NEWCASTLE CHARTER FOR CHANGING AGE

That this House warmly supports the launch by Newcastle University's Institute for Ageing and Health of the Newcastle Charter for Changing Age which recognises that the number of older people in the UK's population has increased dramatically, will continue to increase for the foreseeable future and requires a radical reassessment of the place of older people in society with a profound change in attitudes to ageing, informed by facts and not by outdated misconceptions; urges policymakers and others to accept that population ageing should not be viewed as a negative issue and a burden to be managed and that, through centuries of scientific research, ingenuity and perseverance, ageing is one of humanity's greatest achievements; believes that increasing life expectancy is an economic good, leading to older people as contributors and consumers of products and services and adding substantially to economic growth; recognises that ageism, in its widespread and corrosive forms, where older people are marginalised through arbitrary ages of compulsory retirement or through exclusion from full participation in any social activity, including education, can no longer be accepted; and agrees that health research and service provision should take account of new advances in understanding the connections between ageing and health and that the UK needs to adapt national and local infrastructures for transport, housing and communications to accommodate the changing age structure of its population, which will itself create major opportunities for industrial growth.