Mr. Burstow is to be congratulated on initiating this important debate.

On the point about the money that has supposedly been allocated to primary care trusts for carers, particularly for respite care, the further figures produced by the Princess Royal Trust on how the forward allocation will not be spent are disappointing. The frustrating point is that the Government all too often give the impression that something will happen-that a group such as carers will be looked after-but then in reality it does not happen. In my most recent constituency surgery I heard from a constituent who has been looking after his elderly wife, who is suffering from dementia, at home. He has been asking for respite care and some help with physiotherapy for some time now, but he has received absolutely nothing. I put the Minister on notice that I happen to be No. 1 on the list for Prime Minister's questions tomorrow, so Mr. Speaker cannot fail to call me. I advise the Minister to give some help to No. 10 on the matter, because I may well put that point to the Prime Minister.

The fact of the matter is that men who reach the age of 65 today have an average life expectancy of 82, and for women of that age the life expectancy is 85. The advances of medical science over the past century mean that we now have longer life expectancies than at any time in the history of civilisation, so we can celebrate the fact that more people than ever before will live longer and, broadly speaking, healthier lives. The number of over-60s will therefore increase over the next two decades, both as a proportion of the total population and significantly in absolute numbers, as the post-war baby boomers move into retirement.

However, the human species is not indestructible, and although improvements in medical science mean an increase in life expectancy, the statistical fact, sadly, is that a proportion of those people living longer will succumb in due course to age-related illness. For example, the incidence of dementia rises sharply for those over 80, from around 6 per cent. for those aged 75 to 79 to 12 per cent. for those aged 80 to 85 and 21 per cent. for those aged over 85. I understand that one in three people aged over 65 will die with some form of dementia. In the Cherwell district in North Oxfordshire, in my constituency, the population aged over 65 is due to increase by 60 per cent., which is significant, over the next decade, largely because Banbury was something of a new town in the 1960s. However, nowhere do I see evidence of a 60 per cent. increase in nursing home provision in the district.

When I was first elected a Member of Parliament 27 years ago, every Christmas I would visit every nursing home in my constituency to meet the residents, who were, by and large, spry widows in their 70s, with the occasional widower. I do not think I heard the word Alzheimer's until I had been an MP for some years. I no longer visit nursing homes at Christmas, not because I am disinterested-I frequently visit them at other times-but simply because every nursing home in my constituency, almost without exception, is filled with elderly residents suffering from increasingly severe dementia or Alzheimer's.

I welcome the recent campaign to raise awareness about dementia, led by the Department of Health supported by the Alzheimer's Society. It has the theme, "Dementia: the more we understand, the more we can help". As few of us will live lives untouched either directly or indirectly by dementia, it is important that we all have the greatest understanding about it. Indeed, in my constituency I have set up an advisory group, called the successful ageing group, which consists of local people from Help the Aged, Age Concern and the local carers' centre, because in Banbury we too are fortunate enough to have one of the first Princess Royal Trust for Carers centres, which do excellent work. The group also consists of representatives of the WRVS-formerly the Women's Royal Voluntary Service-which does some really good work at the Cornhill centre, providing support for older residents in the community. There are representatives from Oxfordshire Links and from specific charities and organisations, such as the Alzheimer's Society, the Multiple Sclerosis Society and Parkinson's Disease Society. The intention is to meet reasonably regularly to try to understand what is happening locally in that landscape, because sometimes it is difficult to relate national initiatives to what is happening locally.

That takes me to the Public Accounts Committee report on improving dementia services in England, to which the hon. Member for Sutton and Cheam, who is a member of the Committee, has referred. It might be helpful if I go through the report's conclusions. The first conclusion is:

"Although the Department said dementia would be a national priority, it has not afforded it the same status as other national priorities such as cancer and stroke."

The Committee recommends that strategic health authorities should

"agree with each Primary Care Trust a local dementia implementation plan, comprising costed actions and a timetable, by July 2010."

Who is leading on that? Will PCTs lead, or in an area such as mine will county council social services departments lead in trying to ensure proper services for those suffering with dementia? The reality, in my experience, is that comparatively few people suffering from dementia will stay in acute hospitals for a significant length of time. They might go into an acute hospital because they have broken a hip, for instance, which is often when their dementia is discovered, but because-understandably-their long-term needs can rarely be met in an acute general hospital, help in a care home or in the community will be sought for them fairly speedily.

One of my concerns is that I often do not think that there is a sense of grip on who is leading. If the PCTs are meant to be leading, they also need to be gripping social services departments, because all too often we have a situation in which everyone is pointing and saying that it is the other person's responsibility. Indeed, on several occasions I have found that the only way Oxfordshire MPs can sort things out is by getting everyone involved, such as the PCT and social services, in the same room at the same time to discuss blocked beds, for instance. The PCT will say that it would like to move people out more quickly but cannot get beds in community nursing homes, while social services will say that hospitals are not getting the appraisals done quickly enough. We need to know who is leading on that.