Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps their Department is taking to support the Disability Confident scheme; how many officials in their Department work directly on supporting that scheme; what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of that work in supporting the (a) recruitment and (b) retention of disabled people in their Department; and what further steps they are taking to support their Department’s recruitment and retention of disabled people.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
DCMS has been a member of the Disability Confident scheme since 2017 and had its accreditation as a Disability Confident Leader renewed in April 2024. Activity to support our membership of the scheme, and disabled colleagues more generally, is mainstreamed into the work of the People and Workplace team including health & safety, recruitment, HR policy, inclusion and career progression.
During the time that DCMS has been part of the scheme the proportion of disabled colleagues has increased from 8% in 2021 to 12.2% in 2023 (2024 data not yet published). DCMS won a Recruitment Industry Disability Initiative award for Creating Disability Confident Recruiters in 2023 and analysis of our recruitment data for 2023/24 shows that a higher proportion of disabled candidates were successful at the sift stage compared to the proportion that applied. Analysis of our retention data shows no difference between retention rates for staff with a declared disability and those without. To maximise retention we provide workplace adjustments, access to supportive staff networks, an employee assistance programme and targeted development for people with declared disabilities to ensure they can thrive in their career at DCMS.
Further steps we are taking include:
Operating fortnightly application and interview advice workshops to support candidates.
Increased promotion of reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process and education of recruitment panels on how to support reasonable adjustments.
Developing an inclusive recruitment workshop for recruitment panels.
Launching a sponsorship programme for people with disabilities.
Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many times the National Physical Activity Task Force has met; when those meetings took place; and how many (a) people and (b) women attended each of those meetings.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The National Physical Activity Taskforce (NPAT) was launched in September 2023 as part of the government sport strategy Get Active, to bring together government departments, the sport sector and independent experts to deliver coordinated and innovative policy that will help encourage people to get active.
The NPAT meets quarterly and has held two productive meetings since its launch. The inaugural meeting took place on 27 September 2023, the second on 12 December 2023 with the third scheduled for March 2024.
Each meeting includes standing representatives ex officio, as well as rotating members to ensure diverse representation from across the sport and physical activity landscape. Independent experts are invited on an ad-hoc basis to present key data sets relating to specific meeting topics.
The number of attendees and gender ratio varies at each meeting. The NPAT terms of reference, minutes, and names of attendees are published on gov.uk.
Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department produced a ministerial response under the write round process to the Department for Education's review of the relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) curriculum.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The Secretary of State for Education has been clear she is very concerned about reports of inappropriate materials being used to teach relationships, sex and health education (RSHE). The Government has brought forward the review of the RSHE statutory guidance as a result, including conducting a public consultation as soon as possible.
The statutory guidance clearly states that the guidance will be reviewed every three years from first teaching (September 2020) and so the decision to review the guidance does not require collective agreement. The Secretary of State for Education will seek collective agreement to the consultation documents through a write-round process, before publishing the consultation in the autumn. This process is not yet underway.
As part of the review, an expert panel has been established to advise the Secretary of State on what topics should and should not be taught in school and the introduction of age limits. This will provide clear guidance for teachers about when certain topics can be addressed.
In tandem with this work, the Oak National Academy is producing a suite of materials to support teachers to create age-appropriate lesson plans and ensure that they have access to appropriate materials.
The Government is determined to make sure RSHE teaching leaves children equipped to make informed decisions about their health, wellbeing and relationships, in a sensitive way that reflects their stage of development.
The Government expects new statutory guidance to be released in the coming months. It will then be subject to public consultation to conclude by the end of the year, coming into statutory force as soon as possible after that.
Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the National Disability Strategy published on 28 July 2021, which of her Department’s commitments in that strategy that have not been paused as a result of legal action have (a) been fully, (b) been partially and (c) not been implemented.
Answered by John Whittingdale
As part of the National Disability Strategy (NDS), DCMS had four specific actions, three of which are progressing as planned and one of which, following the recent machinery of government changes, is now the responsibility of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.
Firstly, we are continuing to develop the Arts Access Card Scheme, which will make it easier for disabled people to enjoy arts and cultural venues across the UK. The pilot of the scheme is scheduled to launch in spring 2024.
Secondly, we are progressing our ambition for the UK to be the most accessible tourism destination in Europe by engaging with stakeholders, including VisitEngland, VisitBritain and the Tourism Industry Council Working Group, and we are also aiming to host a series of ministerial roundtables to discuss the barriers disabled people face as tourists.
Thirdly, we are continuing to address the inequalities faced by disabled people in sport and physical activity. As such, Sport England has provided £1 million of specialist disability investment as part of its ongoing ‘recover and reinvent’ work, 47 grants through the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Activity Fund to projects benefiting autistic people and £40 million in the 2 financial years to March 2023 through the Tackling Inequalities Fund and Together Fund (reaching 1,900 projects directly supporting disabled people).
The action in the NDS for DCMS to explore how to improve the accessibility of private sector websites now falls under the auspices of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.