government skills australia environmental scan 2012

2012ENVIRONMENTAL SCAN

CORRECTIONAL SERVICES LOCAL GOVERNMENT PUBLIC SAFETY PUBLIC SECTOR WATER

2 Government Skills Australia Environmental Scan 2012

This Environmental Scan has been produced with assistance of funding provided by the Commonwealth Government.

Developed by the Government and Community Safety Industry Skills Council.

Government Skills Australia

Level 11, 147 Pirie Street, Adelaide, South Australia, 5000

T +61 8 8100 7400 F +61 8 8232 7444 E [email protected]

www.governmentskills.com.au

Water operations being monitored


CONTENTS

Introduction 4

Executive Summary 5

Section 1 6

Industry Overview 7

Market Level Issues 8

Macro-Environmental Factors 8

Ageing Workforce 8

Climate Change And Environmental Issues 9

Section 2

Challenges, Skill Gaps And Opportunities 17

A Workforce Development Case Study:

Section 3

Utilisation Of Training Packages 27

Enterprise Based Productivity Places Program And The National Workforce Development Fund 30

Continuous Improvement And Review Of Training Packages 2011 32

Learner Profiles 33

Section 4

Appendix A Continuous improvement activity 42

Appendix B

SECTION ONE. 6 LATEST INDUSTRY INTELLIGENCE

SECTION TWO. 16 IDENTIFIED WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT NEEDS

A WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT CASE STUDY 24 A LOOK INTO THE IMPACT OF WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITY

SECTION THREE. 26 CURRENT IMPACT OF GSA TRAINING PACKAGES

SECTION FOUR. 36 FUTURE DIRECTION FOR ENDORSED COMPONENTS OF TRAINING PACKAGES

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 5

INTRODUCTION 4

APPENDIX A 40 CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT ACTIVITY

APPENDIX B 46 BIBLIOGRAPHY


INTRODUCTION

What the GSA 2012 Environmental Scan IsThe purpose of the Government Skills Australia (GSA) 2012 Environmental Scan is to provide readers with a clear strategic understanding of existing and emerging skills shortages, and the context and driving force behind the continuous improvement of GSA’s training packages for the coming year. The scan will review factors currently impacting on workforce development within the government and community safety industries, and consider the responsiveness of training packages and the broader system.

The shaping of policy to build the capacity of the Vocational Education and Training (VET) system to respond with timely, practical solutions to the identification of emerging trends is fundamental to realising the goals of the Australian Government. What sets this scan apart from other reports in the VET system is its capacity to operate as an early warning system to alert policy makers of potentially significant issues at a grass roots level, enabling early identification of those trends. Based on real-time industry views and intelligence gathered from across Australia, the scan is a concise, readable document containing a level of insight and predictive capabilities to inform the consideration of future directions in the VET system.

What the GSA 2012 Environmental Scan Is NotThis scan does not reproduce existing data analysis or economic analysis found in a wide range of sources elsewhere. It is increasingly recognised by policy makers that historical data and analysis of past trends are not the most effective manner of predicting the future skills needs of the nation. The GSA 2012 Environmental Scan is not a strategic plan.

Period of CoverageThe GSA 2012 Environmental Scan draws on industry intelligence gathered during the period of February 2011 to December 2011.

5

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Government Skills Australia (GSA) is the national Industry Skills Council (ISC) for the government and community safety sectors. It is responsible for the continuous improvement of nationally endorsed Vocational Education and Training (VET) training packages and the delivery of workforce development services to enterprises and organisations within the sector.

Specifically, GSA represents and works in collaboration with the correctional services, local government, public safety, public sector and water sectors across Australia. These sectors are crucial to the Australian way of life and each of them has either a direct or indirect impact on every Australian. The significance of these sectors and the importance of the fundamental work they undertake—for example, in protecting Australia’s safety, providing safe drinking water, providing national state and territory government services over a wide range of areas and needs, managing rehabilitation of offenders, and delivering local level services such as waste management— heightens the need for quality workforce development and training for its workforce.

