§ Mr. WrayTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proposals he has to tackle age discrimination in the workplace; and what options are open to older people who have been discriminated against without going to the courts. [87366]
§ Mr. McCartneyWe have made a pledge to tackle age discrimination and we are committed to introducing age legislation covering employment, vocational training and guidance by 2006. Until the legislation is introduced there is no recourse to the courts. In the meantime older people who feel they have suffered discrimination in employment because of their age can encourage the employer to look at our website www.agepositive.gov.uk. This provides details about the business benefits of non-ageist employment practices, employer case studies, information about the forthcoming legislation and offers useful links to other organisations such as the Employers Forum on Age.
We have been vigorously promoting the benefits of age diversity and the recruitment, training and retention of older workers to employers through our Age Positive campaign. The campaign focuses on raising employers' awareness of the business case for an age diverse workforce and encourages them to use the Code of Practice on Age Diversity in Employment to inform 999W their employment policies. The campaign features a range of initiatives including awards events, conferences, good practice publications and guidance to promote age diversity, as well as the Age Positive website.
The Code of Practice on Age Diversity in Employment, published in 1999, sets out the standards for non-ageist approaches to recruitment, training, promotion, redundancy and retirement. An updated version of the Code of Practice was released during Age Positive week which ran from 2 to 6 December. The Code was developed with leading organisations including the CBI, TUC, the Employers Forum on Age and Age Concern. Evaluation shows that from 1999 to 2001 the number of companies using age in recruitment has already fallen from 27 per cent. to 13 per cent., and the number of companies having a policy against employing older workers has dropped from 14 per cent. to 7 per cent.