Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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342. To ask the Minister for Health when he will publish his implementation proposals on the national positive ageing strategy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40540/16]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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New arrangements for the implementation of the National Positive Ageing Strategy (NPAS) are currently being formulated by my Department. The new proposal will re-commit to the core principles of the Strategy, and will inform how the State approaches older persons services into the future. The new proposals will see the introduction of an annual forum for stakeholders and Departments/Agencies, with the first such forum taking place in early 2017. Structures will be implemented for engagement between relevant Government Departments and State Agencies and relevant stakeholders on how the Strategy’s principles are being applied. The revised arrangements were approved by the Cabinet Committee on Social Policy on 27 October 2016. These new arrangements will now be communicated to stakeholders and arrangements made to commence implementation.

As part of the NPAS implementation process, a Healthy and Positive Ageing Initiative has been established in collaboration with the HSE’s Health and Wellbeing Programme and the Atlantic Philanthropies to measure the impact of the Strategy and establish an ongoing system for measuring and reporting on Positive Ageing. The Initiative aims to monitor changes in older people’s health and wellbeing linked to the goals and objectives of the NPAS. This will be done primarily through the development of positive ageing indicators to be published every two years. The Initiative is intended to provide evidence of the factors contributing to healthy ageing, including at local level and ultimately inform policy responses to population ageing in Ireland. The first National Positive Ageing Indicators report was published in November 2016 and highlights many of the positive and negative aspects of growing old in Ireland.