These facts drive GSA to provide quality services and products through regular consultation and collaboration with peak bodies, industry committees, enterprises, government organisations and training bodies.

In preparation for the 2012 Environmental Scan, GSA has undertaken broad, ongoing consultation with the government and community safety sectors throughout 2011 regarding their respective workforce development needs and related issues. Each sector was given the opportunity to respond to the GSA 2012 Environmental Scan Survey. In addition, interviews took place with key industry stakeholders. GSA Workforce Development, Training Package Development and Implementation, and Industry Liaison and Research staff also undertook a comprehensive review of the state of the sectors, reflecting upon the content of the 2011 Environmental Scan and providing updates where applicable.

Priority issues from the 2012 Environmental Scan:Responsiveness of the VET system to meet industry needs » The impact of significant change within the VET system

with the establishment of new national policy and quality assurance bodies, ongoing policy changes to training package design and structure, and a range of reporting processes has proven challenging; while most understand the need for such change, it has been seen as a distraction from industry’s core needs. Concerns have been raised about the responsiveness of training packages to meet industry needs in light of such significant change.

Ageing workforce » The impending retirement of the ageing workforce is

concerning; workforce planning needs to occur to ensure the retention of knowledge within the government and community safety sectors.

» All sectors will be under pressure to offer flexible work arrangements (such as later start times, job sharing, flexi-time arrangements and options for part-time employment) to:

» Cater for older workers looking for part-time options to remain in the workforce

» Provide flexible transition to retirement programs to optimise the time and input from this demographic of the workforce

» Retain older workers who have care responsibilities for elderly parents or grandchildren

» Younger generations similarly need flexibility to manage parental responsibilities, and with the introduction in January 2011 of the national Paid Parental Scheme, these options are becoming more common-place.

Climate change and environmental issues » Climate change and environmental considerations

continue to have an impact in all government and community safety sectors through:

» The introduction of changed work practices which consider the environmental impact of work activities

» The introduction of new technologies to reduce environmental impact.

Karen Taylor Chief Executive Officer

LATEST INDUSTRY INTELLIGENCE

SECTION ONE.


SECTION ONE.LATEST INDUSTRY INTELLIGENCE


Corrections Officers at graduation

7

Industry Overview

Correctional ServicesThe correctional services sector is an integral part of Australia’s justice system, carrying responsibility for managing the supervision of offenders held in secure environments such as prisons and remand centres, and in community-based environments such as home detention. In general, correctional services are the responsibility of state and territory governments. Some correctional services are outsourced to private providers, with 11 prisons being privately run across New South Wales, Western Australia, Queensland, Victoria and South Australia. There are custodial centres in all capital cities and many regional centres.

The sector is going through a period of change, with new prisons being built in a number of jurisdictions; the emergence of an increasing demand for immigration detention centres and the potential implications this could have on the sector; new technologies emerging in both the community and custodial corrections settings; ongoing attraction and recruitment problems; the prevalence of mental health issues in correctional settings; and a trend toward generalising qualifications and implementing specialist streams to make the qualifications more user friendly and cost effective for Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) to have them on scope.

Local GovernmentLocal government, as the third tier of government in Australia, plays a crucial role in the development and maintenance of local community infrastructure and services. Local government bodies in Australia service a diverse range of communities across metropolitan, regional, rural, remote and Indigenous communities. Councils largely operate autonomously and are accountable to their local communities. They are generally not subject to ministerial direction from state, territory or federal governments. However, they often work in collaboration with other tiers of government, particularly in relation to planning and development, and some decisions are subject to advice and direction from these governments.

Public SafetyThe public safety sector is crucial to the Australian community, with its purpose being to primarily prevent or reduce the impact of natural and man-made threats. The sector is supported by a significant number of volunteers in addition to its career personnel. The sector incorporates the following:

» Police

» Fire

» Defence

» State/territory emergency services

» Emergency management

The sector is also responsible for a number of areas which have applications in other industries. These include community safety, workplace emergency response, emergency management, and search and rescue.

