To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many individuals over the ages of (a) 50, (b) 55 and (c) 60 years were recruited by his Department in each of the last 10 years; and what percentage of total new employees each figure represents. (231834)

The Department for Work and Pensions was formed in June 2001. Therefore the first full year that recruitment statistics are available is the year ending 31 March 2003.

The available information on recruits is shown in the following table.