§ Ms PerhamTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how often since 1992 his Department has been responsible for employment advertisements which contained age restrictions on those who could apply. [9507]
§ Mr. SpellarIt is my Department's policy that age limits must not appear in external recruitment advertisements for civilian personnel. Exceptions to this rule are references to retirement ages or where a minimum recruitment age can be fully justified in terms of allowing the Department time to benefit from the expected training investment. The Department does not hold a central database of employment advertisements for civilians and it is therefore not possible, except at disproportionate cost and effort, to check whether any of these may have contained an age restriction other than the permitted exceptions.
As a general principle, the armed forces require recruits aged between 16 and 26 years, although in some trades older applicants are acceptable. Approximately 90 per cent. of advertising for recruiting individuals into the services make references to these age restrictions.