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Civil Service Disability Consultation
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Report on the outcome of the Disability Consultation
Conclusion
This has been a successful and far reaching consultation, and it has achieved wide coverage across the Civil service. The main changes that have been agreed and which will be implemented are firstly, that the percentage of disabled staff in the Civil Service will be calculated out of the number of civil servants who have made a valid response. This will have to be published alongside the old percentage calculation, which is calculated out of the total number of civil servants. The second change is that Cabinet Office will only require departments and agencies to submit data on a yes or no (i.e. disabled/not disabled) through their Mandate and aggregated data submissions.
The consultation has also provided sufficient evidence to suggest that departments and agencies should update their data on disabled staff at least every two years, either through re-surveys or the effective use of e-HR systems and employee self assessment. This should secure a marked improvement in the data on disabled civil servants by 2005, which is the key date when the diversity PSA targets will be measured.
There is further work to be done to illuminate and clarify what a social model of disability would constitute and how it would operate in practice. This would help support departments and agencies who want to move in this direction and away from a medical model of disability, which is more commonly in use at present. This work will be carried out by Cabinet Office in conjunction with the Disability Working Group.