Why do they need to know?

I don’t think answering those questions is compulsory so just ignore them if you choose.

They will be asking as their funding will depend on them reaching all areas of society.

Its called diversity.........and they have to try to prove that their courses are open to everyone. Ignore it.

I'd think it's for their advertisers who support the site.
Not a required field. No need to fill it in.
These questions are on many sites and in the real world a sheet of these questions often accompanies paperwork for lots of things.

kitty is right, they need to know that they are reaching everyone, or not.

The questions appear intrusive but they do serve a good purpose.

Why would you ignore it Oopsadaisy?

You shouldn't be obliged to fill them in! If you don't want to - don't. I certainly wouldn't.

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/voluntary-sector-network/2011/may/12/equality-act-voluntary-sector

This all applies to charities I think.

But you don't need to fill it in although it is helpful if you do.

I understand collecting this information could help with their funding, what I find disturbing is this will surely lead to "quotas", if someone were to apply for a course and they had filled their quota of, say, black transgender, would they be denied access in favour of someone who applied later but was, say, white English? I think this is a form of discrimination. Why not make it clear the courses are open to all and are on a first come first served basis. Surely we should not be "pigeon holeing" people.

Oldwoman70 I have been doing courses of all kinds for decades. where the forms required a demographic profile and I have yet to not get a place on a course I wanted to do.

Since I am in the unpopular demographic: white well-educated middle class pensioner. If any one was being excluded at any point, I would have been first on the list.

It won't lead to quotas just more effective targeting at the groups who are under represented.

riverwalk I would ignore it because it’s none of their business which ethnic group I belong to or what religion I am.
Seems to me it’s yet another way of information gathering on us and sending it all off somewhere, if were anonymous then I would fill it in and it isn’t their business what my sexual orientation is.

Oops pressed post when the phone rang, but you get my drift.
And the call wasn’t even for me, why am I the only one that picks the phone up?

It is helpful though. I don't think it's a conspiracy!

It's not a conspiracy but it is leading to some silly ideas about diversity.

The only way to establish whether certain groups - for instance people over 60, women or Chinese people - are accessing certain amenities, e.g. courses, is to ask people what groups they belong to.

If you don't want to answer, then don't, but personally I think it's a bit petty to object.

Baggs What silly ideas about diversity do these questions lead to?

When I volunteered for the Witness Service at our local Magistrates Court, we had to get Demographic Forms filled in and we're told off if they were not diverse enough. Thing is, we could only help the people who were called as witnesses.

Its just for data purposes. Nobody would be rejected on the answers.

Most questions like these are usually on a separate anonymous page. If not I wouldn't answer. The question that I hate is Miss or Mrs.

I digress but AgeUk... courses?

I can see that charities, etc may want to make sure they’re attracting people from a diverse cross-section of society, but very personal questions on a person’s sexuality, ethnicity and religion are surely generally irrelevant and may put off an awful lot of people. Especially those who may feel isolated due to their sexuality, ethnicity or religion.

Its a question which should be asked at the end of the course not the beginning. If it needs to be asked at all.

A lot of Age UK branches run exercise and other activity courses. Not to mention social and singing groups and even cookery courses.

I worked for several years in our little local library, where anyone wanting to join had to fill in a form that wanted to know ethnicity and sexual orientation.
I did usually point out that there were a 'prefer not to say' options, though most people seemed not to mind.
Personally I would like a MYOB option!

There was also a question asking whether the person would like books etc. in languages other than English. It is a 'nice' but also fairly diverse area, but to me the question was a waste of time, since our very little libarary would simply not have room for any meaningful amount of stock in umpteen languages - everything from Turkish to Tagalog.

The council was obsessed with equality/diversity - though I know a lot of the requirements came from central govt. Before I retired, every single council employee was required to undergo 'training' - I use the word loosely - in equality/diversity and health and safety.

The 'courses' were all done online and were a complete joke. They each took about 20 mins max and consisted of questions with 4 possible answers. If you got one wrong it came up with a cheery, 'Not quite right - try again!'

Courses were provided by some outside agency - I never did get round to asking how much it had all cost, when the council was constantly complaining about lack of funds and having to cut services.
But never mind - we were all 'trained'. '