Vol. 354 No. 12
asked the Minister for Labour (a) when the last special examination for the Civil Service was held for disabled persons; (b) whether the agreed quota of disabled civil servants has been reached; and (c) the plans there are for further recruitment.
495.
asked the Minister for Labour if the target of 3 per cent for the employment of handicapped persons in the Civil Service has been reached.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 489 and 495 together.
A quota of 3 per cent was decided by the Government in 1977 as the target for the employment of disabled persons in the public sector. Progress is being achieved through holiday special recruitment competitions confined to disabled persons and by giving special consideration to suitable disabled persons in the case of jobs not filled by competition. Up to 300 disabled persons have been recruited so far through special competitions in the public sector. At the end of December 1983 the total number of disabled persons in the public service, including those who became disabled since recruitment, stood at 2,700. Some 600 of these were employed in the Civil Service representing 0.94 per cent of its workforce.
The last special examination to recruit disabled persons to the Civil Service was held in April 1983. A further special competition for appointments as clerical assistant was announced by the Civil Service commission on 14 November and will take place early in 1985.
While I am satisfied that significant progress was made initially I am aware that the restrictions generally on recruitment to the public service have had serious repercussions for the quota. At my request, the special competition for the recruitment of disabled clerical assistants to the Civil Service mentioned above is being held. I also understand that the Department of Health raised the issue recently with the chief executive of the health boards and exhorted them to take all steps possible to increase their intake of disabled persons. I have also asked the inter-departmental committee which is responsible for reviewing progress on the quota to consider what further steps should be taken to increase the intake of disabled persons to the public service.
