§ Mr. GoodmanTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will set out the number of employees in his Department who have a disability, broken down by disability type. [148994]
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§ Fiona MactaggartThe information requested for the Home Office (excluding Prison Service and the UK Passport Agency) is in the table.
Type of disability Number of staff1 Non-disabled 18,500 Hearing impairment 50 Visual impairment 30 Mobility impairment 70 Physical coordination difficulties 40 Reduced physical capacity 110 Learning difficulties 20 Mental illness 20 Unknown disability 50 Speech impairment 2— Hearing impairment plus3 — Visual impairment plus — Speech impairment plus — Mobility impairment plus 10 Physical co-ordination difficulties plus 10 Reduced physical capacity plus 40 Mental illness plus 10 Status unknown 250 Total Home Office staff4 19,210 1 Provided from Mandate Data as at 1 April 2003. The data from Mandate incorporate information on 98 per cent, civil servants. Therefore, any analysis that comes from Mandate will not cover the complete population of civil servants and will not always reconcile with the data that are in the public domain. 2 Less than 10. 3 In combination with one or more disabilities. 4 Including Forensic Science Service. Note:
The number of staff in post and the number of disabled staff have been rounded to the nearest 10, and numbers under five are not disclosed in order to protect the privacy of the individual.
A Home Office Staff Survey undertaken in 2001 showed that 5 per cent. of respondents were declaring a disability against a declared level of 2.3 per cent. staff with a disability recorded on their personal record at that time. However, the declaration of disability is a voluntary matter and the Department is exploring ways of persuading staff of the value of declaring their disability. The Department participates in the Cabinet Office Disability Bursary Scheme, designed for staff with potential for early promotion to the senior civil service, the Cabinet Office summer placement scheme for disabled graduates and is a member of the Cabinet Office-chaired Disability Working Group, which is examining issues around disability monitoring and collection and the non-declaration of disability.
The Department has facilitated and resourced the establishment of the Home Office Disability Support network (HODS), to provide support and encouragement to staff with disabilities and advice to the Department about their needs. The Department is working with HODS to raise awareness and improve understanding of disability issues across the office, and to help realise the potential of disabled staff to rise to senior levels.