§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what progress has been made in meeting targets for the proportion of people with disabilities in senior posts in the Department. [110524]
§ Mr. AlexanderAs at 29 April 2003 0.5 per cent. of staff at senior civil service level in the Cabinet Office are disabled. The Cabinet Office has a target to increase this proportion to 3 per cent. by 2005 and has put in place a number of initiatives to help achieve this. The Department is a member of the cross-departmental 691W Disability Working Group, which is currently working to identify best practice in surveying staff on disability—a re-survey of Cabinet Office staff is planned once this work is complete.
The Cabinet Office also supports its own departmental network for disabled staff (DISCO) and will be working with them to support a number of events throughout the coming year to promote the European Year of Disabled People. This includes hosting information meetings on various disabilities such as diabetes, epilepsy and ME.