The expenditure in years prior to 2002-03 was by the former Department for Education and Employment (DFEE) and records are not available. The available expenditure information is in the table.
Financial year Expenditure (£000) 2002-03 559 2003-04 1,247 2004-05 615 2005-06 3,737 2006-07 2,330 2007-08 (to December 2007) 256
An Age Positive Week was delivered on three occasions between 2002 and 2005. This employer-focused burst of activity and information comprised ministerial activities, employer events and business awards designed to focus media and employer attention on age and workplace issues and resulted in much increased awareness of the issues via extensive media coverage.
Between 2005 and 2006 we worked with a number of leading business-focused organisations to create the Age Partnership Group, which promoted the Be Ready campaign, launched with a newsletter mailed to 1.4 million employers with information to help them prepare for age legislation. A full evaluation of this initiative confirmed that 95 per cent. of those businesses that ordered the detailed guidance were pleased with the helpful content of the material. To supplement this, tailored publications in employer-favoured top-tips, bulleted or tick-box format have been circulated to businesses to better facilitate their understanding of how best to tackle age discrimination in the workplace and enjoy the resultant business benefits.