Page 1199 - Week 03 - Thursday, 22 March 2012
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(11) How much was spent on staff training and development during 2010-11.
(12) What was this as a percentage of total employee costs.
(13) What is the Authority’s longer-term goal in terms of this percentage.
(14) What strategies does the Authority have in place to meet that goal.
Dr Bourke: The answer to the member’s question is as follows:
1) Deregistration is a legislative requirement for all workers who have not accrued at least 1 day’s service for 4 consecutive years. Workers who have accrued sufficient service to achieve an entitlement prior to being deregistered maintain that entitlement (even though they are deregistered) and are eligible for an entitlement benefit payment once a claim is made.
Workers are also deregistered if they are duplicated on the returns of different employers, or if, following registration via employers’ returns, they are found to be undertaking ineligible work in accordance with the legislation. The length of service for workers falling into the last two categories is obviously negligible and all deregistered workers in the Community Sector Scheme are in these categories as the scheme is only 1 year old. In relation to the construction and cleaning schemes, the Authority’s IT system (Leave Track) cannot currently produce the data to answer this question. However, we are negotiating with the system developer to create a program to provide this type of information but the relevant data will not be available within the timeframe required for these answers.
2) The Authority’s IT system (Leave Track) cannot produce the data to answer this question. Claim data retrieved from Leave Track and provided in the Annual Report does not distinguish between those workers who were registered or deregistered at the time of making their claim. However, as identified above, workers who have accrued sufficient service to achieve an entitlement prior to being deregistered maintain that entitlement (even though they are deregistered) and are eligible for an entitlement benefit payment once a claim is made.
3) The average paid to all categories of workers (deregistered or registered with an entitlement) in the construction industry in 2010-11 was $8,752.
4) Employers in the construction industry were advised of the proposed levy increase in August 2010 in writing and verbally through meetings.
5) The levy was increased on recommendation by the Long Service Leave Authority Board to the Minister. The Board membership includes representatives from both employer and employee organisations, as such, industry generally accepted the need for an increase in the levy.
6) The reasons for the increase are explained at page 12 of the Annual Report. The increase in contributions reflects the increased number of employers and workers in the scheme and higher wages in the industry. The increasing numbers of workers in the scheme ads to the liability of the scheme. The ability of a 1% levy to meet future liabilities has diminished.
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