Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, for what reasons she removed ageing as a Ministerial responsibility within her Department.
Answered by Wendy Morton
The Department recognises that older people experience a range of complex barriers and face multiple exclusions in developing countries across the globe.
Baroness Sugg has direct responsibility for ageing as part of her portfolio on inclusive societies.
Ageing is an important factor in DFID’s efforts to tackle extreme poverty, ensure inclusion and in our approach to ‘leave no-one behind’. This is reflected in our departmental strategy papers. Both the Disability Inclusion Strategy and the Strategic Vision for Gender Equality take a life-course approach, ensuring the delivery of transformative change for people all ages.
We are also supporting governments to make vital social protection systems more inclusive of older people. In Uganda, DFID continues to build on its partnership with the Government of Uganda to deliver a Senior Citizen Grant. The grant currently supports over 168,000 older people with a cash transfer to help meet their nutritional and healthcare needs.
Asked by: Jonathan Lord (Conservative - Woking)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps she is taking to include older people and ageing populations within the work of her Department.
Answered by Wendy Morton
My Department recognises that older people experience a range of complex barriers and face multiple exclusions in developing countries across the globe.
Ageing is an important part of DFID's efforts to ensure inclusion and our approach to leaving no one behind. For example, DFID’s Disability Inclusion Strategy and Strategic Vision for Gender Equality take a life-course approach, ensuring the delivery of transformative change for people all ages.
We are also supporting governments to make vital social protection systems more inclusive of older people. In Uganda, DFID continues to build on its partnership with the Government of Uganda to deliver a Senior Citizen Grant. The grant currently supports over 168,000 older people to help meet their nutritional and healthcare needs.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether she has made an assessment of the potential effect on the effectiveness of her Department of removing ageing as a specific policy area with Ministerial responsibility.
Answered by Wendy Morton
My Department recognises that older people experience a range of complex barriers and face multiple exclusions in developing countries across the globe.
Baroness Sugg has direct responsibility for ageing as part of her portfolio on inclusive societies.
Ageing is an important factor in DFID’s efforts to tackle extreme poverty, ensure inclusion and in our approach to ‘leave no-one behind’. This is reflected in our departmental strategy papers. Both the Disability Inclusion Strategy and the Strategic Vision for Gender Equality take a life-course approach, ensuring the delivery of transformative change for people all ages.
We are also supporting governments to make vital social protection systems more inclusive of older people. In Uganda, DFID continues to build on its partnership with the Government of Uganda to deliver a Senior Citizen Grant. The grant currently supports over 168,000 older people with a cash transfer to help meet their nutritional and healthcare needs.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to support the needs of older people.
Answered by Wendy Morton
The UK Government recognises that older people experience a range of complex barriers in developing countries around the globe.
DFID’s vision is a world where all people, in all stages of their lives, are engaged, empowered and able to exercise their rights. Ageing is an important factor in our efforts to tackle extreme poverty, ensure inclusion and in our approach to ‘leave no-one behind’. For example, DFID’s Disability Inclusion Strategy and Strategic Vision for Gender Equality take a life-course approach, ensuring the delivery of transformative change for people all ages.
