The Committee for Employment and Learning welcomes the opportunity to respond to the consultation document prepared by the Office of the First and Deputy First Minister in response to the Disability Rights Task Force.

The Committee strongly supports the initiative taken by the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister and we regard this as a very important cross-cutting issue, which is highlighted in the Programme for Government.

The Committee's views are:-

1. There should be effective transitional planning and mapping out of employment and further training opportunities should begin at the earliest possible stage. This should be a multi-agency response with direct intervention in the schools by the appropriate agencies. The Committee would commend the approach currently being developed by the Agencies in Consortium for Education and Training (ACET), South & East Belfast Trust in partnership with Mitchell House and Fleming Fulton Special Schools.
2. In developing the broader principles of open access initiatives, the department for Employment and Learning should ensure that there is adequate support for those disabled people who, because of their physical disability, find it particularly difficult, to leave the home. The Committee recognises that often the main problems are transport, care and support and this needs to be addressed by more focus on transition planning i.e. assessment of need before they leave the school system.
3. It is the Committee's belief that too many young people, particularly those in the Special School system, graduate from that system into day care, without realising their potential to access the further education or employment market opportunities.
4. There is a need for more specialised support in the area of pre-vocational and vocational skills. This is promoted by the Department of Employment and Learning in match funding various programmes in the voluntary sector to develop a network of support services through support from the European Social Fund.
5. A case management approach needs to be adopted to vocational and employment opportunities that includes:

• Assessment of individual need.
• Vocational guidance.
• Individual action planning.
• Directed vocational training in mainstream settings with support.
• Assistance with transport.
• Guidance and support on access to personal care.
• The input of Health & Social Care Agencies.

6. Job Brokerage projects were a welcome opportunity to provide support for those who have access to the employment market and require support in the early stages. However, it does not address the underlying need for on-going training, pre-vocational support leading to access to the employment market.
7. There needs also to be recognition that many disabled people in the Health and Social Care system, in particular in day care, should have opportunities to access employment and further education. There is a need for multi-agency response to this with a lead taken by partners in Health and Social Care. There needs to be capacity building and an opportunity to test out various options without the fear of losing benefits.
8. There should be sustained stability in the infrastructure. Instability (in funding sources) has had a detrimental effect on organisations' capacity to meet the on-going needs of disabled people, maintain staff morale, engage in effective developmental activity and effectively deliver a service to disabled people that ensures their equal access to the employment market.
9. The innovative programmes through New Deal for Disabled People provided an opportunity to mainstream many of these activities. However, many of the lessons that were demonstrated through New Deal for Disabled People innovative programmes, have not been mainstreamed.

Access to Education and Employment

10. There are limitations in the transport options available to disabled people to access employment and further education. Access to the public transport system is still compromised, although there has been some progress on this in urban areas with the provision of low floor buses. Both disabled people and training organisations in rural areas are disadvantaged because of the limited access to appropriate cost effective transport.

Access to wheelchair accessible taxis involves a premium charge for their usage. While support can be made through the Access to Work programme for those who have secured employment, those who are engaged in vocational training programmes have faced difficulties in meeting transport costs unless these are directly made by the training provider.

General Comments

11. There remains concern over the benefits system and the potential loss of benefits if people undertake either work that is of a therapeutic nature, or if open employment is secured. Although there is a 52 week rule allowing disabled people to re-access benefits if employment options do not work out, there is evidence that it can take up to twelve weeks for benefits to be reinstated. This is a disincentive to potential job applicants to test the job market. There should be research and investigation as to whether the working of the minimum wage has discouraged the employment of the disabled.
12. Support in accessing appropriate housing or community support needs to be recognised as part of the holistic response to entering the training and employment market. This is particularly important for young people who are in the Special Schools system and seeking to make the transition into further education and/or employment opportunities further afield from their immediate location.
13. The Committee believes that large employers, whether in the Public or Private Sector, have greater opportunity to take more affirmative action to employ people with disabilities. It is vital disabled people are employed at al grades.
14. There needs to be an initiative taken to raise awareness amongst people with disabilities, their families, carers, employers and service providers of the fact that legislation exists and help and advice is avaiable.
15. It is the Committee's opinion that all disabled employees should have civil rights in relation to employment, irrespective of the size of the business. The Committee would therefore support the removal of a threshold.
16. There is a key need to help employers to define the term 'reasonable adjustment' as laid down in the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA). There needs to be a greater awareness that most of the adjustments required are very modest and have minimal financial implications. This is particularly relevant to small employers in order to enable them to meet this legislative requirement.

When Fair Employment Legislation came in a programme was introduced to help employers, particularly small employers, to understand the issue. Perhaps consideration could be given to a similar programme being introduced in this respect.

17. Unless the issue of disability impinges on a genuine occupational requirement, questions on disability should be prohibited at interviews.

Conclusion

18. The previous European Funding had considerable beneficial impact but much of this was nearly lost during the transitional period, thus the Committee for Employment and Learning would strongly advocate a forward, proactive policy to manage the issues when the next round of European Funding comes to an end. It is vital that this important area receives adequate mainstream funding in the future to ensure equality for all.
19. There are many good practice models of training and employment for people with disabilities in Northern Ireland which have been developed, primarily through the use of short term European Funding, these need to be applied in the mainstream on a much wider and uniform basis.
20. It is the Committee's view that the most significant barrier facing disabled people today is the lack of a holistic, multi-agency, case managed approach that addresses the needs of disabled people. This should include:

1. Appropriate transitional planning within the special and mainstream schools system.
2. Pre-vocational/vocational skills training availability as a necessary pre-requisite for many disabled people to develop to allow them to enter/re-enter the employment market.
3. Support mechanisms within the mainstream system must include equitable access to transport, housing and on-going community and personal care.
4. Job support mechanisms that are sustainable and provide an opportunity for on-going intervention should the circumstances of the individual change.

29 November 2001