§ Lord Lester of Herne Hillasked Her Majesty's Government:
To what extent employers have changed their practices and procedures as a result of the Department for Education and Employment's Code of Practice on Age Diversity in Employment. [HL4345]
§ Baroness BlackstoneThe evaluation of the Code of Practice on Age Diversity in Employment assesses employment practice in relation to recruitment, promotion, training and development, redundancy and retirement. Not surprisingly, few employers acknowledge that they discriminate unjustifiably on grounds of age. However, there is some evidence to suggest that companies are beginning to adopt more age aware policies, at least in the area of recruitment. For example, the second wave of the evaluation shows that during the company selection process, less than one in five (16 per cent) organisations report taking age into consideration. This is a reduction from the first wave of the evaluation, immediately prior to the launch of the code, when approximately one quarter (27 per cent) reported taking age into consideration when recruiting new staff. These results are based on survey findings at Wave 2, just six months after the code was introduced. Details of the findings can be accessed on the DfEE website athttp://www/dfee.gov.uk/research/re_brief/RBX6.doc. Results of the full evaluation, based on research findings 16 months after the code was first issued, will be published by summer 2001.
§ Lord Lester of Herne Hillasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they have any evidence that people over the age of 50 believe that employers descriminate against older employees; and, if so, what does that evidence show. [HL4346]
§ Baroness BlackstoneThe evaluation of the code of practice on Age Diversity in Employment assesses employment practice and experience in relation to recruitment, promotion, training and development, redundancy and retirement. The second wave of the evaluation shows a significant minority (20 per cent) of the sample of people aged 50 and over report that they have personally experienced discrimination in relation to an actual or possible job because of their age. This is slightly lower than the reported incidence of age discrimination in the first wave of the research, immediately prior to the launch of the code, when approximately one quarter (26 per cent) felt that they had experienced age discrimination. These results are based on survey findings at Wave 2, just six months after the code was introduced. Details of the findings can be accessed on the DfEE website athttp://www.dfee.gov.uk/research/re_brief/RBX6.doc. Results of the full evaluation, based on research findings 16 months after the code was first issued, will be published by summer 2001.