asked the Minister for Health the total number of vacancies in sheltered workshops for physically handicapped persons.
Written Answers. - Handicapped Persons.
390.
The total number of places in sheltered workshops which cater specifically for the physically handicapped and in community workshops which cater for physically and other types of handicapped is approximately 1,450.
391.
asked the Minister for Health the percentage of health expenditure presently devoted to vocational rehabilitation services for handicapped persons.
It is difficult to give a close estimate of the amount spent on vocational rehabilitation since much of it is concealed in the general expenditure in mental hospitals, mental handicap centres and other residential centres where a considerable amount of rehabilitation is carried on. It is broadly estimated that about £5 million annually is spent on the vocational aspect of rehabilitation which represents a little over 1 per cent of total expenditure on the health services.
392.
asked the Minister for Health the incentives presently offered to private employers to hire a physically handicapped person.
The placement service of the National Rehabilitation Board, in association with the National Manpower Service, have arranged for full utilisation by suitable handicapped persons of the employment incentive scheme and the work experience scheme operated under the Department of Labour.
The placement service also plan to introduce in the coming year a small pilot scheme aimed at encouraging employers to employ handicapped persons including the physically handicapped. This scheme which will be evaluated will involve the payment of small grants to employers to compensate them for the provision of special equipment or tools required by handicapped workers.
393.
asked the Minister for Health if he will outline the progress to date in implementing the proposals contained in the Robins Report on training and employing the handicapped including a list of those recommendations contained in the report not yet implemented.
Progress to date in the implementation of the proposals in the Report of the Working Party on Training and Employing the Handicapped has been as follows:
(1) Ten new community workshops have been established and facilities at existing workshops and training centres improved and extended.
(2) Fourteen additional placement officers and 16 additional youth employment officers under the National Rehabilitation Board have been approved.
(3) An advisory committee on the occupational rehabilitation of the visually handicapped has been established.
(4) The completion of registers of persons suitable for vocational rehabilitation in each health board community care area has been undertaken.
(5) A series of courses has been held under the aegis of AnCO for persons involved in the training of handicapped persons.
(6) All new AnCO training centres have been designed to be fully accessible to the physically handicapped and existing buildings are being modified so far as possible to make them accessible.
(7) A pilot scheme to train the disabled in AnCO centres was initiated in 1975, since then approximately 850 disabled persons have been trained in these centres. The range of courses successfully completed by handicapped trainees has also been expanded substantially.
(8) The organisation and staffing of the National Rehabilitation Board is under review with a view to strengthening it as the main executive agency concerned with the implementation of rehabilitation policies. The recommendations of a firm of management consultants in this connection are under consideration.
(9) Proposals for a special assessment unit for cases requiring prolonged assessment are under examination by the National Rehabilitation Board.
(10) Consultation is proceeding between the National Rehabilitation Board and the Department of Social Welfare concerning procedures to bring persons in receipt of long-term benefits under the Social Welfare Acts to the notice of directors of community care of health boards.
(11) The effectiveness of industrial units in psychiatric hospitals is being improved with assistance of European Social Fund grants.
(12) Organisational and operational standards for rehabilitation workshops have been recommended by a committee of the National Rehabilitation Board and are under examination in my Department.
(13) Allowances and conditions for trainees in special training centres and for sheltered workers are being steadily improved. I made a special additional allocation available for this purpose during the year.
(14) A pilot scheme of grants to employers for special facilities for the handicapped will be introduced by the National Rehabilitation Board in 1980.
A full list of recommendations are set out in summary form in pages 60 to 65 of the report. The implementation of these not already dealt with will, of course, depend on the rate at which the necessary resources become available and on competing demands of other health services.
394.
asked the Minister for Health the total number of physically handicapped people placed in employment in each of the last five years.
The numbers of physically handicapped people placed in employment by the placement service of the National Rehabilitation Board in each of the last five years were as follows:
|
Open Employment |
Sheltered Employment |
|
|
1974 |
470 |
45 |
|
1975 |
434 |
46 |
|
1976 |
351 |
34 |
|
1977 |
508 |
41 |
|
1978 |
517 |
71 |