§ Mr. SpellarTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if she will bring forward proposals to prevent discrimination on grounds of age for those aged between 40 and 64 years.
§ Mr. McLoughlinEmployers who discriminate on the grounds of age miss out on the skills, experience and commitment which older people can bring to a job. Age, however, can affect different people's abilities to do different jobs in different ways. Legislation which attempted to provide for this would be difficult to draft and impossible to enforce. I am confident that the recently formed advisory group on older workers, which I chair, will help greatly in persuading employers who discriminate that it is in their own best interests to treat everyone on their merits, regardless of their age.