Queen’s Speech

Baroness Greengross Excerpts

Wednesday 12th May 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Greengross (CB) [V]]

My Lords, I want to address three issues arising from the gracious Speech: dementia research, the lifetime skills guarantee and the manifesto commitment to help people to live five extra healthy, independent years of life by 2035.

The Queen’s Speech reiterated the Government’s commitment to increasing funding for research and development. Here, I declare my interest as co-chair of the All-Party Group for Dementia. Will this include honouring the Government’s 2019 manifesto commitment to double funding for research into dementia to £160 million each year? This funding is needed more than ever, with many dementia research programmes being halted or paused due to the pandemic. It is very worrying, particularly given the ONS’s announcement just last month that dementia is now the leading cause of death in England. We never realised that. We also know that one-quarter of Covid-19 deaths in this country involved people with some form of dementia, so research into this is incredibly important. Many people do not know that 40% of dementia cases are linked to preventable risk factors, and this figure could well increase as we learn more about the condition.

I commend the Government’s commitment to the lifetime skills guarantee. Lifelong learning enables people to have greater success in employment—and ensures that we have a skilled workforce that meets the needs of our economy—and can support brain health, thereby possibly preventing some forms of dementia. It will also be vital in the context of longer and changing working lives. Research by the International Longevity Centre UK suggests that people aged 50 and over earned 30% of total earnings—£237 billion—in 2018. This could rise to 40%—£311 billion—by 2040. That could significantly support the economic recovery, but only if people are equipped with the right skills across their working lives.

The Government have made £95 million available, meaning that 11 million adults now have access to a free qualification. At present, this qualification is at level 3, which is an A-level equivalent. I look forward to seeing this programme expanded so that we can provide reskilling opportunities to all adults at a time when there are significant changes to the labour market. I also welcome the lifelong loan scheme, which the noble Baroness, Lady Berridge, mentioned in her speech, and look forward to the Government’s promised changes to employment legislation. That was not mentioned in yesterday’s Speech, but it should be a priority for the Government at this time.

Lastly, not mentioned in yesterday’s Speech was the Government’s manifesto commitment to support people to live five extra healthy and independent years of life by 2035. Do the Government still stand by that commitment? As already alluded to in my comments on dementia research, prevention and early action can play a crucial role in delivering the vision of a healthier nation, as set out in the Queen’s Speech yesterday. Here, I declare my interest as chief executive of the International Longevity Centre, whose 2020 paper found that time spent living with largely preventable health conditions is set to increase by 17% over the next 25 years unless the Government move upstream and invest in preventive health interventions.

Ten years on from the Dilnot report, the Queen’s Speech once again offered only general commitments to social care reform, without giving any detail. Part of the social care reform debate must consider the importance of prevention in healthcare, including dementia prevention, to reduce future pressure on the social care sector and to address the increased suffering of many thousands of people.