Tag: Baroness Thomas of Winchester

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Thomas of Winchester on 2014-05-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to close the employment gap for disabled people since the ending of the quota system in 1995; and how progress is being monitored.

Lord Freud

The disability employment gap has reduced. The Quarterly Labour Force Survey data is used to measure the employment rate gap between working age disabled people and the total working age population.

The Government is committed to ensuring that all disabled people have the opportunities and support that they need to get a job and to remain in work. There is a range of provision to provide this support including the Work Programme, Access to Work and Work Choice programmes. Further, in December 2013, the Government published ‘the disability and health employment strategy: the discussion so far’.

A new Health and Work Service (HWS) is being developed to provide occupational health advice and support for employees, employers and GP’s to help individuals with a health condition to stay in or return to work.The intention is to introduce the service by the end of 2014.

In July 2013, The Prime Minister launched the Disability Confident Campaign to help increase employer confidence in recruiting and retaining disabled people as part of a diverse workforce, and to provide opportunities for employers and organisations to share learning and good practice.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Thomas of Winchester on 2014-05-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what training is provided on disability awareness to staff in Jobcentre Plus offices as part of the public sector equality duty; and what steps are being taken to ensure that awareness by staff of obligations under the duty is improving.

Lord Freud

DWP, in partnership with Civil Service Learning, provides a wide range of diversity and disability learning opportunities for staff.

The ‘Equality and Diversity Essentials’ package provides an overview of the Equality Act 2010, the Public Sector Equality Duty and covers disability for customers and employees. The learning is targeted at all new employees as part of induction and as a refresher for other staff.

DWP offers a follow up ‘Disability Awareness’ course. This aims to build the confidence of managers to give effective support to disabled employees.

DWP customer facing staff are trained in the skills required to support a range of claimants and to respect their individual needs. This approach ensures they are skilled to deal with a diverse set of circumstances, whilst treating everyone as individuals. Jobcentre Advisers, in particular, have access to a comprehensive training programme which focuses on raising awareness of the individual’s personal circumstances, including disabilities, and also recognises that those circumstances can affect individuals in different ways.

The Department regularly participates in external benchmarking activity to measure and improve performance for disabled staff, customers and service users. 2013 results showed a significant improvement in performance from 2012.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Thomas of Winchester on 2014-05-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether, as part of the requirement to make reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act 2010, accessible toilets at Jobcentre Plus offices are available for the use of claimants with disabilities.

Lord Freud

Where there is a medical need, our policy is to allow claimants to use toilet facilities in our Jobcentres, subject to constraints in certain locations caused by the layout of the building and keeping people safe. We consider that this policy complies with the requirement under the Equality Act 2010 to make reasonable adjustments.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Thomas of Winchester on 2014-05-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ensure that accessible toilets for disabled people in buildings other than private dwellings comply with published national standards.

Baroness Stowell of Beeston

In buildings other than dwellings, Part M of the Building Regulations requires that reasonable provision is made for accessible toilets where relevant types of building work are undertaken. Statutory guidance on how that can be achieved is contained in Approved Document M (Access to and use of buildings). The building control body is responsible for ensuring that relevant building work complies with this requirement.

Provisions in the Equality Act 2010 require employers and those providing a service to the public or carrying out a public function to make a “reasonable adjustment”, so that disabled people are not placed at a “substantial disadvantage” compared to non-disabled people. Ultimately, only a court can decide what is “reasonable” in any particular case. However, Part 4 of the Equality Act 2010 (Disability) Regulations 2010, prescribes circumstances in which it is not reasonable for such a body to remove or alter a physical feature which was provided in or in connection with a building to assist with access to the building or the use of facilities and which satisfy the relevant design standard. The Schedule to these Regulations provides details of how to determine whether the design standard is satisfied, and refers to design considerations and provisions in Approved Document M.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Thomas of Winchester on 2014-05-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many car parking companies which are members of the British Parking Association have been refused access to keeper data by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency since the introduction of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012.

Baroness Kramer

29 members of the British Parking Association have been suspended from having access to vehicle keeper data since the introduction of the Act in 2012.