The public safety sector requires a sustainable workforce of competent and capable career and volunteer personnel, trained to safely fulfil their roles. The industry needs a pool of highly trained personnel who are committed to team work and safe work practices, and are capable of working across multiple hazards, using advanced technology, and applying risk management principles and processes.

Public SectorThe public sector includes the federal government, state and territory governments, statutory bodies and state-owned corporations. The sector plays a significant and essential role across the entire country with a wide range of impacts on the community. Employees develop, review and implement policies on behalf of the elected government of the day and the community. The public sector offers employees variety, opportunity and challenge, and the satisfaction of public service; it tends to recruit a high proportion of graduates.

WaterThe water industry provides essential services to all Australians, including provision of drinking water, irrigation water for farming and crucial waste water management.

The water industry includes the major sectors of:

» water sourcing, treatment, supply and distribution

» wastewater collection and treatment, stormwater and drainage wastewater and bio-solids reuse

» ground water recharge

» water quality management, monitoring and measurement

Recent focus has been on raising national water standards with regard to the national certification of operators of potable water treatment plants across the country. GSA is currently developing a certification framework on behalf of the National Water Commission and in consultation with peak water bodies.


SECTION ONE.


Market Level IssuesThere are many factors impacting on the government and community safety sector, some of which are common across the five GSA sectors and some which are unique to their respective sector.

The impact of significant change within the VET system with the establishment of new national policy and quality assurance bodies, ongoing policy changes to training package design and structure, and a range of reporting processes has proven challenging; and has, for some, been seen as a distraction from industry’s core needs.

There is a common thread of concern among the GSA industry sectors with regard to the heavy workload associated with this significant change. While most understand the need for such change, the practical implications for industry training and workforce development needs on the frontline has been frustrating. The focus on so much change and reform in a relatively short space of time relating to green skills, packaging rules and streamlining, while important, is being introduced in such a way that it detracts from the issues most pertinent to industry.

For a small but not insignificant proportion of the government and community safety sector, the impact is so problematic they are temporarily bypassing the national system and reverting to short/accredited courses in order to meet the time-critical changes required by their workforce. The danger is that this temporary measure may become a permanent one if those parties do not feel that the VET system will become more responsive to such industry requirements.

On the whole, feedback from the sectors that are taking such measures still indicates that they very much value the importance of the national VET system and want to remain a part of it. They view it as an excellent benchmarking process and an integral part of the nation’s education system.

A further point of feedback from some parties in the industry relates to the perceived burden and relevance of elements of the reporting requirements on training providers. Given the high proportion of enterprise-based RTOs in some of the government and community safety sectors, the concern about compliance with reporting requirements is potentially core to future industry participation. Requirements to collect comprehensive data at the qualification level for all participants is perceived to be cumbersome to RTOs that only deliver clusters of units or skill sets as per the need from industry. This issue is particularly pertinent in sectors with a high level of volunteer members of the workforce receiving training from not-for-profit RTOs with limited resources.

Macro-environmental Factors

Ageing WorkforceAn Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) survey for the 2010-11 period revealed that of the 8.5 million people aged 45 years and over who had, at some time, worked for two weeks or more, 4.9 million (57%) were in the labour force, 3.2 million (36%) had retired from the labour force, and the remaining 340,300 (4%) were not currently in the labour force but had not retired. More than two-thirds (69%) of employed people who intended to retire worked full-time. About 41% of these intended to retire from full-time work and then work part-time before retiring from the labour force. Approximately one-third (33%) intended to continue with full-time work until retiring from the labour force. The remainder did not know whether they intended to take up part-time work before retirement.

