§ Ms PerhamTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how often since 1992 his Department has been responsible for employment advertisements which contained age restrictions upon those who could apply. [9501]
§ Mr. HoonThis reply is given on behalf of the Court Service, the Land Registry, the Northern Ireland Court Service, the Public Record Office, Lord Chancellor's Department headquarters and its associated offices, and the Public Trust Office.
The Land Registry and the Public Record Office do not include age restrictions in their recruitment advertisements.
An advertisement for a combined recruitment scheme for direct entrant executive officers in the Court Service, Public Trust Office and LCD HQ in 1992 contained age restrictions; but there have been no instances since then when either the Public Trust Office or LCD HQ have included upper or lower age limits in their advertisements.
As regards the Court Service, all advertisements for usher and bailiff posts until July last year specified a lower age limit. As such advertisements were placed locally by the courts concerned, it would not be possible to identify how often they have appeared between 1992 and July 1996 without incurring disproportionate cost.
The Northern Ireland Court Service has included age restrictions in 18 advertisements placed since the beginning of 1992.
In addition, there have been around 25 occasions on which advertisements for judicial appointments have been placed since October 1994, all of which will have included upper and lower age limits.