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Older People: Loneliness

Health written question – answered at on 29 October 2012.

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Photo of Tracey Crouch Tracey Crouch Conservative, Chatham and Aylesford

To ask the Secretary of State for Health

(1) what estimate he has made of the number of people aged over 65 who suffer from extreme loneliness;

(2) what plans the Government has to tackle loneliness among older generations.

Photo of Norman Lamb Norman Lamb The Minister of State, Department of Health

The information requested is not collected. However, the Campaign to End Loneliness has estimated that there are over 1 million people over the age of 65 reported feeling lonely.

On 15 March 2012, the Department co-hosted a summit on loneliness which saw charities, businesses, hon. Members and public sector organisations come together to start a discussion about loneliness and isolation in older age and how it could best be tackled. The Department also commissioned and funded work on a ‘digital toolkit’ for Health and Well-being Boards to support local councils and the national health service to take action to address the issue of loneliness in their area which was launched on 10 July 2012.

In addition, in 2013-14, the Department plans to include shared measures of well-being across both the Public Health and Adult Social Care Outcome Frameworks with a focus on developing suitable measures of social isolation.

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Secretary of State

Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.