Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps they have taken in their Department to operate the Disability Confident employer scheme for those seeking a lateral transfer; and how many and what proportion of candidates who declared themselves as having a disability and who applied under that scheme where (a) interviewed and (b) laterally transferred in (i) 2021 and (ii) 2022.

DWP is a Disability Confident Leader and all our campaigns advertised on Civil Service Jobs, externally or across the Civil Service, carry the Disability Confident Logo. We are committed to offering an interview to any disabled candidate, internal or external, who applies for these campaigns under the Disability Confident Scheme and meets the minimum criteria for the role.

To respond to changing resourcing requirements, and enable career development moves, DWP does provide opportunities for its employees to move internally on a lateral basis across the department where appropriate before advertising vacancies on CS Jobs. Advertising internal opportunities to move laterally is not mandatory but where these opportunities are advertised, we operate the Disability Confident Scheme which enables eligible candidates that apply under the scheme to progress to the interview stage if they meet the minimum requirements for the role. As most internal opportunities are advertised locally, using manual processes rather than CS Jobs, we are only able to provide limited numerical data.

The table below shows the number of DWP candidates applying for internal or Cross Government roles advertised on CS Jobs who have declared themselves as having a disability, or who applied under the Guaranteed Interview Scheme. We cannot identify who is applying on a level move, just those who have replied ‘no’ to the question 'are you applying on promotion'. This may include a very small number of people who have applied for a role at a lower grade, though this is extremely rare.

.* Applications made by internal DWP candidates for internally advertised DWP / Cross Government vacancies advertised on CS Jobs. Please note we cannot identify who is applying on a lateral move, just those who have replied ‘no’ to the question 'are you applying on promotion'. This may include a very small number of people who have applied for a role at a lower grade, though this is extremely rare. ** Numbers are low and have been redacted to prevent the risk of individuals being identified.