Elderly people would no longer be refused medical treatment on grounds of age, and be offered a full range of insurance products, under a White Paper published yesterday.

The move to outlaw age discrimination by organisations providing goods and services was announced in the Commons by Harriet Harman, the Equalities Minister. At present such discrimination is banned only in the workplace. Campaigners hope that the measure will improve the provision of health services in particular.

It was the most significant part of a package to update existing antidiscrimination laws which otherwise had a lukewarm response. David Frost, of the British Chamber of Commerce, called it a “bureaucratic nightmare”. The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats said that the document had few specifics and no timetable. Ms Harman responded that she hoped legislation would be passed by next summer.

There will be measures to allow positive action in the workplace in favour of women and people from ethnic minorities, so that employers can take account of underrepresentation when deciding between two equally qualified candidates. Lawyers said that this was unworkable.

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