§ Mr. BowdenTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will extend the national survey of mental illness to be carried out on behalf of the Department by the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys to cover mental illness among people over the age of 65 years; and on what grounds it has been decided to limit the national survey on mental illness to the 16 to 64 age group.
§ Mr. YeoNo. Establishing levels of mental illness in children and young adolescents and in people aged 65 and over requires a different methodology.
Considerable data are already available on the prevalence of mental disorders in elderly people. These will shortly be supplemented by a study currently in progress by the Medical Research Council which receives its grant in aid from the office of my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.