Disability Disclosure

Mr. Hayes
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps his Department is taking to encourage disclosure of disability by public sector employees; and what the cost of such steps was in 2005-06.

Mrs. McGuire
The Department for Work and Pensions encourages its staff to declare their disability status. In its disability equality scheme published on 1 December 2006 the Department committed to improve further the information that it collects on disability status.

The Department is in the process of rolling out a new resource management system that will allow it to capture such information more effectively. To coincide with the rollout, a targeted programme of communications will encourage further staff to disclose their disability status. This will complement the existing information on disability disclosure that is already available to all staff on the Department’s internal website. Costs have been, and will continue to be, absorbed within normal departmental communications spending.

Externally, the Department aims to develop and share good practice on disability issues, including disability monitoring, as part of its membership of organisations such as the Employer’s Forum on Disability.