607. Deputy Ivana Bacik asked the Minister for Social Protection the amount disbursed to organisations under the Work and Access Disability Equality and Inclusion Training grant; and the names of recipient organisations, in tabular form. [45004/26]

The Government is committed to improving the position of disabled people and supporting disabled people to take up and remain in employment. My Department provides a number of schemes in this regard. One of these is "Work and Access" which replaced the Reasonable Accommodation Fund and the Disability Awareness Support Scheme in 2024, following a review.

The scheme offers seven supports to help reduce or remove barriers in the workplace for disabled people. It is open to all non-public sector employers, including the self-employed, and the community and voluntary sector. Supports are available for both business premises and remote workplaces.

Supports include communication support/Irish Sign Language, workplace needs assessment, in-work support, personal reader, work equipment, workplace adaptation and training.

An employer or organisation can apply for funding to arrange and pay for Disability Equality and Inclusion training for their staff. Up to €20,000 a year is available to employers for eligible training costs. The level of funding available varies between 80% and 90%.

There are three training options available: general Disability Equality and Inclusion Training, disability specific training, and inclusive recruitment and management training for managers. It is recommend that the trainer or training provider has a disability themselves or co-delivers the training programme with a disabled person or has developed their training programme in consultation with disabled people.

Recently, following feedback from disabled people and employers, we published updated guidelines and application forms for Work and Access. The changes included expanded eligibility for the 90% funding for training. As a result the scheme covers 90% of the cost of eligible training where:

- the trainer or training organisation has a recognised qualification or professional qualification linked to disabilities, and can show the knowledge and experience described in the scheme guidelines, or

- the training course is disability-related and recognised by an accredited training body in Ireland or the UK.

There have been 102 training grants paid out since the scheme began at the end of July 2024. The table below shows the yearly expenditure on the Disability Equality and Inclusion Training support since that date.

An additional €32,395 was provided to employers under the previous Disability Awareness Support Scheme for the first part of 2024.

The list of organisations that have availed of this support is not published information.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.