Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Social Protection the position regarding recruiting persons with a disability; the number of persons currently employed in her Department; the number of persons with a disability that have been employed since 1 January 2011 to date in 2012; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37843/12]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The Department of Social Protection is committed to ensuring that its human resource practices, including recruitment, are fully in line with civil service policy on equality of opportunity. The total number of staff in the Department at the end of August 2012 was 7050, this equates to 6377 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) posts. It should be noted that figure includes staff from the Employment and Community services in FAS and the Community Welfare Service in the HSE that transferred to the Department since October 2011.

Currently there is no open recruitment for permanent positions in the Department, in line with the Government moratorium on recruitment in the Civil Service, which was announced on the 27th March 2009 and posts are filled by the redeployment or lateral transfer of staff from other Government Departments. The Department reports to the National Disability Authority (NDA) on 31st of December each year on the total number of staff that have self-declared a disability. At 31 December 2011 a total of 271 staff (4.2%) was reported.

The Department also participates in the Willing Able and Mentoring (WAM) Programme, which is administered by the Association of Higher Education Access and Disability (AHEAD). This is a work experience programme aimed at providing temporary work experience placements to graduates with disabilities in the public and private sector. This programme is not subject to the moratorium.