HL Deb 14 May 2002 vol 635 cc27-8WA
Baroness Anelay of St Johns

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Further to the Written Answer by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 24 April (WA 37–39), what action is being undertaken by the Home Office, the Department for Education and Skills and the Department for Work and Pensions in relation to the promotion of physical activity among older people; and what funding the departments have each allocated for this purpose. [HL4132]

Lord Rooker

The Government are committed to improving the position of older people in our society. This is an issue that is relevant not only to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) but also to others across government, including the Home Office and the Department for Education and Skills.

The Government's strategy is co-ordinated by a Cabinet sub-committee of Ministers from several departments, chaired by my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for the Department of Work and Pensions. The strategy consists of five main strands: encouraging and enabling active ageing, promoting age diversity, tackling pensioner poverty for today's and future pensioners, maintaining and supporting independence in later life and working in partnership with older people to provide better services focused on the needs of individuals.

DWP is also aware that increasingly older people want to remain active longer through work. The Government are committed to helping people of all ages back to work. The range of back to work programmes includes New Deal 50 plus, New Deal 25 plus and New Deal for Disabled People. These programmes have helped to ensure that the employment rate for people aged 50 to state pension age has increased each year for the last four years.

New Deal 50 plus is a voluntary programme and was launched in April 2000. The programme provides active help and advice for individuals who have been out of work and dependent on benefits for six months or more. Through a personal adviser it offers an income top-up of £60 per week for people returning to full-time work (£40 a week for part-time work) and an in work training grant. In its first two years of national operation, New Deal 50 plus has already helped nearly 67,000 people off benefits and back into work.

Through our Age Positive campaign we are also promoting to employers the business benefits of recruiting, training and retaining older workers.

The Department for Education and Skills is exploring physical activity as part of its development programme, which explores innovative ways of engaging older people in learning. Two projects are currently running, the first to develop a programme for senior peer mentors, costing £22,700, which will enable older people to encourage increased levels of physical activity among their peers; the second, costing £15,300, to develop a programme to engage older people in sports based volunteering in their communities.

The Home Office, through funding of the Experience Corps Company of £19.9 million over three years, is encouraging older people to be active in their community, mainly through voluntary work. This may involve volunteering activity that encourages people to be physically active, but this is not specifically targeted.