I'd like to thank Luke Fletcher for proposing this debate, and the level of interest indicates that we are all aware of just what an important subject this is. We face a veritable epidemic of dementia—that's not my assessment, but that of a leading expert in older people's medicine. We need to do research as a matter of urgency into the link between air pollution and dementia. We need to understand—. We know that chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is caused by air pollution, but what about the impact of particulates inhalation into the bloodstream, ending up in the brain? Last week, the Deputy Minister for Mental Health and Well-being spoke about our obesogenic environment, and the dominance of junk-food advertising, which means people are not eating enough of the things that nourish their brain, rather than clogging up their arteries.

During the lockdown, we've seen a huge impact on people with dementia, but particularly those who are caring for people with dementia, because all the normal support services that were previously there have simply been collapsed, in most cases. This has been confirmed by research done both in Wales as well as in other parts of Europe. This has been a really terrible time, and of course has caused levels of stress both to people with dementia and their carers. I'm aware that, since the pandemic struck, Swansea Council has had to withdraw two key dementia care and support services, admiral nursing and the dementia service support team. So, there's now a significant gap in provision for carers and those living with dementia there. Carers report the impact of the severe domiciliary care staff shortage in the area, which means that their care packages are also being reduced or cut completely. So, families are having to fall back on other family members, or neighbours, to get any sort of respite at all, and this is really, really serious.

Amidst this perfect storm, I was devastated to be told that the Alzheimer's Society was choosing, just last month, to decide that they would not be reopening the day-care centre in Oldwell Court in my constituency, which had been closed since the beginning of the pandemic. This was just terrible timing, for the carers and for the people who used to enjoy going there. There's been no opportunity to discuss what the alternatives are, and indeed, at the moment there are no alternatives. Cardiff, at the moment, is confined to one day centre, where they are assessed as being safe to take seven service users on any given day. That's for the whole of Cardiff, and the place to which people with the most acute problems go—those who wander, those who occasionally become violent because they are so confused—that's closed because there's asbestos in the building. You couldn't make it up. This is just so terrible, and the burden on carers and the boredom and lack of stimulation, particularly for those with the most profound confusion, is really terrible. It is not just language that's so important to grab hold of, but also food is incredibly important. When I visited the Minehead day centre in Llanrumney recently, there was a wonderful chef there. The service users were actually writing these letters of appreciation because of the wonderful home-cooked food they were getting. So, that's wonderful too, but also music is such an important part of what people don't lose. Why is it not possible to do music sessions over the phone, over video, even if we can't yet have services back in person?

But frankly, for the long term, we need dementia-friendly services in all our community activities, both in our community hubs that we have in Cardiff, but also our gardening clubs, our bowling clubs, our darts—all the other things that older people enjoy doing need to be available to people with dementia, because we are talking about a huge spectrum of need. For some people, it's impossible to engage at all with ordinary activities but, for others, it's perfectly possible so long as we are aware of the particular needs they have and where they might occasionally get confused, and how we can bring them back to it. So, this is a massive job and a really important debate.