Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his plans for a National Care Service include a review of training for carers in the use of musical techniques to help support people living with dementia.

There are no current plans for a review of training for carers in the use of musical techniques to help support people living with dementia. However, the Department currently funds research on the use of musical techniques for people living with dementia via the National Institute for Health and Care Research. This includes a major study investigating how music therapy can reduce patient distress and physical assaults on National Health Service inpatient wards for people with dementia. The study is called MELODIC and will create a programme of music therapy which will be piloted in two NHS mental health wards at the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust.