Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to Part One of the National Disability Strategy published July 2021, what recent steps No. 10 Downing Street has taken on (a) encouraging and supporting workplace disability networks, (b) achieving and maintaining the highest level of Disability Confident accreditation, (c) ensuring responsive and timely support to meet workplace adjustment needs and (d) developing and embedding flexible working.

For management and staffing purposes Downing Street is an integral part of the Cabinet Office.

1. The Cabinet Office has a disability network, known as the ABLE network. The ABLE network is supported through a number of wider disability specific communities. At the Civil Service level, the ABLE Chair meets with other Disability chairs at the Civil Service Diversity Network where best practice is shared at the CS level. In addition, the Cabinet Office supports ABLE’s membership of Purple Space where all disabled network colleagues have the choice to link up with disability networks across the Purple Space community which has cross sector membership where disability inclusion knowledge is shared across different organisations.

2. Cabinet Office was reaccredited as a Disability Confident Leader in January 2021. This is the highest level of accreditation that can be achieved for the scheme.

3. The Cabinet Office Adjustments team is a dedicated resource within the Department that provides advice to employees and managers. The team aims to respond to all requests for assistance within three working days. For employees requiring workplace adjustments, the team provides end-to-end support to managers to implement physical adjustments. Managers are also supported by a Casework Service provided by MoJ (the Cabinet Office third party supplier) on the implementation of non-physical adjustments.

4. The Cabinet Office embraces flexible working and this is often used as workplace adjustment to enable colleagues to work to their full potential.