Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps their Department is taking to support the Disability Confident scheme; how many officials in their Department work directly on supporting that scheme; what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of that work in supporting the (a) recruitment and (b) retention of disabled people in their Department; and what further steps they are taking to support their Department’s recruitment and retention of disabled people.

The enablement of the Disability Confident scheme is embedded throughout the employee lifecycle, and the teams that support the employee lifecycle.  This is in line with the Ministry of Justice’s new HR operating model whereby strategic Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) activity is mainstreamed into the department’s HQ People Function.  This approach assures that any related Ministry of Justice workforce activity is aligned to Civil Service reform priorities and the strategic objectives of the Civil Service People Plan and Civil Service D&I Strategy, including recent, updated Ministerial guidance on EDI activity in the Civil Service.

The Ministry of Justice’s approach to the delivery of the Civil Service People Plan and Civil Service D&I Strategy includes the ongoing assessment of work to support recruitment and retention of disabled staff. The Ministry of Justice has been taken part in the Disability Confident scheme since 2017.

Further steps to recruit and retain disabled staff that are aligned to the Disability Confident scheme include:

• Information in job adverts about the Disability Confident scheme, how to request a reasonable adjustment to the application process and the Disability Confident interview scheme, which provides candidates with an option to “opt-in” to be considered for an interview as a disabled candidate if they meet the minimum criteria for the role.

• The Ministry of Justice provides individual focused support to ensure our disabled staff have workplace adjustments they require, including an in-house workplace adjustment service. The department seeks to continually review the effectiveness of this offer.

• The Ministry of Justice values the talent of all staff, including those with a disability. The department participates in the Civil Service ‘Future Leaders Scheme’ Disability Empowers Leadership Talent (DELTA) scheme and is piloting a new in-house talent offer for disabled staff in 2024.