It is evident that many older workers will be looking for part-time options to remain in the workforce for longer, and the government and community safety sectors need to provide flexible transition to retirement programs to optimise the time and input from this demographic of their workforce. Often accompanying the challenge of retaining older workers as they near retirement is their need for a more flexible work arrangement to manage care responsibilities for elderly parents or grandchildren.

Similarly, younger generations need flexibility to manage parental responsibilities, and with the introduction in January 2011 of the national Paid Parental Scheme, these options are becoming more common-place. Both of these issues put further pressure on all sectors to offer flexible work arrangements; for example, later start times, job sharing, flexi-time arrangements and options for part-time employment.

9

Climate Change and Environmental IssuesClimate change and environmental considerations continue to have an impact on all government and community safety sectors, with all sectors indicating these considerations have initiated both a change in work practices and an introduction of new technologies in the last 12 months.

Almost 50% of GSA survey respondents in the correctional services sector indicated that they have introduced changed work practices with regard to greater use of recycling, water and electrical energy conservation, and consideration of the environmental impact of the construction of new prisons and extensions to current prisons. Just over 40% of survey respondents also indicated there has been an introduction of new technologies to reduce the sector’s impact on the environment.

Fifty-five per cent of local government councils indicated they have introduced new work practices to address the impact of their operations on the environment and climate change. Forty-six per cent indicated that they had introduced new technologies for the same reason. One respondent also indicated they are researching the possible impact of the carbon tax on their local community and employment in their region.

Climate change and the environment continue to play a role in how the public safety sector considers going about its role. Almost 60% of survey respondents indicated they have changed work practices, and over 40% introducing new technologies to better consider the impact on the environment. There is a perception for some that changes in the climate and environment have a two-fold impact on the public safety sector with not only a need for a change in practice but concerns that natural disasters are occurring more frequently and for longer duration, increasing the pressure on public safety resources.

The public sector’s consideration of the impact of climate change and the environment continues to alter its practices. Almost half of GSA survey respondents indicated new technology had been implemented to factor environmental issues and 40% have introduced changed work practices to reduce the sector’s impact on the environment. For example, new government school buildings are being constructed using environmentally sustainable methods, and the workforce itself is practicing environmentally sustainable methods within office environments, particularly regarding recycling and energy consumption.

The water sector’s core work is greatly affected by climatic issues with the sector responsible for effectively managing water resources during times of drought through desalination plants, dams and river management systems and emerging technology to maximise waste water usage.

Over one third of GSA survey respondents in the water sector advised a change in work practices as a result of climate change and environmental issues. A further third also indicated that new technologies have been introduced to reduce the environmental impact of the sector. For larger water corporations these changes can be conducted in a more viable manner but for some of the smaller regional and remote providers, introducing such changes may take longer to implement due to budgetary constraints.

Other major issues affecting each of the sectors are described in detail below.

Correctional ServicesCurrent and evolving trends, and new factors within the correctional services sector that will impact and shape workforce capability and skills over the next five years.

The correctional services sector is a relatively small sector with regard to the number of organisations delivering services and personnel employed (approximately 30,000). Each state and territory and a small number of private providers deliver services to the sector. Seventeen organisations responded to the GSA Environmental Scan survey which represents a very strong response rate. Seventy per cent of the respondents employ more than 1000 employees each, with responses received from all jurisdictions except the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory. Over 80% of respondents were from metropolitan organisations. Survey data suggests that key trends and factors that will impact on the correctional services sector over the next five years are: projected exits through retirements; economic factors; legislation/regulatory factors; Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) issues, growth in demand for services, new technologies and labour shortages.

"Projected exits through retirements will impact on correctional services over the next 5 years"


SECTION ONE.


Attraction, Recruitment and Retention IssuesThe correctional services sector continues to face attraction and recruitment issues with the image of the sector and the lure of the resources sector being the most significant causal factors. The aging workforce and increasing prisoner numbers are compounding this issue. The resultant labour shortage is leading to competition for staff between jurisdictions.

Over 75% of survey respondents indicated they expect to face recruitment difficulties over the next two to five years; concurrently, almost 80% of respondents indicated they are concerned about projected exits due to retirements over the same period.

According to survey respondents, the most in demand occupations in the sector are Correctional Services Officers and Community Corrections Officers, with Prisoner Transport staff also in demand. There is also a specific need in some jurisdictions for more Indigenous correctional services staff to work directly with the Indigenous population who have been incarcerated or are in community corrections settings.

In addition, the construction of new prisons in the Northern Territory and Western Australia, together with the commissioning of a new prison to replace an existing facility in Queensland, is likely to bring further pressure in finding appropriate, additional labour for the sector.

Skills Attainment and Professional Development To obtain the skills needed by the correctional services workforce, 80% of GSA survey respondents indicated that they recruit from within Australia and train staff in-house. The next most popular approach to up-skilling their workforce, as indicated by 62% of respondents, is via mentoring and coaching, followed by a third of respondents who use external training options.

The correctional services sector takes multiple approaches to training their staff. Over 85% of survey respondents indicated they use accredited vocational training, regulatory and compliance training, on-the-job training and off-the-job training. Seventy-five per cent of respondents also use non-accredited short courses to meet their training needs along with just over 60% using university qualifications. In addition, nearly 50% utilise trainee, apprentice and cadetship programs. E-learning seminars were also raised as another method of training.

Almost 90% of respondents utilise recognition of prior learning (RPL) options for their workforce. Similarly, 90% of respondents provide induction training to staff, which when conducted well, can be a key strategy for engaging and retaining new staff.

Seventy-five per cent of respondents offer financial support to staff to fund their training, as well as providing workplace mentoring, opportunities to attend conferences, and participation in informal learning. Almost 70% also offer paid study leave options and just over half provide subscriptions to relevant professional journals and other publications.

When it comes to barriers to training, the most common concern for the sector was a limited training budget and lack of time to undertake training due to heavy workloads. Compounding this matter was the need to backfill operational staff while they were undertaking training, so budgets need to be managed carefully when scheduling training.

Local GovernmentCurrent and evolving trends, and new factors within the local government sector that will impact and shape workforce capability and skills over the next five years.

There are 558 local councils in Australia, 131 of which responded to the survey, or a total of 23%. Some strong trends came through the survey and also confirmed much of the anecdotal intelligence previously gathered by GSA through our regular core business activity. A significant point identified by the survey was that over 50% of respondents indicated their organisation was undergoing some form of reorganisation which would impact on the skills needs of the council.

According to survey data, key trends and factors that will impact on the local government sector over the next five years are:

» Projected exits (retirements)

» Labour shortages

» Regulation/legislation

» Economic factors

» Growth in demand

» Impact of new technologies

» OHS issues

» Amalgamations

11

Attraction, Recruitment and Retention IssuesSeventy-two per cent of survey respondents indicated they have had difficulty recruiting for positions over the last 12 months. The occupations that have been problematic to recruit have included engineers, planners, childcare staff, environmental health workers, surveyors and managers. The top reasons listed for having difficulty attracting candidates to these roles were: salary competition from other sectors, particularly the resources sector (60%), lack of suitably skilled candidates (46%), and attractiveness of other sectors (36%).

Seventy-two per cent of respondents indicated that they expect to face continued recruitment difficulties in the next two to five years. Respondents indicated the same occupations that they have had difficulty recruiting for in the previous 12 months will continue to be problematic over the next two to five years. The perceived reasons for the anticipated recruitment difficulties were aligned to those above, with 61% citing salary competition, 49% suggesting attractiveness of other sectors, and 48% listing a lack of suitably qualified candidates. Anecdotal intelligence from the sector suggests that potential candidates do not view the sector as appealing and therefore do not consider it in their career planning. The known preference by RTOs and much of the sector itself toward using the Business Services Training Package (BSB07) over the Local Government Training Package (LGA04) further reflects the attitude that local government is a restrictive career pathway when compared with a more generalist business path.

