Page 2604 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 24 August 1994
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School Cleaning Contracts
MR MOORE: My question is to the Minister for Education. Mr Wood, I spoke to you some months ago about a cut by about one-third to cleaning contracts to schools. Are you aware of the difficulties schools are experiencing because of the cuts to the cleaning budget at a time when any study of healthy environments would show that appropriate cleaning of public areas, particularly things such as toilets in schools, is a critical factor in keeping children healthy? Can you tell us what action you propose to take about this cut to cleaning in schools?
MR WOOD: Madam Speaker, Mr Moore did raise the matter with me some little time ago.
Mr Moore: Very informally, I must say.
MR WOOD: Yes, but you do not have to raise it with the greatest formality for me to attend to it. I have inquired into the situation, and there has been some change in the contracts. They are less specific than they used to be. Once there was quite a deal of detail about hours worked, numbers of people and the like, and I understand that that has been removed from some of the dealings. The contracts are becoming perhaps more competitive and therefore are putting some pressure onto the schools. The issue is one the department is keeping under review, at my request, so that schools are not disadvantaged by that outcome.
I might point out that there is quite a deal of interest in the way schools are cleaned. A great deal of cleaning activity is undertaken by students before they leave the schools, and that is a good thing. There is a view, certainly on my part, that the former system allowed a degree of flexibility to the cleaners that was built into their contract and which they did not really need. We do not, however, want to see schools disadvantaged. At the same time, we want to be very competitive and watch every dollar we can, and we want to ensure that the work done in schools is exactly what needs to be done. The short answer for Mr Moore is that the Education Department is continuing to monitor this process to see its impact on schools.
MR MOORE: I ask a supplementary question, Madam Speaker. Certainly, my information is that there are a number of principals who feel that their schools are being disadvantaged. Going on from what you have said, will you assure the Assembly that no school will be disadvantaged under this system?
MR WOOD: Let us have a debate about disadvantage. I am more than prepared to see the system become competitive. It is desirable that students continue to do their bit before they leave school. At the same time, if disadvantaged means that the schools should not be as tidy as they were before, that is disadvantaged and that should not happen.
Mr Moore: We are talking about cleaning carpets, cleaning toilets - those sorts of things.
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