Agencies and "standard forms" for references

[d000hg]

A certain agency emailed me a copy of their "standard form" for references, trying to get a reference for a interview. Ignoring the whole debate on when to provide references, this form has several questions about performance, reliability, timeliness and so on. I'm pretty sure that references shouldn't have to give any information beyond "yes he worked with us during this period in this role".
I don't want to annoy my references with stupid long-winded questionnaires. Can they feel free to ignore them and send a very short note of the type above? Do the clients want this information or are the agencies just trying to get extra info?

[TheFaQQer]

References can include anything that the referee wants it to - the people asking for the reference want as much information as they can get, hence the "standard form".

However, some companies will only give a reference that gives the dates that the person worked there, and nothing more. It's up the the referee what they include or exclude.

In short, there is no such thing as a "standard reference".