurnsThe Department runs two separate research programmes: the policy research programme and the national health service research and development programme. The latest available information on research being carried out under the policy research programme is contained in "The Centrally Commissioned Research Programme: Commissions in 1994–95", copies of which are placed in the Library.
The NHS research and development programme consists of a number of national programmes and regional research activity. The mental health programme includes a project examining the development of screening tests for dementia and depression in ethnic elders; it also includes a project which is examining dementia information in order to develop a model to establish the number of people in a given population needing specific dementia services. Information is not available centrally on all the research projects being undertaken as part of the regional programme. The projects on which information is available centrally include a study of the patterns and consequences of semantic memory impairment in Alzheimer's disease; a community based control study of dementias; a study of neuronal structure in ageing and 571W Alzheimer's based dementia; and cognitive decline, dementia and ageing in people with Down's syndrome: study of the risk factors and care needs.