Older People (Hansard, 25 March 2002)

§ Mr. Nicholas Brown

Since 1997, this Government have consistently shown its commitment to employment opportunities for all regardless of age. For those over 50 there is a comprehensive range of back to work help including New Deal 50 plus. Government support has ensured that the employment rate for the over-50s has increased each year for the last four years. Through New Deal 50 plus alone, over 61,000 people so far have been helped back to work.

We are vigorously promoting the benefits of recruiting, training and retaining older workers as part of our Age Positive campaign. We have already spoken to employers, employer organisations, employees and voluntary sector organisations about ways in which the message can be spread further. The Age Positive campaign is going from 644W strength to strength, working to challenge ageist employment practices between now and the implementation of age legislation in 2006. The newest feature of the campaign is the Age Positive website (www.agepositive.gov.uk). It features guidance and good practice case studies for employers including our recent publication 'Good Practice in the Recruitment and Retention of Older Workers' which is also available in the Library.

For small and medium sized employers, we have developed a model programme on the business benefits of age diversity and recruiting the over-50s. To date 20 workshops have been delivered across the country and we are looking to increase this in the coming months, extending to Scotland and Wales.

The Department's Diversity and Equality statement makes an explicit commitment to non-discrimination on age grounds. We do not discriminate against anyone on the basis of their age when recruiting or promoting staff. We have also been working closely with the Cabinet Office to promote this approach across the civil service and have done so since the introduction of the Code of Practice on Age Diversity in Employment, which we published in June 1999. The departmental retirement age for all staff below senior civil service was increased from 60 to 65 with effect from 1 April 2000. Staff have the choice to retire at any time between these ages.