47.—(1) A public body shall—

(a) in so far as practicable take all reasonable measures to promote and support the employment by it of persons with disabilities,

(b) have regard to any relevant codes of practice approved under section 50 and section 10A of the Act of 1999 by the relevant Minister.

(2) A public body shall ensure, unless there is good reason to the contrary for not doing so, that it reaches any compliance targets prescribed under subsection (3).

(3) (a) The Minister for Finance may, with the consent of the Minister, by order specify compliance targets relating to the recruitment and employment of persons with disabilities in public bodies the members of whose staff are civil servants and the public bodies accountable to him or her.

(b) The Minister may, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, by order specify compliance targets relating to the recruitment and employment of persons with disabilities in the public bodies accountable to him or her.

(c) Any other Minister of the Government may, with the consent of the Minister and the Minister for Finance, by order specify compliance targets relating to the recruitment and employment of persons with disabilities in the public bodies accountable to him or her.

(d) In such an order as aforesaid the relevant Minister of the Government concerned may specify numbers or percentages of persons with disabilities to be recruited by the public body concerned, and if it appears to him or her to be necessary, he or she may specify—

(i) the numbers or percentages of persons with disabilities to be employed by the public body concerned,

(ii) the holding of recruitment competitions confined to persons with disabilities in relation to specific posts or employments,

(iii) measures for the filling, by suitably qualified persons with disabilities, of specified categories of vacancies for such period as he or she considers appropriate,

(iv) that the public body concerned shall offer a specified number of work experience placements of specified duration to persons with disabilities each year.

F23[(4) If no compliance targets stand prescribed under subsection (3) in relation to a public body, the body shall ensure, unless there is good reason to the contrary, that—

(a) for the period from the date of commencement of section 101(b) of the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Act 2022 up to and including 31 December 2023, not less than 3 per cent of the persons employed by it are persons with disabilities,

(b) for the period from 1 January 2024 up to and including 31 December 2024, not less than 4.5 per cent of the persons employed by it are persons with disabilities, and

(c) on and from 1 January 2025, not less than 6 per cent of the persons employed by it are persons with disabilities.]

(5) An order under subsection (3) may relate to all public bodies, or specified public bodies, that are accountable to the relevant Minister who makes the order.

(6) A Minister of the Government shall, when making an order under subsection (3), have regard to any measures that have been specified by the Authority under section 49(2) in relation to any public body to which the order applies.

(7) An order under this section may contain such incidental, supplementary and consequential provisions as appear to the Minister of the Government making the order to be necessary or expedient for the purposes of the order.

(8) An order under this section (including this subsection) may be revoked or amended by the Minister of the Government who made it subject to the like consent or consents as that or those to which such making is subject.