[attach id=430772 size="medium" align="left"]Lino Spiteri, after whom a new foundation working in the interests of persons with disabilities is named.[/attach]

Employment Minister Evarist Bartolo told Parliament yesterday it was unacceptable that 95 per cent of people with disability were unemployed, and the Bill to amend the Persons with Disability (Employment) Act would be delivering social justice in this sector

Some 20,000 of those disabled, he said, were still at an employable age but only five per cent were working, when in other EU countries the average was 50 per cent.

So what was happening to those 18,000? “They are probably always at home, emarginated and isolated by society,” he said.

Stressing the significance of the Bill for those who had previously been excluded from the working world, Mr Bartolo said it was commendable that years ago, a Nationalist government had passed anti-discrimination legislation laying down that two per cent of the workforce should be made up of people with a disability.

However, it was not really implemented: it had since transpired that 900 of the 1,300 biggest employers, or 71 per cent, had never employed a single disabled person, in defiance of the law. “Those who are the most powerful are discriminating against the most vulnerable,” he said.

Minister Bartolo said unemployed persons with a disability lost much of their social skills. The family itself, especially mothers who ended up as 24-hour carers, often suffered because of this. Removing this dependency would not only restore their dignity and independence but would also be reducing the risk of poverty.

Mr Bartolo quoted from a report written 10 years ago by the late Labour Minister Lino Spiteri, who had pointed out that a law which was not enforced was useless.

It was a shame that since then, not much had changed, although he recognised that several local companies had been very forthcoming in employing persons with disabilities.

The Lino Spiteri Foundation for Inclusive Employment had been set up precisely to encourage companies in the private sector to employ persons with a disability.

In the past years, 71 per cent of the 1,300 biggest employers had never employed a single disabled person

Its aims were to ensure that facilities at the workplace could accommodate the disabled person and that training programmes for employers and staff would be held.

The entire staff would be trained on how to be disability-friendly. The necessary support to the companies concerned would also be provided by the Foundation.

Under the Bill, companies not prepared to employ persons with a disability, to make up at least two per cent of their staff complement, would be made to pay up to €2,400 for every person they should have on their books. This sum would increase year on year.

Shadow Minister for Social Policy Paula Mifsud Bonnici said it was important people with a disability understood they had a great deal to offer, but it was more important that the employers understood this.

The ETC had a crucial role here, she said, questioning whether it was successful in reaching its aim.

Records showed that the average waiting time for employment for persons with a disability stood at 444 days, whereas the rest waited for an average 152 days.

This meant the system was not very efficient or effective. The ETC did not have the tools to help these people find the right jobs.

The Opposition agreed with the amendment but did not imagine it would solve all problems in the sector, as there might be larger companies who preferred to pay the penalty, since they could afford it.

The government should be a role model in employing persons with a disability

Minister Helena Dalli and Opposition MP Stephen Spiteri also contributed to the debate.