David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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Question 99: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the take up of employer grants and schemes which support the employment of people with disabilities; the reasons for the low take up rates; if the total budget allocated to these services and schemes in 2005 was used in full; the way he will improve take-up rates of same and the number of people with disabilities in employment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32087/06]

Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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The dedicated budget for FÁS programmes for people with disabilities during 2005 totalled €62.317 million. The actual expenditure of this budget amounted to €56.737 million, representing an underspend of €5.58 million. The principal underspend occurred in the budget for the Wage Subsidy Scheme, due to its later than expected introduction in 2005. The Wage Subsidy Scheme is being actively promoted by FÁS and its impact will be reviewed in the near future by the Department of Enterprise Trade & Employment.

Actual expenditure covered the following activities (the budget allocation is indicated in brackets):

Specialist Training Provision — €44.783m (€44.155m)

Wage Subsidy Scheme (including Pilot Employment Programme) — €4.882m (€8.194m)

Supported Employment Programme — €6.578m (€7.968m)

Disability Support/Awareness — €0.494m (€2.0m)

Considerable efforts have been made to increase public awareness through the IBEC/ICTU Workway Programme, co-sponsorship of the Ability Awards, the Three Sixty TV series, the FÁS Ability in the Workplace campaign, and related activities. Efforts are being reinforced to further improve the take up of funding that has been dedicated to improving the position of those with disabilities in the labour market. These include the provision of bridging programmes to facilitate progress between rehabilitative and open training programmes; the progressive removal of remaining financial and benefit disincentives and the evaluation and assessment of the relevance and impacts of existing training and progression systems.

Between 2002 and 2005, FÁS has realised over 29,000 placements of people with disabilities in open labour market employment, training and employment programmes. Since 2002 the FÁS budget for vocational training and employment for people with disabilities has increased from €54 million to a total of almost €75 million in 2006, €67 million of which relates to vocational training and employment services.

The Sectoral Plan recently published by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment in the context of the Disability Act, 2005 will set the agenda for future work. The Plan provides for a Comprehensive Employment Strategy for people with disabilities. The Sectoral Plan represents a clear step forward in working to improve access to employment for people with disabilities, and a comprehensive outline of this Department's commitment in that regard.