Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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914. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection in line with Action 80 of the Autism Committee’s Final Report, if she has plans to establish a State-run public employment service that builds on the good practice in the field of disability employment and which links autistic people to employers and offers support, guidance and information as well as tailored support services for participating employers; and the estimated first- and full-year cost, respectively, of implementing this proposal. [57269/23]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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My Department provides employment supports and services to jobseekers and employers through the Intreo Employment Service. Intreo provides a wide range of supports to assist jobseekers, including those with a disability, to find work. Intreo also provides recruitment advice and support for employers including information on recruitment and retention incentives. Employment Supports for people with disabilities, including autism will continue to be provided via the Intreo Employment Service.

The Intreo Employment Service is a tailored and case managed employment service for all jobseekers who seek support. Each jobseeker works with an Employment Personal Adviser (EPA) with a view to agreeing a personal progression plan to access the full range of employment and skill development supports with a view to securing employment. Intreo also delivers a recruitment and job matching service for employers via events, in-person and online engagements and using the Jobsireland.ie website.

In late 2022, following extensive engagement with disability stakeholders, the Department commenced an early engagement approach through which the Intreo Employment Service proactively engages with people with a disability including those with Autism, at the earliest opportunity. The aim of this engagement is to offer support and assistance, on a voluntary basis, to support them to enter or return to employment. At 31st December 2023, just over 21,000 appointments were scheduled for people in receipt of Disability Allowance approximately 15% of those were interested in the service.

Specially trained EPAs are available in Intreo Centres to advise and assist people with disabilities to identify employment opportunities, upskill, undertake education, work placements or locally based employment programmes. There are also a number of Employer Relations Officers assigned to progress work opportunities for vulnerable jobseekers experiencing barriers to employment, including people with disabilities such as Autism. The Department offers a range of employer incentives and supports, including the wage subsidy scheme and the reasonable accommodation fund to support employers who employ people with a disability. In addition, the work placement experience programme, which is a work placement scheme, provides jobseekers, including those with a disability, with an opportunity to gain valuable work experience.

The Department recognises the additional challenges that some jobseekers with disabilities may experience in securing and maintaining employment and these jobseekers work with job coaches who provide both pre-employment and in-employment support and assistance. Additionally the Department contracts for the provision of specialist employment services through 23 EmployAbility companies, around the country. This service is dedicated to improving employment outcomes for people with disabilities, including Autism, who wish to take up employment.

As the Department already engages proactively with people with disabilities, the costs involved are subsumed into the overall costs of providing the Intreo Employment Service.

The Department will continue to proactively engage with all people with disabilities, including those with Autism, with a view to supporting them into sustainable employment.

Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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915. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if, in line with Action 81 of the Autism Committee’s Final Report, she has plans to engage with stakeholders including the autistic community and employers and review the wage subsidy scheme and reasonable accommodation fund with a view to promoting uptake of the schemes; and the estimated first- and full-year cost, respectively, of implementing this proposal. [57270/23]

Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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916. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if, in line with Action 82 of the Autism Committee’s Final Report, she has plans to promote the availability and potential benefits of schemes such as the wage subsidy scheme and reasonable accommodation fund to employers; and the estimated first- and full-year cost, respectively, of implementing this proposal. [57271/23]

Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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917. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if, in line with Action 83 of the Autism Committee’s Final Report, she has plans to amalgamate and streamline workplace support grants and the reasonable accommodation fund under one fund which employers may draw down for the purposes of accommodating an autistic or disabled employee or prospective employee; and the estimated first- and full-year cost, respectively, of implementing this proposal. [57272/23]

Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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918. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if, in line with Action 84 of the Autism Committee’s Final Report, she has plans to initiate a review of the wage subsidy scheme through a rights-based, social lens and identify how best to update or replace the scheme; and the estimated first- and full-year cost, respectively, of implementing this proposal. [57273/23]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 915, 916, 917 and 918 together.

My Department provides a wide range of income and employment supports to assist jobseekers and employees with disabilities, and their employers. Supports available include the Reasonable Accommodation Fund, the Disability Awareness Support Scheme and the Wage Subsidy Scheme. These supports are generally not contingent on the type of disability but on the extent to which it restricts a person’s ability to pursue employment in the open labour market.

The Reasonable Accommodation Fund provides financial support for people with disabilities and for employers to help make their workplaces more accessible. The Disability Awareness Support Scheme provides funding for disability awareness training for employees. The Wage Subsidy Scheme is an employment support to private sector employers to encourage employment of people with disabilities in the open labour market.

I am committed to improving disability employment supports to better meet the needs of disabled people and to increase their take-up. For this reason, over the past two years my Department has run extensive public consultations to inform the reviews of these three schemes. This is in line with the UN’s Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities. The consultations combined received nearly two thousand submissions from people with a broad range of disabilities including autism, from disability groups, Disabled Person's Organisations and employers. This feedback has been used to inform how these schemes can be improved.

Following consultation, I published a review of the Reasonable Accommodation Fund and Disability Awareness Support Scheme last August. The report made nine recommendations which aim to improve the scheme for persons with disabilities including persons with autism. The review recommends combining the two schemes into a single flexible scheme, promoting the availability and potential benefits of the reformed scheme to all, simplifying systems and processes, and providing approval in principle.

It also recommends increasing funding, extending workplace needs assessments, and job coaching to new recruits and all existing employees, increasing the number of support hours eligible for funding, providing support for blended working, and opening the scheme to other employers, for example the voluntary and community sector. I expect to launch a reformed scheme that will give effect to all nine recommendations in Q1 2024.

A review of the Wage Subsidy Scheme is underway. My officials are currently compiling the analysis from the consultation and working on completing the report, which I expect to be finalised over the coming months. In anticipation of recommendations in the review, I have made provision in Budget 2024 to decrease the minimum hours from 21 to 15 hours, which was a key issue raised by stakeholders in the consultation. I expect this change to be operationalised in the first half of this year.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.