Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he has taken to ensure that all court services across the country are committed to the Disability Confident initiative; and if he will make a statement.

The MoJ achieved Disability Confident Leader status in October 2017. The externally accredited application reflected the commitment and work of all parts of the organisation including Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service.

HMCTS’ Chief Executive is also the MoJ’s Board-level Disability Champion and is developing an internal HMCTS Diversity, Inclusion and Wellbeing Strategy for staff, which will include a commitment to continuing to improve the experience of court services for disabled court users.

One of the steps taken is to provide new guidance which is currently being finalised. This includes reasonable adjustments and a tool kit for staff to support the requirements of court users; disability awareness training for court staff; communication support for HMCTS customers who are deaf, hard of hearing or speech impaired - for example using British Sign Language (BSL) interpreters and ensuring there are court rooms with hearing enhancement systems; and providing staff with access to support through a new initiative called Mental Health Allies along with training on mental health, to better support vulnerable court users.

The MoJ will continue to focus on improving disability confidence across the organisation and the services it provides.