Reporting on Diversity

The Governance Code on Public Appointments gives the Commissioner the duty to publish statistical information on appointments and track progress on increasing diversity. He does this each year in his Annual Reports.

Departments and the Welsh Government collect the data they receive from applicants from their completed Diversity Monitoring Forms and this forms the basis for the Commissioner’s reporting.

About the diversity monitoring form

All applicants for public appointments are asked questions about themselves and their background as part of the application process.  The Commissioner encourages all applicants to fill out Diversity Monitoring Forms so progress can be tracked to ensuring public appointments reflect the public they serve. Applicants are able to select ‘prefer not to say’ if they would not rather not answer any question. The answers are not used as part of the selection process.

Recording disability status – advice from the Cabinet Office for applicants to public appointments

We are aware that answering questions about disability is sometimes not simple, as a health condition or disability may not stop you from doing the things that you want.  So you may not see yourself as a disabled person.

To help you fill out a Diversity Monitoring Form, please consider the following list of conditions.  People with many health conditions (including but not limited to those listed below) often find that society puts up barriers, or has negative attitudes that prevent them from being able to fully participate in society.

We would suggest that you could answer “yes” to the first disability question in the diversity monitoring form if you have one, or more, of the following which have or are likely to last for 12 months or more:

• Sensory impairments, such as those affecting hearing or sight (that cannot be corrected with glasses);
• Specific conditions that affect particular organs of the body, including respiratory conditions, such as asthma, and cardiovascular diseases, including thrombosis, stroke and heart disease;
• Neurological learning differences, such as autistic spectrum disorders (ASD), dyslexia and dyspraxia;
• Cancer;HIV/AIDs;
• Multiple Sclerosis;
• Learning disabilities;
• Mental health conditions such as anxiety, low mood, panic attacks, phobias, or unshared perceptions; eating disorders; bipolar affective disorders; obsessive compulsive disorders; personality disorders; post traumatic stress disorder; depression and schizophrenia;
• Impairments due to an accident/injury to parts of the body, including to the brain;
• Fluctuating health conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, myalgic encephalitis (ME), chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), fibromyalgia and epilepsy;
• Progressive health conditions such as motor neurone disease, muscular dystrophy and forms of dementia (including Alzheimers);
• Auto-immune conditions such as systemic lupus erythematosis (SLE).

This list is closely based on the Equality Act Guidance (PDF, 60 pages, 710 KB) issued by the Office for Disability Issues which provides additional information on each aspect of the Equality Act 2010’s definition of disability. For an accessible version of the Equality Act 2010 Guidance, please contact office-for-disability-issues@dwp.gsi.gov.uk

If you are still unsure how to answer the question of whether you should say you are a disabled person on this form, thinking through the points below might help. 

• If you were not taking medication, using a hearing aid, using a prosthetic limb/wheelchair, having counselling, etc, would you still be able to carry out your usual daily/regular activities? If you would be unable to undertake your usual activities, then please indicate you are a disabled person on the Diversity Monitoring Form.
• Consider the legal definition that is used by the Equality Act 2010. Under this Act you are disabled if you have a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial [e.g. it takes much longer than it usually would to complete a daily task such as getting dressed] or long term [e.g. an impairment that has lasted or will last for more than 12 months] effect on your ability to do normal daily activities [examples include shopping, reading and writing, having a conversation or using the telephone, watching television.] They include general work-related activities [such as interacting with colleagues, following instructions, using a computer, driving, carrying out interviews, preparing written documents, and keeping to a timetable or a shift pattern].
• So, someone who is in plaster and using crutches because they have broken an ankle is unlikely to be able to carry out some of their usual daily activities, but they would not be considered a disabled person under the Equality Act because they will only be affected for a short period of time whilst their bone heals. If you have a short term injury, or a health condition that is not substantial/long term we suggest you answer this question by saying “no”.

How your disability information is treated

As with all the information you provide in the first section of the diversity monitoring form when applying for public appointments, any information you provide will be treated as strictly confidential. It will be detached from your application and will not be used in the selection process. No information will be published or used in any way which allows any individual to be identified. Completing the form is voluntary and you are free to select the “Prefer not to say” option if you wish for any of the questions.