On the go: The new All Party Parliamentary Group for Longevity has outlined plans to introduce a national strategy for healthy longevity, focusing on the benefits – rather than the problems – of ageing.
The group, which launched on Tuesday, has bold ambitions. Its website says that its mission is to “address the scientific, technological and socioeconomic issues relating to our ageing demographic”.
Rather than focus on the problems of ageing, it will coordinate a cross-disciplinary exchange on the benefits of longevity, “within an ethical, citizen-centred framework to maximise the societal benefits of enabling healthier, more productive and purposeful lives”.
It said that data-driven solutions and artificial intelligence “to increase health span and democratise access to the ‘longevity dividend’ for citizens” will also be a focus.
The group of MPs plans to produce an independent review for a ‘National Strategy for Healthy Longevity’ in the UK, to serve as the basis for a longer report for the government to debate in the House of Commons and House of Lords.
It intends to communicate a positive narrative on longevity with the concept of a ‘longevity dividend’; “an asset to bring benefits to the entire population”.
The new APPG also aims to bring industry stakeholders, such as pension funds and insurance companies, together in talks around business model innovation to maximise these “longevity dividends”.
Explaining the group’s rationale, the new group’s chair Damian Green, MP, told the Financial Times: “We need to change how we see ageing – with a more positive narrative around the ‘extended middle age’ and what we can do to harness the opportunities of a longer life.”
Steven Cameron, pensions director at Aegon, welcomed the new group, noting that the prospect of the UK population living longer should be something all political parties can come together to celebrate, especially if the UK can take steps to help the population “age well”.
He said: “The way people think of ‘retirement’ is already changing rapidly, with 50 per cent of people preferring to transition gradually from work into retirement, rather than stop completely at a traditional retirement age. This trend is filtering into the labour market as we see an increasing number of over-65s in employment.”
With life expectancies rising, it is important to challenge what we mean by ‘old’ age, according to Mr Cameron. “Particularly if we can live longer, healthier, could 80 be the new 65?”
