Committees

Lords committee questions Chief Medical Officer and academics about healthy life expectancy

15 October 2019

The House of Lords Science and Technology Committee holds its first evidence sessions for its new inquiry into how science and technology can enable healthier living in old age. The Committee questions the Chief Medical Officer for England, Professor Chris Whitty, and academic experts.

Purpose of sessions

In the first session, the Committee explores with the Chief Medical Officer for England the extent to which factors such as location, gender, ethnicity and wealth affect healthy life expectancy, and what the current UK priorities are to improve health span.

In the second session, the Committee asks how cohort studies, which follow large groups of people throughout their lives, can lead to a better understanding of health in old age

Witnesses

Tuesday 15 October in Committee Room 1, Palace of Westminster

At 10.25am

  • Professor Chris Whitty, Chief Medical Officer for England

At around 11.25am

  • Professor James Nazroo, University of Manchester
  • Professor Marcus Richards, University College London
  • Dr Stuart Ritchie, King's College London

Possible questions

Likely questions to be asked of the Chief Medical Officer include:

  • What key issues need to be addressed to reduce health inequalities in an ageing population, to ensure that the period spent in good health is equalised across the population?
  • How do the UK's ageing population statistics compare with other western countries?
  • How effective is public health advice for healthy ageing, and can it be updated based on any recent research?

Questions likely to be asked of the panel of academic experts include:

  • Why are cohort studies valuable, particularly for studying the processes of ageing?
  • What are the main conditions or diseases, covering physical and mental health, that affect older people in the cohorts?
  • What are the key public health messages from studies that pertain to ageing?

Further information