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Helping People with Disabilities into Work
August 13, 2010 2:30 PM
George Lyon MEP, Liberal Democrat for Scotland and his colleague Glasgow Liberal Democrat MSP Robert Brown, today visited one of Europe's largest assisted workshop facilities committed to providing opportunities for people with disabilities.
City Building is one of the country's largest construction and maintenance companies and predominantly employs people with disabilities. These job opportunities are provided through an EU scheme which allows governments and public bodies to set aside contracts especially targeted at companies employing over 50% of disabled employees.
Very few contracts have been reserved so far under the EU legislation for supported businesses such as City Building managed Royal Strathclyde Blindcraft industries (RSBi). More needs to be done to ensure that this scheme is utilised by local authorities, promoting equal opportunities for disabled workers.
"John Legg, director of the Royal National Institute of Blind People Scotland, said:
"We are delighted that George Lyon and Robert Brown have visited RSBi to see the excellent work environment there for people with disabilities, including people who are blind or partially sighted.
"We are campaigning for public bodies such as local councils to take advantage of special European Union rules that allow for contracts to be awarded to businesses that employ a workforce comprising of at least 50 per cent of people with a disability."
Commenting Mr Lyon said:
"City Building is a great example of a business committed to promoting equality and providing more opportunities for people with disabilities. Despite this success, there are too few contracts being made available from local authorities and the Scottish government under this scheme.
"Therefore we plan to write to ministers and councils asking what measures they plan to take to ensure more contracts are made available for supported business. Not only does the EU Directive attempt to break down the barriers that people with disabilities often face, it provides authorities with competitive bids that often prove value for money"
Commenting on the visit, Robert Brown MSP said:
"People with sight loss and other disabilities often find it more difficult to obtain employment. City Building have shown how the needs of people with disabilities can be accommodated within an industrial organisation that turns out high quality and competitive products. Particularly in the current economic crisis, it is vital that people with disabilities are able to play their full part in the economy. I hope other companies and organisations, both in the public and private sectors, will take note of how much of an asset staff with disabilities are, and offer widened opportunities to them."
Ends
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