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<p /> <p /> <p>DWP, in partnership with Civil Service Learning, provides a wide range
of diversity and disability learning opportunities for staff.</p><p> </p><p>The ‘Equality
and Diversity Essentials' package provides an overview of the Equality Act 2010, the
Public Sector Equality Duty and covers disability for customers and employees. The
learning is targeted at all new employees as part of induction and as a refresher
for other staff.</p><p> </p><p>DWP offers a follow up ‘Disability Awareness' course.
This aims to build the confidence of managers to give effective support to disabled
employees.</p><p> </p><p>DWP customer facing staff are trained in the skills required
to support a range of claimants and to respect their individual needs. This approach
ensures they are skilled to deal with a diverse set of circumstances, whilst treating
everyone as individuals. Jobcentre Advisers, in particular, have access to a comprehensive
training programme which focuses on raising awareness of the individual's personal
circumstances, including disabilities, and also recognises that those circumstances
can affect individuals in different ways.</p><p> </p><p>The Department regularly participates
in external benchmarking activity to measure and improve performance for disabled
staff, customers and service users. 2013 results showed a significant improvement
in performance from 2012.</p>
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