§ Mr. GoodmanTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will set out the number of employees in his Department who have a disability, broken down by disability type. [148993]
§ Mr. McNultyEmployees in the Department for Transport, who have informed the Department that they have a disability, are recorded in the following table. The figures given are at April 2003.
Type of disability Count Hearing 13 Learning difficulties 1— Mental illness l— Mobility impairment 12 Physical co-ordination difficulties 18 Visual 10 Unspecified2 8 Total 62 1 Indicates that the number is less than 5. 2 Where a person has informed the Department that they are disabled under the Disability Discrimination Act definition but chosen not to inform the Department about the nature of their impairment/s. While employees are encouraged to inform the Department that they have a disability, especially where an adjustment may better enable them to work to the best of their ability, they are not required to do so. It is likely that the numbers of disabled employees is actually higher. The Department is actively involved in the Cabinet Office run Disability Working Group. The group seeks to improve information on disabled civil servants both by, examining why employees are reluctant to pass on information on their impairments and, the approaches used to collect information.