Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether staff in his Department are provided training on trauma (a) awareness and (b) prevention procedures.

The DWP is committed to becoming a more Trauma Informed organisation. We have a dedicated programme which will integrate the six key pillars of the approach as defined by the Office for Health Improvements and Disparities (December, 2022) which are safety, trustworthiness, choice, empowerment, collaboration and cultural consideration. Our programme looks at these six pillars within the contexts of application to our colleagues, our customers, our culture, and the context of our interaction- whether that is a physical, telephony, digital or postal interaction. There is significant emphasis within the design of the programme regarding what more can be done to prevent trauma and re-traumatisation for both our customers and our colleagues. We are learning from best practice demonstrated by organisations such as NHS Education Scotland, Work Services Australia and the Wales ACES Hub to shape the future prioritisation of this work

With response to the query around training, we have begun the roll out of an introductory module into the Trauma Informed Approach for all colleagues which is the first in a suite of products and a long-term commitment to upskilling around the topic of trauma. This learning will be complimented by products and initiatives that will enable the skills learned to be embedded into the business-as-usual operations of the whole department.