Pensions Bill

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Skelmersdale, for giving us the opportunity to discuss the important subject of employment and training opportunities for older workers. There have been significant improvements in the employment rates for older workers in recent years and in the provision to increase state pension age. It is vital that we maintain this momentum and continue to support people in extending their working lives. People over 50 are still disadvantaged in the labour market, as the noble Lord pointed out. At 55.2 per cent, the employment rate of 50 to 69 year-olds is still some 19 percentage points behind the overall employment rate for people of working age. That is why we launched Age Positive in 2002—to engage with employers about age discrimination and promote the business benefits of employing a mixed-age workforce. There is much more to do, and we are not complacent about the progress that has been made. That is why last year we introduced legislation to outlaw age discrimination in employment and vocational training and why Jobcentre Plus provides tailored training for older workers through New Deal 50 Plus. Paragraph (a) of the amendment would require the Secretary of State to present biannual reports to Parliament regarding the number and distribution of people over 50 who are seeking work. It is vital for us to understand the characteristics of older workers and share this information to understand the support that the Government can give them in seeking and remaining in work. For that reason, the DWP already publishes an older workers statistical information booklet twice a year, a copy of which is in the Library. As my noble friend was recommending publications earlier this evening, I feel that I should recommend that one. It is packed with up-to-date information about the profile of older workers and how training is accessed, along with all sorts of other important information. To tackle the problem, we have to understand it. Paragraph (b) of the amendment would require the DWP to produce reports on the provision of training for individuals over 50. I understand that the noble Lord has moved this as a probing amendment to prompt a debate; he has asked a number of questions, which I shall come to. Training and skills are vital to the country’s economic growth and productivity. The Government’s skills strategies are designed to help to meet the skills challenges of an increasingly competitive world economy, including the challenges posed by an ageing society. The provision of training for older workers should be considered within the context of the Leitch review of skills, on which there was a wonderful debate last week. The final report of my noble friend Lord Leitch gave a clear analysis of the future skills needs of the UK. The Government have welcomed the report’s ambitions and recommendations and will shortly publish an implementation plan to take forward the Leitch agenda. The subject of training was raised on Second Reading by the noble Baroness, Lady Greengross, who is not in her place at present. On that occasion, she commented that, "““training for work tends to be for people under 40””.—[Official Report, 14/05/07; col. 25.]" The noble Lord made that point as well. While we are aware that this tendency may prevail, we are tackling it directly through legislation to outlaw age discrimination in vocational training and by engaging with employers to challenge discriminatory behaviour. This work is being actively pursued by the Age Positive initiative. In encouraging employers to invest in the skills of their workers, we are working to ensure that programmes such as Train to Gain are open to learners of all ages. Train to Gain provides employers with free and subsidised support to train low-skilled workers. The opportunities that this programme supports are available to older workers. As at March 2007, 18 per cent of Train to Gain participants were over 50, which equates to well over 24,000 learners. In addition, for older people returning to work through New Deal 50 Plus, an in-work training grant worth up to £1,500 is available to enable them to access the training that they may need to sustain their move into employment. Training provision is available to older workers, but I do not wish to suggest that more could not be done to support older people in remaining in, or returning to, employment. Officials from the DWP and the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills have worked together to establish a shared evidence base on the role of skills in the labour market and are conducting further research into evidence on the extent to which a lack of access to education or training can be a barrier to older people remaining in, or returning to, the workforce. I do not have information on the FE budget in my brief, but I am happy to look into that and write to the noble Lord before Third Reading. He stressed the importance of the DWP’s commitment to end the bar on public appointments over the age of 65. I cannot answer his question on that today but, if we are talking about making age discrimination illegal, that is an important point for me to follow up. I hope that I have been able to reassure the noble Lord on the points that he made when moving his amendment. A lot of information is available, but we are not complacent about the importance of training for older people, who tend to have lower levels of skills and difficulty accessing the kind of training that may be important if my department is to achieve its target of greater participation in the workforce of older people.