Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what proportion of (a) disabled and (b) all other staff in his Department reported experiencing bullying or harassment at work in the most recent Civil Service People Survey.

In the 2014 People Survey, 15% of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) respondents declaring a long-standing physical or mental health condition, illness, impairment or disability reported that they had personally experienced bullying or harassment at work in the past 12 months.

5% of BIS respondents declaring that they did not have a long-standing physical or mental health condition, illness, impairment or disability reported that they had personally experienced bullying or harassment at work in the past 12 months.

Overall, the BIS scores for bullying or harassment at work in the past 12 months are better than the Civil Service benchmark. 7% of all BIS respondents reported that they had personally experienced bullying or harassment at work in the past 12 months. This is 3 points lower than the Civil Service benchmark (10%).

Actions to improve results include:

• Delivering the Civil Service Talent Action Plan and the BIS Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (ED&I) Strategy to continue to build an increasingly inclusive Department where everyone is treated fairly. This includes actions relating to disability, which is identified as a priority demographic within the Department. Examples of deliverables under the Plan and Strategy include:

1. The appointment of disability, race and gender champions at Director level to work with our Board level ED&I Champion and the Diversity Networks to support and highlight barriers so they can be addressed at an early stage.
2. Professor Binna Kandola ran 3 unconscious bias sessions for managers last autumn to raise greater diversity awareness and address issues across BIS.
3. Mandated unconscious bias e-learning for all line managers to ensure that we attain a baseline of awareness across all BIS managers.
4. Piloting non-executive board members’ providing coaching and mentoring to under-represented SCS staff.
5. Launched a Reverse Mentoring programme where 2 Directors General and 6 Directors receive mentoring from a junior BME and/or disabled member of staff. The programme aims to lead to more inclusive decision making and a better understanding of perceptions and behaviour.

• Providing further guidance and information to staff and managers on our approach to performance management to mitigate against a more robust system potentially being misinterpreted as unfair treatment, bullying or harassment.

• Engaging staff in groups through e.g. surveys and conversations, to identify particular areas of concern, causes, and potential actions to take forward locally.

Points to note:

The Civil Service People Survey asks the question “Do you have any long-standing physical or mental health condition, illness, impairment or disability?” The survey does not include a question that specifically identifies disability status.