Places at day centres for disabled people will increase by 50 per cent to 600 through grants of €900,000.
Currently, the State provides 400 places for more than 2,000 (mainly intellectually-challenged) people.
Some €400,000 has been allocated for maintenance work required at the Aġenzija Sapport residences in Fgura, Kirkop, Mtarfa, Marsascala and Cospicua hosting 50 intellectually disabled young adults.
Another €400,000 will be allocated to Aġenzija Apoġġ to expand its residential services through semi-independent living for people with mild or moder-ate disability. Currently, the residential services offered by Sapport are not adequately equipped to cater for these cases and the target is to set up semi-independent houses in the community to cater for these people.
In the meantime, a guardianship board will be set up for people with intellectual disabilities. Guardians will take care of issues and decisions that the disabled person is unable to take.
Guardians will be appointed by applying to the board and it will recruit staff, raise awareness in collaboration with the National Commission for Disabled People and carry out the necessary legal amendments by June of 2014. The board is expected to be fully operational and start accepting new referrals by July. There will also be an increase in disabled child allowance provided to 815 people. The current weekly rate of €16.31 will be increased to €20 per child.
Another measure will see the abolition of the tax on the property inherited by disabled people from parents who pass away.
The Government is also looking into setting up a project through which parents of disabled children are assured that when they pass away their children will be integrated within the community at residential homes.
Leap project
The Government will issue a Green Paper on poverty during the first week of December which will be sent out for further consultation with the aim of producing a final policy document in February.
In the meantime, the Government will launch the project called Leap, which is an EU initiative to tackle poverty.
The project will support and strengthen voluntary non-governmental organisations. It will contribute to the national strategy against poverty and social exclusion for the next 10 years.
The Leap project is co-financed through the European Social Fund.