Ministry of Justice: Disability

(asked on 1st February 2022) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to Part One of the National Disability Strategy, published July 2021, what recent steps his 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.


Answered by
James Cartlidge Portrait
James Cartlidge
Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
This question was answered on 9th February 2022

What recent steps their Department has taken on (a) encouraging and supporting workplace disability networks.

The Ministry of Justice has a partnership agreement in place with Staff Networks. This sets out an overarching approach as to how MOJ staff support networks can operate effectively and how MOJ will provide support, advice and guidance.

There are bi-monthly meetings in place between MoJ and staff networks. MoJ disability staff networks are members of our disability governance groups, and we encourage their participation to gain insight and to contribute to departmental work on disability.

What recent steps their Department has taken on (b) achieving and maintaining the highest level of Disability Confident accreditation.

The MoJ has been a Disability Confident (DC) Leader since 2017 and in March 2021 MoJ were successfully reaccredited as a DC Leader. The MoJ supported its Executive Agencies to become DC Leaders in March 2021 and will continue this activity. This recognised our commitment to make the most of the talents of disabled people and work to improve how we attract, recruit, retain and develop people with disabilities.

To maintain this level of DC the MoJ is working with disabled colleagues and allies across the department to build a more inclusive and empowering workplace. This includes the provision of resources (e.g. policy, guidance, information and Staff Networks) and work is overseen by a Disability Action Group, established in 2021.

What recent steps their Department has taken on (c) ensuring responsive and timely support to meet workplace adjustment needs.

The department established a new in-house workplace adjustment service in 2021. The service provides advice and guidance to staff, managers and teams to help staff obtain and implement workplace adjustments in a timely manner.

The department has made improvements to its intranet pages, guidance, and learning products, to build capability to meet workplace adjustment needs. Guidance was updated throughout the pandemic to provide continuity of workplace adjustments services. A new workplace adjustment online learning product has been made available, which enables employees to recognise when adjustments may be helpful and how to implement them.

The MoJ have optimised and increased our dedicated Assistive Technology team to ensure responsive and timely workplace adjustment services are in operation across the organisation.

What recent steps their Department has taken on (d) developing and embedding flexible working.

In MoJ flexible working has been a useful tool to improve employees’ work life balance and wellbeing, whilst helping to attract and retain staff.

HR Policies offer both formal and informal flexibility subject to business need and support flexible working across the department. Flexible working as a workplace adjustment can be key to enabling people with disabilities and carers to continue to work.

The introduction of Smarter Working in 2015 embedded flexibility at the heart of our people offer. It brought people, workspace and technology together to help us be a more open, dynamic and modern organisation. The majority of our staff attended a place of work during the pandemic. We are continuing to embed flexibility as office-based staff return to MoJ buildings: we have issued practical guidance toolkits to support them make the most of hybrid working, taking into account the needs of their role and their individual circumstances.

These arrangements are embedded through toolkits made available to staff, encouraging teams and individuals to discuss the working arrangements that will work for them in balance with business needs.

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