Reporters were stopped from covering a meeting of the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development earlier today.

Council chairman John Bencini said a vote had been taken to no longer allow journalists to sit in on the first half of the meeting. Instead, he said, reporters would have to wait until after the meeting. The decision was taken after a council member claimed to have been misreported by an undisclosed media organisation.

Mr Bencini said the government was not involved in the decision.

The council is meeting to discuss the results of increased efforts to tackle employment for persons with disabilities.  

Public sector employment of persons with disability over the past three years has already equalled that of the previous six years combined.

Governemnt figures, seen by this newspaper, show that 215 people found public sector jobs between 2013 and 2015, the same number as those employed by the State between 2006 and 2012.

Last week this newspaper reported that the number of people with disabilities employed in the private sector had more than tripled by the end of last year compared to 2014.

The increase had followed a government pledge to enforce penalties against businesses who refused to give disabled people jobs.

Some 350 disabled people found jobs last year – compared with 100 in 2014 and just 50 in 2010.

According to the Disabled Persons (Employment) Act, disabled workers should constitute two per cent of employees at businesses with 20 or more staff members.

Those who do not abide by the legal quota must contribute between €1,600 and €10,000 annually, which goes towards training and creating job opportunities for disabled people.

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