Councillor Mary Aspinall (Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Social Care) introduced the report:

a)     Everyone was ageing, and so had a vested interested in ensuring that Plymouth provided the bet environments and opportunities in which people could thrive as they moved into their later years;

b)    The Ageing Well programme was committed to changing the focus from the perceived difficulties of getting older, and instead approach with the mind-set that ageing was an opportunity, and older people were valued assets who made endless contributions to their families, neighbours and the city;

c)     Plymouth had a wonderful natural environment that that enabled people to stay active, as well as a great cultural and heritage offer across diverse communities, opportunities for lifelong learning and volunteering, and a responsive service that supported people to stay well;

d)    More could be done to reduce the amount of time people spent in poor health in later life, but also to help people in poor health to lead healthy, connected and fulfilling lives;

e)     The Ageing Well programme had been based on the Centre for Ageing Better Framework for Ageing Friendly Communities, ensuring a focus on creating age friendly places and spaces and ensuring relevant and good quality work and training opportunities;

f)      The themes of the programme were distinct but were part of an integrated approach to creating conditions to age well;

g)     Residents, communities, businesses, employers and partners were invited to join Plymouth City Council in collective action.

Laura Juett (Public Health Specialist) added:

h)    Plymouth City Council had a commitment towards Age Friendly Communities, recognised the ageing population and the opportunities and challenges that it presented;

i)      In Plymouth in 2022 100,300 people were aged 50+ (37.6% of population), by 2043 110,800 people were expected to be aged 50+ (40.6% of population);

j)      Plymouth’s vision was to be “One of Europe’s most vibrant waterfront cities, where an outstanding quality of life is enjoyed by everyone:and where age is no barrier”;

k)     The State of Ageing eport would provide a picture of what it was like to age and be an older person in Plymouth, and would be presented to Cabinet in October 2024;

l)      Key themes for the programme, learned from research were:

                                  i.         Healthy Ageing - People had said it was important to stay active and strong, but they were most concerned about poor access to health services and e-consults/digital exclusion, so work would focus on maximising potential for revamped Thrive Plymouth programme, broadening offer of falls prevention programmes and advising & influencing NHS e.g., digital first approaches and access to primary care;

                                ii.         Age Friendly Spaces and Places – People had said it was important to have more places to sit in public places, more accessible toilets, ‘chatty’ tables, and bus shelters with seats, so work would focus on supporting adoption of Age-Friendly Businesses framework, embed Healthy Streets framework into our planning/design, promotion of the Climate Ambassador Programme to 50+;

                               iii.         Transport - People described struggling to use the bus as the bus stops are far away/on a hill, community transport options were expensive and unreliable, so work would focus on supporting the delivery of the Plymouth Bus Service Improvement Plan and ensuring that the views of older people were central to developments, promoted active travel for over 50s, and supported conversations towards improvements in community transport for older people;

                               iv.         Participation and Inclusion - people talked about ‘having company is the most important thing’  and they wanted more opportunities ‘for people to talk to us face to face’, so work would focus on supporting the Centre for Ageing Better Age Without Limits campaign that challenged ageism and supported a more age-inclusive society, working with the Community Empowerment Team to ensure that the experiences and strengths of older people were amplified and used to inform collective action;

                                v.         Skills, Employment and Volunteering - People had said that employers need recruit based on skills/experience not age and they wanted more flexible retirement options and more diverse volunteering opportunities, and so work would focus onpromotion of the Age Friendly Employer Pledge, On Course South West and other training providers to promote and developing learning opportunities for people aged 50+, as well as promoting volunteering opportunities for people aged 50+;

                               vi.         Housing – People had said that they needed more accessible and innovative housing options such as house shares, co-ops and intergeneration living, and so work in this area would focus on existing housing partnerships making the case for an adequate range of housing options and adaptations for people as they age, work with energy delivery partners to promote and improve the uptake of Home Upgrade Grants to insulate homes and improve energy self-sufficiency among those aged 50+;

                              vii.         Communication -People had stressed the importance of recognising and giving value to older people’s histories and experiences. They said that language was really important and needed to convey respect. Work would focus on ensuring all consultation and engagement processes were accessible to older people, challenged negative stereotypes of ageing and older people, actively recognised and celebrated the diversity of ageing and older people in communications.

m)   International Day of Older People would be on 1 October 2024;

                         i.         Launch of PCC Ageing Well Hub – bringing together information and resources organised around specific themes;

                       ii.         Memory Matters Hub - Information and Advice Fair for over 50s (includes legal advice, benefits and pension credit advice, health improvement advice);

                      iii.         Volunteering Fair focused on promoting/recruiting to over 50’s at The Box;

                      iv.         Theatre Royal - Elder Tree and Theatre Royal drama and seated dance workshop;

                       v.         Red Velvet Cinema showing at Devonport Guildhall;

                      vi.         Silver Swans Free Dance Workshops;

                     vii.         Plymouth Active Leisure – 19 free sessions – gentle swims, ’try bowls’, netball, climbing;

                   viii.         Promoting wide range of existing groups/sessions opportunities across the week including activities in libraries, On Course South West, Home Upgrade Grants, Connect Plymouth – Electric Car Club and Beryl E-bikes, Plymotion – led walks and bikes rides and adult cycle training;

n)    Communications about the programme would begin within the next week.