To ask the Minister of Finance to detail any positive actions included in the Civil Service Skills Academy and student placement programme to attract people with disabilities and those over 50 to work in the Civil Service.

Positive actions applied to encourage disabled persons to apply for the Civil Service Skills Academy included the use of Positive Action Advertising (PAA) and targeted outreach with the disability sector via an information session on the Skills Academy.

Actions to promote the Civil Service Student Placement Programme to disabled persons included outreach with Queens’ University Belfast, Ulster University and the Open University; promotion of the Programme to the disability sector as part of the recruitment advertising campaign; and an equal opportunities statement welcoming applications from disabled people.

The over 50 age demographic is not under-represented in the Civil Service workforce therefore PAA is not targeted at that group.