§ Mr. SpellarTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what studies his Department has undertaken into the use of psychological testing for employment.
§ Mr. OppenheimIn the late 1980s, the Department published the policy document "Assessment Through Psychological Testing". Subsequently, we published the report "Review of Psychometric Tests for Assessment in Vocational Training", which is now maintained by the British Psychological Society.
We have also funded two studies of employers' recruitment practices in relation to young people, which were completed in 1992 and 1993 respectively. These studies "The Selection of Young People by Medium Sized and Large Organisations" and "The Recruitment and Selection of Young People by Small Firms", both included psychological testing among the range of recruitment practices covered.
In addition, we are funding a project in the Tower Hamlets area on psychometric testing and the ethnic minorities. This is currently in progress.