We are also supporting governments to make vital social protection systems more inclusive of older people. In Uganda, DFID continues to build on its partnership with the Government of Uganda to deliver a Senior Citizen Grant. The grant currently supports over 168,000 older people with a cash transfer to help meet their nutritional and healthcare needs.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Durham (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by Tearfund Ageing in Rwanda, published on 25 January.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
Tearfund’s research report on ageing in Rwanda is an important contribution to a growing evidence base on changing demographics in Rwanda. It complements UK Aid funded research looking at the implications of ageing and demographic change in Rwanda. Tearfund’s report highlights the unique nature and speed of the demographic transition in Rwanda, a result of rapid improvements in life expectancy and a reduction in the fertility rate. While this is likely to provide opportunities in the future, the large growth in the number of older people will also create challenges; many of which, as the report clearly outlines, are being experienced by older people in Rwanda today. These include unmet mental health needs arising from loss, trauma and bereavement as well as vulnerability exacerbated by gaps in social protection, health and care services. DFID engaged in the dissemination event for this report in Kigali and will draw on findings from the research to further strengthen its work on social protection, agriculture and livelihoods to respond to the needs of older people in Rwanda.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Durham (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the report by Tearfund Ageing in Rwanda, published on 25 January, what plans they have, if any, to ‘age-proof’ UK international development policies.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
As the Tearfund report recognises, there is more work to do to ensure older people are actively included in international development policies and resources. DFID’s vision is a world where all people, in all stages of their lives, are engaged, empowered and able to exercise their rights. Age is an important factor in our efforts to tackle extreme poverty, ensure inclusion and in our approach to ‘leave no-one behind’. DFID ensures that issues of age, gender and disability are included in all UK international development policies. For example, DFID’s Disability Inclusion Strategy and Strategic Vision for Gender Equality take a life-course approach, ensuring the delivery of transformative change for people all ages.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Durham (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the report by Tearfund Ageing in Rwanda, published on 25 January, what plans they have, if any, to distribute foreign aid cross-generationally in Rwanda.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
UK Aid in Rwanda responds directly to the Global Goals for Sustainable Development, which aim to eradicate extreme poverty and ensure that no one is left behind. In Rwanda, DFID is tackling vulnerabilities and exclusion at all stages of life; from early childhood, through school and adolescence into adulthood and older age. DFID Rwanda’s new £64.5 million programme to support the social protection sector includes explicit objectives to address old-age vulnerabilities, as highlighted in the Tearfund ‘Ageing in Rwanda’ report. Furthermore, given that many older people continue working past the official retirement age of 65, our support to older people is also integrated into broader interventions such as improving agricultural productivity and livelihoods in Rwanda.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to tackle social isolation in relation to elderly residents in (a) the City of York and (b) the UK.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government recognises that loneliness and social isolation can have a significant impact on the physical and mental health of older people.
The Government’s Loneliness Strategy ‘A connected society: A Strategy for tackling loneliness – laying the foundations for change’, published on 15 October 2018, acknowledged that tackling loneliness is complex and a long-term challenge, requiring action across many fronts. It brought together the Government, local government, public services, the voluntary and community sector and businesses to identify opportunities to tackle loneliness and build more integrated and resilient communities. The Loneliness Annual Report 2020, published on 20 January 2020, provides a progress update on the Loneliness Strategy.
Work in other areas can also help to tackle loneliness and social isolation. For example, the £11.5 million Building Connections Fund will see the Government working with a number of charitable trusts (these include several organisations in Yorkshire and The Humber), foundations, and others to support projects that are able to prevent or reduce loneliness amongst older people as well as other age groups. The full list of projects can be found at the following link:
Similarly, through the Ageing Society Grand Challenge, the Government will harness innovative products and services to help people remain healthy and independent for longer, continue to participate through work and within their communities, and stay connected to others.
The Government remains fully committed to working with others to combat loneliness and social isolation.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to tackle loneliness and social isolation in older people.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government recognises that loneliness can have a significant impact on the physical and mental health of older people.
The Government’s Loneliness Strategy ‘A connected society – A strategy for tackling loneliness – laying the foundations for change’ (published on 15 October 2008) acknowledged that tackling loneliness is complex and a long-term challenge, requiring action across many fronts. It brought together Government, local government, public services, the voluntary and community sector and businesses to identify opportunities to tackle loneliness and build more integrated and resilient communities.
Work in other areas can also help to tackle loneliness and social isolation. For example, the Government’s £11.5 million Building Connections Fund will see the Government working with charitable trusts, foundations, and others to support projects that are able to prevent or reduce loneliness in older people as well as other age groups. Similarly, through our Ageing Society Grand Challenge, the Government will harness innovative products and services to help people remain healthy and independent for longer, continue to participate through work and within their communities, and stay connected to others.
The Government remains fully committed to working with others to combat loneliness and social isolation.
Asked by: Hugh Gaffney (Labour - Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to increase the availability of suitable homes for the elderly.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
This Government recognises that providing more homes for older people is vital to support an ageing population. Offering older people a better choice of accommodation can help enable them to live independently for longer and help reduce costs to the social care and health systems. The proposals set out in the White Paper, “Fixing our broken housing market”, underline our commitment to do more to provide the homes we need for all in our society
In the White Paper we acknowledged that older and disabled peoples’ housing needs was an issue that needed to be addressed. We have strengthened the revised National Planning Policy Framework, published in July 2018, and on 26 June 2019 we published new guidance to help councils to put these policies in place. This makes it clear that authorities should set clear policies to address the housing needs of groups with particular needs such as older and disabled people. This guidance also sets out the range of options these should consider, from housing with improved accessibility through to more specialised options.