All Party Parliamentary Group for Longevity

The All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Longevity was set up in March 2019 to address the scientific, technological and socio-economic issues relating to our ageing demographic and promote living younger, healthier and longer lives. The APPG is aiming to produce, with partners and experts, a draft National Strategy by end 2019 setting out what the United Kingdom needs to do to meet the goal set by Government of five more years of healthy life expectancy by 2035 (HLE + 5) and at the same time to close the large social gap in healthy life expectancy. Through an ambitious action plan in 2020, the APPG aims to turn the ‘problem’ of ageing into one of the most promising opportunities of the 21st century – and secure Britain’s place as a global leader in longevity by providing access to the ‘longevity dividend’ to everyone equitably in society.

The goals of the APPG are as follows:

• Reframe the narrative of ageing from the deficit-based “Ageing Society” to the more actionable, asset-based “Healthy Longevity”- informed by the latest developments in science, genomics and technology (especially in AI and data)

• Solicit evidence and recommendations leading to the development of a  National Strategy to achieve five extra years of health life expectancy by 2035 while closing the social gap

• Create a framework for action in 2020 to achieve tangible results in respect of the key themes referenced in the Strategy

• Stimulate dialogue between industry, academia and nonprofits to help  nurture a community which is the longevity equivalent of the AI and FinTech industries’ London-Oxford-Cambridge Triangle

The key deliverables planned include:

• Produce an Independent Review for a ‘National Strategy for Healthy Longevity’ in the UK

• Engage with the public and communicate a positive narrative on ageing, including:

  • Thinking of the generations in a multi-stage ‘100 year life’ that contrasts with the out-of-date view of ‘learn, work and retire’

  • Promoting health as an asset to invest in, nurture and protect for the ‘health and happiness of the nation’

  • Empowering citizens and communities to achieve more years of healthy life expectancy and reducing health inequality between the poorest and richest citizens- ensuring the ‘longevity dividend’ is shared equitably in society

• Bring industry stakeholders together in discussion around business model innovation to maximise longevity dividends: financial services firms, insurance companies, pension funds, biopharma companies, etc.

• Learn from successful local and placed-based approaches and engage with local ‘reformers’ to help scale success nationally

• Establish successful collaboration with relevant bodies in progressive countries that have achieved gains in healthy life expectancy