HC Deb 07 January 2004 vol 416 cc414-5W
Sandra Gidley

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the Government uses a formal definition of elder abuse.[145630]

Dr. Ladyman

I have been asked to reply

Statutory guidance, "No secrets", issued by the Home Office and the Department of Health in 2000 defines abuse of vulnerable adults as a violation of an individual's human and civil rights by any other person or persons. It goes on to say that abuse may consist of a single act or repeated acts and can manifest itself as physical abuse, sexual abuse, psychological abuse, financial or material abuse, neglect and acts of omission, and discriminatory abuse.