Ageing: Public Services and Demographic Change Committee Report

Baroness Tyler of Enfield Excerpts

Thursday 17th October 2013 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Tyler of Enfield (LD)]

My Lords, in the short time available, I should like to do two things—to give my reactions to the government response to the report and to focus on one key issue raised in the report.

I was at least pleased that the government response said that the Government shared the ambitions of the Select Committee report of making the country,

“one of the best places to grow old”.

The response is certainly detailed and offers a good overview of current policy on issues related to ageing. I very much applaud the very important measures that the coalition Government have taken in very difficult financial times. I mention in particular the Pensions Bill and the Care Bill, which is currently before this House, which I consider to be a landmark piece of legislation. But—and, of course, there has to be a but—while the government response is long on past achievements and current policy commitments up to 2015, it is short on the long term and the need for a long-term strategic joined-up understanding of the big choices facing the country over the next 10 to 20 years, particularly the need to stimulate a national debate so that people understand the implications, the choices ahead and difficult decisions that will have to be taken about the balance of responsibilities between the individual and the state. Asking the chief scientist to lead an analysis of the challenges of an ageing society is a welcome step forward, but it would have been so much more effective if the chief scientist had been asked to report to Parliament every year on both progress made and the challenges ahead and, indeed, if the Government had produced an action plan with specific goals and milestones that this House could monitor.

Will the Minister consider those suggestions and respond in due course? I recognise that that will require consideration across government. There was no response on the call for a White Paper setting out a long-term vision from Government, their role in stimulating a national conversation, the two cross-party commissions after the next election, or indeed that party political manifestos should address those issues. In retrospect, perhaps it was a little unrealistic to expect the Government to respond to something about party political manifestos. From these Benches, I am pleased to report that the Deputy Prime Minister has now established a new Liberal Democrat policy working group, to be chaired by my right honourable friend Paul Burstow, to consider how public policy can address the broad issues of an ageing society. I am pleased to be able to serve as a member of that group.

In the rest of my contribution I want to focus briefly on attitudes to ageing and the issue of loneliness and social isolation. Ready for Ageing? addressed these issues but, perhaps inevitably it did not attract the headlines in the same way as issues around retirement pensions, health and social care, and so on did. I would argue that not enough focus has been given to the importance of social isolation and loneliness, which are so often both the root cause and consequence of issues that were discussed at length in the report and which no doubt will be discussed in the debate.

A big barrier to making the UK ready for ageing is the denial of most younger people of the likelihood of becoming older themselves, with all its perceived negative connotations. It is human nature to put off thinking about becoming old, until the day it happens, but the problem is that by then it is usually too late to do the financial and other planning necessary to ensure a happy and comfortable retirement. If we could take away some of the fear, perhaps more younger people would be more willing to face up to the fact that, barring ill fortune, such as accidents and grave illness earlier in life, the chances are that they will live longer than they currently expect—certainly longer than most previous generations thought likely or even possible. That is a fact.

I do not have time to go into all the life expectancy details here, but it is so important to understand the issues of why younger people, or those in middle age, do not do the thinking and preparation that they need to do. We also need to address a key social trend that has not had enough attention. A lot of people who will be moving into old age over the next 20 or 30 years will be childless and will not have adult children to provide some of the care and support that so many do today. The issue of loneliness and isolation is significant. We need to be realistic. It would not be true to say that the majority of older people are lonely; the majority live happy and non-lonely lives. However, some of the statistics are very stark. Do noble Lords know that some 5% of people aged 65 plus in the UK said that they spent Christmas Day 2010 alone? How should we feel about that? It has also been said that loneliness is very bad for our health. Something that brings that home starkly is the estimate that loneliness is as harmful to health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. There is much that can be done about this.

I am very pleased to be involved with a project that is being taken forward by the think tank, CentreForum, which is looking specifically at what can be done for old people to help them to avoid loneliness and isolation. I am pleased that the charity Age UK is involved because I believe that the answer to many of these issues lies with voluntary organisations, charities and faith groups, but it is for the Government to create the climate in which these things happen.

I shall finish by saying something that may sound a little trite. In later life, he or she who is rich is he or she who has a strong network of family and friends around them. We must do all we can to encourage that.