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<p>The Civil Service has set out five priorities for the health and wellbeing of its
employees, including priorities in relation to physical and mental wellbeing. In addition,
the Civil Service has also committed to being a leading employer on mental health
support, in line with the recommendations set out in the recently published independent
review Thriving At Work. We will benchmark our department to see how the support we
provide employees currently measures up to the recommendations set out in the October
2017 Farmer/Stevenson review. The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
(DCMS) has also recently been awarded level 3 of the Disability Confident Scheme.</p><p>
</p><p>In DCMS dedicated Health and Well-being help is available on the intranet.
This covers the Civil Service priority areas and includes information on how to cope
with stress with frequent articles and blogs on mental health, musculoskeletal issues
and embracing a healthy lifestyle.</p><p> </p><p>In addition the Department provides
information and support to help all employees to stay well and manage their health
conditions at work. This support includes a variety of programmes like occupational
health support, counselling support through the Employee Assistance Programme, HR
Casework team and the Civil Service Workplace Adjustments Service which helps with
adjustments for employees suffering from a mental health or physical condition. Line
Managers also have access to a Stress Assessment and Reduction Plan toolkit for identifying
and managing stress when required.</p><p> </p><p>The Department is a signatory to
the Time to Change Pledge and raises awareness of the support available through national
campaigns such as the “Time to Talk” day and the Mental Health Awareness Week.</p><p>
</p><p>The Department supports the Employee Mental Health Network with a Senior Civil
Servant Champion and has introduced Mental Health First Aiders and Champions who are
trained to provide support and guide people towards appropriate professional help.
The Network has had the visible support of the Department’s Permanent Secretary and
Ministers.</p><p> </p><p>The Civil Service Unconscious Bias training is mandatory
for all employees and the Department is working with line managers to support individuals
with mental health conditions, part of which is encouraging line managers to undertake
the Mental Health Awareness eLearning available on the Civil Service Learning Portal.</p><p>
</p><p>The department participates in the Civil Service Workplace Challenges which
promotes physical activities such as The Active Lunch Challenge, the Walking Challenge
and the Physical Activity Week. We also promote national campaigns such as the One
You campaign.</p>
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