Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, let me first thank the hon. Member for this timely question. I am informed that no audit exercise has been conducted to ascertain compliance by companies to have at least 3% of their workforce with persons with disabilities as provided under section 13 of the Training and Employment of Disabled Persons Act 1996 amended 2012 for the last ten years. The training and employment of Disabled Persons Board which is a parastatal body, operating under the purview of my Ministry, has for main objective to provide training and ensure the employment of persons with disabilities. According to records available, there are only 527 persons with disabilities who are registered with the board looking for an employment or training. Moreover, only a few companies that is, 900 are registered with the board. Moreover, the housing and population census, conducted by Statistics Mauritius in 2022, revealed that only 6009 persons with disabilities were currently part of the workforce.

57 Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I have been informed that the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act which was passed last year in the National Assembly proposes a new modified employment quota system. However, I would like to inform the House that I have received numerous representations concerning certain provisions of the Act including provision on employment. In this context, after advice from the Attorney General’s Office, my Ministry has chosen to proceed with some amendments of the legislation including, on the employment of persons with disabilities before promulgation of the law. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, in parallel, my Ministry is also seeking to undertake a comprehensive disability pensions and benefits reforms to align with the international standard in order to shift from a purely medical model to a more social model approach to disability. This includes the restructuring of the current disability assessment panel so that disability evaluation accounts for both functional limitations and social barriers. With this new reform, there will be a multipurpose one-stop assessment. As part of this broader reform, my Ministry is also working on integrating the aspect of employability into the assessment process of persons with disabilities. Consideration will be given to empowering persons with disabilities to pursue a better quality of life through meaningful employment. Furthermore, my Ministry is also envisaging to carry out matching exercises to ensure that skills and potential of the persons with disabilities are aligned with suitable opportunities in the labour market and to partly subsidise their employment. As a result, employers will be expected to actively recruit and include persons with disabilities in the work force and failure to do so, may entail heavy penalties. This qualitative measure also takes into consideration the relative scarcity of labour in Mauritius. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like to underline that the above-mentioned reforms are being envisaged in the Budget Proposal 2025-2026. Thank you.

Yes, hon. Dr. Ms Daureeawo!

Is the hon. Minister considering an audit exercise to ascertain compliance or non-compliance by companies?

Because of the reform, we will proceed with the reform and then evaluate compliance to the new legal framework.

58

Yes, hon. First Member for Montagne Blanche and Grand River South East. BEL AIR, NEW MINI-TRAFFIC CENTRE – AMENITIES