Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to Part One of the National Disability Strategy, published July 2021, what recent steps her Department has taken to (a) encourage and support workplace disability networks, (b) achieve and maintain the highest level of Disability Confident accreditation, (c) ensure responsive and timely support to meet workplace adjustment needs and (d) develop and embed flexible working.

My Department has a very active and engaged ‘Ability Network’ which champions the needs and abilities of people with disabilities in DCMS. The Network is sponsored by three Senior Civil Servant Champions at Deputy Director, Director and Director General level who help to promote awareness and remove barriers to inclusion. The Chairs benefit from a ‘business deal for networks’ which enables them to dedicate up to 10% of their time to network activity. Senior sponsors meet with the Permanent Secretary (who is the Civil Service Inclusion Champion for Disability) on a quarterly basis and the Network is represented in our Governance structures with a role on the People and Operations Committee which meets monthly. Visibility of the network is supported by our Internal Communications team with regular awareness raising activity including, most recently, a series of events and blog posts for Disability History month which took place in December.

I am proud that DCMS has achieved the highest level of Disability Confident accreditation which we will maintain through continuous improvement of our guidance and toolkits for disabled colleagues and their managers; and by taking forward an evidence based disability action plan which reflects best practice. As part of our commitment to be the most inclusive government department by 2025 we are undertaking a full review of the workplace adjustments process to ensure that adjustments are provided promptly and meet the required need.

DCMS has achieved the PAS 3000 British Standard for Smarter Working which is a key part of our inclusive culture. All staff have the right to request flexible working after 26 weeks’ of continuous service and we look forward to the outcome of the BEIS consultation to see if this can be reduced to a day 1 right. We also encourage staff to consider flexible working through our HR policies and we promote flexible working through internal communications and blogs. In addition, as part of our move to a hybrid working model, staff can request workplace adjustments, with one option to permanently work from home in certain limited circumstances.