Select committee: Women and Equalities Committee
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
Published 19 October 2018
Women and Equalities Committee Older people and employment inquiry Report on parliament.uk ↗
At a glance
The government's response
This document responds to 4th Report - Older people and employment.
This is the government's response, published 19 October 2018.
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
This is a government response document, so it has no recommendations of its own.