§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his Department's policy is towards age discrimination. [42581]
§ Dr. MoonieThe Ministry of Defence integrated age into its equal opportunity policy some years ago and the Department has a commitment that there should be no unfair discrimination on the basis of age. Action on diversity has and will continue to tackle any negative attitudes, particularly through the training and development of managers and through the monitoring of recruitment, selection and appraisal statistics.
The Ministry of Defence, like other Departments, has reviewed its age retirement policy in light of the Government's commitment to tackle ageism in the workplace as set out in the Code of Practice for Age Diversity in Employment published in 1999 and in the Performance Innovation Unit's Report "Winning the Generation Game". The review concluded that there should be no change. In the MOD, some two-thirds of the workforce have the option to retire anytime between the age of 60 and 65.