Public Service Achieves Employment Targets for People with Disabilities
The National Disability Authority (NDA) has published the 2011 Report on
Compliance with Part 5 of the Disability Act 2005 on Employment of People
with disabilities across the public service. The 2011 report shows that for
the first year since the monitoring of employment targets began, the
Government has achieved a 3% target of employment of persons with
disabilities in the public service as a whole.
The 3% target was first introduced in 1977 and became a statutory
requirement in 2006. It was achieved as a result of a range of actions to
improve retention and recruitment policies and initiatives to make public
service workplace culture more disability-friendly. In particular, more
accurate and comprehensive data collection in some public bodies ensured
that progress in this area was accurately captured.
Welcoming the publication of the report the Minister for Justice and
Equality, and Defence Mr Alan Shatter, TD, said: "I welcome this report on
the employment of people with disabilities in the public service in 2011.
In particular, I welcome the fact that the 3% target was reached for the
first time across the entire public service. Ensuring that persons with
disabilities have access to public sector employment is important so that
the range of skills, educational qualifications and abilities which they
possess are more fully utilised for the benefit of the wider community and
for their own benefit. It is right that we have a more inclusive working
environment which harnesses the potential of all. I would like to thank the
National Disability Authority for this report and for the considerable work
involved in collating data for the whole of the public service. The
support, research and guidance tools made available by the National
Disability Authority have been important resources in this process."
The total number of staff working in the public service has been decreasing
since 2007 with a fall of more than 33,000 since the peak. However, there
has been an increase in the reported number of people with disabilities
working in the public service from 5,879 in 2007 to 6,171 in 2011. The 2011
figure represented a reported increase of 423 employees with disabilities
as compared with 2010 and reversed the 2010 downward trend. The best
performing parts of the public service were Government Departments, which
continue to exceed the 3% target and local government organisations, which
reported that 88% of them had achieved or exceeded the 3% target.
Having passed the milestone of meeting the 3% target for the first time in
2011, the report identifies four goals for the next year of the monitoring
process. These are:
- to maintain and, if possible, exceed the 3.1% achieved in 2011
- to intensify efforts to improve the performance of individual public
bodies, with a specific focus on larger bodies and those which are
recruiting, so that the proportion of those reaching the target
progressively rises
- to disseminate specific guidance to public bodies on leadership,
effective recruitment, retention, and workforce planning
- to strengthen the monitoring process through better data collection
The National Disability Authority will continue to work closely with all
public bodies to build on the improvements made and to offer support and
advice on how to achieve compliance during 2013.
27 March 2013
ENDS
Note to Editors
About the National Disability Authority’s role with respect to Part 5 of
the Disability Act 2005
The National Disability Authority is obliged to prepare an annual report on
compliance by public bodies with their various obligations under Part 5 and
to submit it to the Minister for Justice and Equality by 30 November
annually.
Under Part 5 of the Disability Act 2005, all public bodies must report on
an annual basis on the number of people with disabilities in their
employment and the measures they are taking to promote and support their
employment.
Public bodies have a statutory obligation, in so far as is practicable, to
take all reasonable measures to promote and support the employment of
people with disabilities
Public bodies are also legally obliged to ensure, unless there is good
reason to the contrary for not doing so, that they reach any compliance
targets set under Part 5. Not all public bodies, however, are in a position
to reach the 3% target due to their size, lack of staff turnover,
specialised functions or safety critical work.