Mary Wallace
Ceist:173 Miss M. Wallace asked the Minister for the Environment the percentage of the employees of all county and county borough councils who have disabilities. [12516/96]
Written Answers. - Disabled Employees in Local Authorities.
Based on staffing returns supplied to my Department, people with disabilities constituted 2.38 per cent of the number of persons employed by county councils and county borough corporations at 31 December 1995.
This percentage is based on total numbers of staff (including part-time staff expressed as wholetime equivalents), but excluding staff employed on short-term contracts for capital works projects.
I am fully committed to promoting the employment of people with disabilities in the local authority service with a view to increasing employment opportunities for people with disabilities. While the overall 3 per cent quota has not yet been met by all authorities, my Department has, for a number of years, been actively encouraging them to achieve the quota, and substantial progress has been made since the end of 1991 when only 0.63 per cent of local authority staff were people with disabilities. My Department wrote to all city and county managers again on 8 May 1996 reminding them of the objective that the 3 per cent quota be reached as soon as possible in all local authorities and recommending specific measures, taking account of the advice of a working group which had considered the matter.