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Written question asked by Neil Coyle (Labour) on Tuesday, 1 February 2022, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 3 February 2022. It was answered by Chloe Smith (Conservative) on Wednesday, 9 February 2022 on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions.

Jobcentres: Disability

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department plans to take to ensure that every jobcentre is equipped with the assistive technology disabled claimants need to apply for jobs.

Answer

DWP recently completed an upgrade of all Customer Computers across the Jobcentre network which now means that all devices provided for use by customers have the standard accessibility features available such as being able to change the screen size & colour, replacing sounds with screen alerts and using the screen reader to read text.

We currently have over 7,275 devices across our estate, registered with these accessibility features. The numbers of computers available for customers to use in jobcentres will differ depending on the COVID measures in place.

Further support is available to customers where reasonable adjustments are identified and recorded. Each Jobcentre District Office has been provided with the following items for use by customers if requested:

  • A keyboard with larger keys
  • A large trackball mouse
  • Headphones. However, many people will want to use their own

We have opened a number of new sites across the estate to support delivery of face to face public services. As part of this work, Customer Computers are available in these sites. Further work is also underway to provide accessibility hardware to those sites.

In addition to this, we have improved access to our Wi-Fi services in all jobcentres, allowing customers to use their own personal devices if they prefer, to access internet services.

We also constantly review the number of PCs available for customers and have capacity to increase the number of devices quickly, if the need arises.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
115933
Session
2021-22
Subjects
Disability Disability aids Employment Jobcentres
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk