Select committee: Women and Equalities Committee
4th Report - Older people and employment
HC 359
Published 17 July 2018
Women and Equalities Committee Older people and employment inquiry Report on parliament.uk ↗
At a glanceGovernment response published 19 October 2018
The government's response
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.
The Government welcomes the Committee's report and responds mostly with existing work, reviews and 'voluntary' approaches, while stating it would 'need more evidence' before mandating age-profile reporting.
- On enforcement against age discrimination, the Government says the EHRC is independent and "cannot be directed by Government to undertake work", so it would be "inappropriate" to direct enforcement action; the EHRC is to respond separately.
- On mandatory publication of workforce age profiles, the Government "sees the value" in transparency but says it "would need more evidence" on efficiency and impact before justifying an additional burden on employers.
- On flexible working from day one, the Government has "decided to pursue a voluntary approach" ahead of the evaluation of the right to request flexible working, "due in 2019".
- On carer's leave, the Government is "committed to explore the case for statutory carer's leave" and says it will set out plans on carers' employment rights "in due course". On occupational health, it will set out a direction and strategy on reform "by 2019/2020".
What the committee recommended
No recommendations or conclusions have been extracted from this report. This is normal for correspondence and for special reports.
Sources
- 4th Report - Older people and employment ↗The committee's report, HC 359, parliament.uk
- 6th Special Report - Older people and employment: Government and Equality and Human Rights Commission Responses to the Committee’s Fourth Report of Session 2017–19 ↗The government's response, 19 October 2018, parliament.uk