Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment each government body or department has made of the value for money of the subscription fees paid to the Business Disability Forum for (1) membership or (2) partnership, and what criteria were used for each assessment.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
This information is not held centrally. Government departments are responsible for decisions about whether to buy services from third sector organisations to support equality, diversity and inclusion in their organisations.
Cabinet Office procured the Business Disability Forum subscriptions as a partner following a review of market options. This included looking at both the technical offering and price. Any future subscriptions will be subject to updated market analysis and value for money considerations.
The Business Disability Forum (BDF) provides support and guidance to the Cabinet Office on accessibility and disability-related issues, including reviews of procedures and policies, guidance on accessible training materials, and training for staff.
Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much each government department or body that is (1) a member, or (2) a partner, of the Business Disability Forum has paid in subscription fees in each year of its membership or partnership.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Cabinet Office is a partner of the Business Disability Forum and has been a member since 2020. The Cabinet Office paid £26,400 for 2024/25. The annual cost varies each year.
Information on which Government Departments and bodies are members and the subscription fees paid is not held centrally.
The Business Disability Forum (BDF) provides support and guidance to the Cabinet Office on accessibility and disability-related issues, including reviews of procedures and policies, guidance on accessible training materials, and training for staff.
Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government which government departments and bodies are (1) members, and (2) partners, of the Business Disability Forum.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Cabinet Office is a partner of the Business Disability Forum. Information on which other government departments and bodies are members or partners is not held centrally.
Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Smith of Basildon on 1 October (HL1036), whether it is their intention to publish the full dataset gathered from the Civil Service Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Expenditure Review.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
We are currently considering the Civil Service Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Expenditure Review commissioned by the previous Government.
Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the average cost of literature reviews commissioned by the Cabinet Office.
Answered by Lord True - Shadow Leader of the House of Lords
This information is not held centrally.
Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what measures are in place to monitor the public sector’s compliance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018; and what have been the findings of any compliance monitoring exercises so far.
Answered by Lord True - Shadow Leader of the House of Lords
The Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) Accessibility Regulations, came into force in September 2018. They aim to ensure public sector websites and mobile apps are accessible to all users.
In May 2020, Government Digital Service (GDS) began monitoring a sample of public sector websites using a combination of automated and manual audits. GDS also monitors websites where complaints have been sent to the Equality Advisory and Support Service and the Equalities Commission for Northern Ireland.
More information on how GDS monitors the accessibility of public sector organisations websites can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/public-sector-website-and-mobile-application-accessibility-monitoring
GDS is creating an independent group of stakeholders consisting of organisations who represent the interests of users with a wide range of access needs to help aid GDS’s accessibility monitoring duty as well as ensuring that website users and the wider accessibility community’s views are heard.
Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of public sector bodies’ compliance with the Public Sector (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018, now that the 23 September 2020 deadline has passed.
Answered by Lord True - Shadow Leader of the House of Lords
The Government Digital Service (GDS) is testing websites in accordance with the Accessibility Regulations.
GDS will periodically publish information about their monitoring. GDS will also, on behalf of the Minister for the Cabinet Office, publish a list of websites with non-compliant accessibility statements.
GDS encourages organisations to engage with them to increase the accessibility of their websites for users.
Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they plan to publish their response to the consultation Social Value in Government Procurement, which ended on 10 June 2019.
Answered by Lord True - Shadow Leader of the House of Lords
The Government's response was unfortunately delayed due to Covid-19. We will announce further details of our revised timings in the usual way.