My hon. Friend makes a good point. I suggest to the House that concerns about caring for the elderly will start moving significantly up the political agenda over the next few years. I am sure I am not alone among Members of Parliament who constantly meet constituents who feel incredibly stretched. The husband and wife trying to maintain two jobs while they look after children on the one hand and aged parents on the other feel very much part of the sandwich generation. One comes across an ever-increasing number of elderly carers who are looking after a husband or wife. It is a growing trend and, as I shall say, I am not sure where we will find sufficient carers as we move forward.

In its second recommendation, the PAC states:

"Dementia is like cancer in the 1950s, still very much a hidden disease. There is a need for a massive campaign to promote openness and debate on this important and challenging issue."

Dementia is distressing for those suffering from it and their families. Obviously, it is difficult for people suffering from dementia to interrelate socially as they once would have done. The disease tends by definition to get hidden away, and it can sometimes be frightening. The behaviour of people with dementia, Alzheimer's in particular, can sometimes be extremely unpredictable. We all need to make every effort to explain the challenge that dementia poses, and if we are a caring society in which we have a regard to and a concern for the welfare of everyone, we will need to learn much more about dementia and ensure that those who are suffering from it are better cared for.

The PAC's third recommendation has a familiar ring:

"The Department does not know how the first £60 million of dementia funding has been spent by Primary Care Trusts. The Department has only recently commissioned an audit of costs of dementia services which is expected to be completed in summer 2010."

I understand that Ministers have a dilemma. On the one hand, they cannot dictate or micro-manage from Richmond house how every PCT spends every parcel of money allocated to it, but one would have thought that the very least the Department could do when it allocates money for a specific function, such as dementia services, is to ask PCTs simply to give an account of how the money is spent. It cannot be right that the Department and PCTs cannot give the PAC an explanation of how PCTs are spending the money.