To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with the Royal College of Nursing and other trade unions on the potential preventative effect on dementia of walking.

We have had no specific discussions. However, the Department is developing a new dementia strategy, which includes the theme of risk reduction and prevention. This theme will include the 12 modifiable risk factors identified in ‘Dementia prevention, intervention, and care: 2020 report of the Lancet Commission’, including physical inactivity in later life.

Evidence has shown that physical inactivity accounts for 17.7% of modifiable risk for dementia and there is strong evidence that physical activity can reduce the risk of dementia. Whilst this evidence is not specific to walking, the United Kingdom Chief Medical Officers’ guidelines cite walking as one of the forms of moderate intensity physical activity through which the recommended weekly 150 minutes could be attained.