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<p>DWP as part of its Policy portfolio is responsible for the administration of the
Disability Confident Scheme – but this answer relates to how DWP as an employer uses
and supports Disability Confident. DWP is committed to Disability Confident and back
in November 2023 was re-accredited for the next three years as a Disability Confident
Leader – the top-level award. In June 2023, 22% of DWP staff indicated that they had
a disability (an increase of 3.7% compared to June 2021) and 13.6% of Senior Civil
Servants in the department declared a disability (an increase of 1.6% compared to
June 2021) – hence support in this space is a departmental priority.</p><p> </p><p>There
are no officials working specifically on Disability Confident outside of policy group
in DWP – but we do have a Disability Lead working in our Equity, Diversity, Inclusion
and Wellbeing team who supported the co-ordination of the evidence.</p><p> </p><p>As
part of this submission DWP provided a large amount of evidence on the good practice
that is happening with a focus on disability. This included but was not limited to:</p><ul><li>A
review of the Workplace Adjustments processes, with a focus on ensuring adjustments
are quicker and easier to put in place.</li><li>Supporting our THRIVE network – an
EDI Network focussed on supporting colleagues with a Disability or long-term limiting
condition.</li><li>Ensuring products and services offered to colleagues are accessible
– both physical spaces managed by estates and virtual digital spaces.</li><li>Establishing
a centre of expertise for resourcing, which includes a team focused on diversity and
inclusion in recruitment – the team leads on ensuring our recruitment processes are
inclusive, fair and open for all.</li><li>All recruitment follows the fair, open and
on merit principles and is name-blind to provide anonymity and prevent bias in the
process. Specific guidance is also provided to hiring managers including DWP Recruitment
of Disabled People Guide and Supporting Disabled Employees: Line Manager’s Best Practice
Guide.</li><li>The department has been awarded Disability Confident Leader and RNIB
Visibly Better Employer status which is promoted on Civil Service Jobs adverts, diverse
jobs boards, social media, and Civil Service Careers websites.</li><li>Taking all
reasonable steps to overcome any barriers that may impede people with any kind of
disability including mental ill-health. Our recruitment process allows for reasonable
adjustments to be instigated on an individual basis and considered at each stage of
the recruitment process.</li><li>Trialling new approaches across the recruitment and
selection process to understand their impacts on diversity outcomes. This results
in new approaches being adopted where data shows they work such as the implementation
of sharing interview questions in advance of interview into recruitment policy in
June 2023.</li></ul>
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