Vol. 453 No. 3
182 Miss M. Wallace asked the Minister for Defence the amount and nature of all spending within his Department and by bodies under his Department's aegis on schemes specifically directed towards meeting the needs of people with disabilities. [9381/95]
Under the provisions of the Army Pensions Acts, a disability pension or gratuity may, subject to certain conditions, be paid to a former member of the Defence Forces in respect of permanent disablement due to a wound or injury received on duty or otherwise attributable to service or in respect of a disease attributable to or aggravated by service overseas with the United Nations. There is a provision of £3.615 million in the 1995 Army Pensions Vote for the payment of these pensions/gratuities.
At present, personnel with disabilities comprise 4.6 per cent of the Civil Service staff at the Department. The salary cost in respect of these personnel is approximately £230,000 per annum. Some 2 per cent of civilian employees engaged with the Defence Forces have disabilities. The annual salary cost in their case is approximately £320,000.
