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<p>Government responsibility for disability matters resides with the Office of Disability
Issues within the Department for Work and Pensions. My Rt hon. Friend, the Minister
for Women and Equalities, has not had specific discussions with cabinet colleagues
on the scale of bullying of disabled people.</p><p> </p><p>The Government does not
tolerate bullying in any form and any sector of our society.</p><p> </p><p>Under the
Equality Act 2010, ‘unwanted or prohibited conduct’ related to a protected characteristic
(including disability) that violates an individual’s dignity or creates an intimidating,
hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for them, is unlawful. Bullying
behaviour may also, in some circumstances, be proscribed by the victimisation provisions
of the Act.</p><p> </p><p>The Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS) record
the number of calls they receive about harassment and victimisation of disabled people.
They reported that between 1 October 2016, when the current EASS contract started,
and 31 October 2017 there were 590 contacts from disabled people about harassment
or victimisation, out of a total of 11,817 disability-related calls.</p>
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