Friday 8 April 2011

Social mobility - Liberal Democrat input

Lynne Featherstone, MP, Equalities Minister, is celebrating the inclusion of a move towards gender- and class-blind job selection in forthcoming legislation.

She writes: "One part of the social mobility strategy announced this week is about removing barriers to employment. And I was very pleased to see a very simple idea that I floated during the passage of the Equality Bill (rejected by Labour – surprise) finally find its way into being.

"This is a very simple idea for job applications where applicants don’t put their name or school on the application form – using something like their National Insurance number instead – to ensure that judgement is on experience, skills and qualifications in the first sift. The Deputy Prime Minister’s Office introduced the removal of which school the applicant attended in addition to the removal of name – for obvious reasons."

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