Almost 40% of survey respondents indicated they have had difficulty retaining staff over the last 12 months. The impact of amalgamations on many local government councils has also created retention issues. Both the loss of corporate knowledge through redundancies aimed at reducing duplication of staff, and for some, the resultant increased workload has made it less attractive for staff to remain in the sector. The survey also indicated that perceived inequitable remuneration was a reason some people left the sector—this was cited as the third most common reason for leaving after attractiveness of other industries and attractiveness of the resources sector in particular. Job location and not feeling valued were the next most common causes for retention difficulties.

Skills Attainment and Professional Development When asked what methods the local government sector uses to obtain appropriately skilled staff, 76% indicated they recruit from within Australia; however, 25% also indicated they source staff from overseas. Beyond recruiting appropriate staff into positions directly, the next most common approach (71%) was to provide internal training, followed by almost 50% of respondents indicating formal mentoring and coaching, and 40% indicating the use of labour hire arrangements. At the local level a number of tailored approaches are also occurring; for example, one regional council indicated they have an Aboriginal Employment Strategy to engage with and encourage the Aboriginal population of their community to consider employment with council.

Survey results indicated that the most common approach to training local council staff over the last 12 months was via on-the-job training (almost 80%), followed by 76% undertaking regulatory and compliance training, 73% utilising non-accredited short courses, and 72% delivering accredited vocational training. Sixty-nine per cent accessed university qualifications, while 65% indicated using off-the-job training over the past year, and 63% used apprenticeship, traineeship or cadetship programs. A range of approaches to professional development are supported by local councils, with the most common response being conference attendance (79%), followed by financial support for training (76%), induction training (72%) and paid study leave (71%). Fifty-six per cent of respondents also indicated they utilise RPL processes.

When asked about what barriers may be preventing councils from offering training solutions to their workforce, 43% indicated having a limited training budget and 39% referred to the high cost of training. Also considered a barrier was the limited time available to take staff offline to undertake the training, largely due to heavy workloads. Almost one-quarter of respondents indicated that the training needs of the organisation haven’t yet been identified, and a further 23% indicated that relevant training wasn’t available due to a lack of training providers.

"A range of approaches to professional development are supported by local councils"


SECTION ONE.


Public SafetyCurrent and evolving trends, and new factors within the Public Safety sector that will impact and shape workforce capability and skills over the next five years.

The public safety sector is an extremely diverse sector with organisations covering the police, fire, state/territory emergency services, defence, emergency management and search and rescue fields. The industry intelligence of some of these areas includes highly sensitive information and cannot be openly provided. Consequently, only a small proportion of the sector responded to the environmental scan survey and therefore some conclusions are too broad to make. However, some useful insights were able to be extracted from the data and a range of themes are discussed below with regard to some of the common challenges faced by these sectors.

According to survey data, key trends and factors that are most likely to impact on the public safety sector over the next five years are:


» Legislation/regulatory change


» Occupational Health and Safety issues

» Growth in demand for services

Anecdotally, there is also an increasing focus on business resilience and shared responsibilities.

Perhaps in recognition of the growing demand for services as a result of the number and breadth of natural disasters in recent years, a Minister for Emergency Management was appointed in December 2011. This is the first time a ministerial position for emergency management has been established in the Australian Parliament.

The Australian public safety sector plays a significant role not only within Australia in response to floods, bushfires and other events, but also across the Asia-Pacific region; for example, most recently assisting with the Christchurch earthquakes in New Zealand. Australia’s urban search and rescue operational expertise is recognised and utilised internationally. An essential requirement of the public safety sector is to be able to act in an interoperable manner with each of the various bodies within the sector in order to create efficient and effective response processes in times of disaster. The Public Safety Training Package is an important medium for articulating those crucial interoperability skills and standards.

Attraction, Recruitment and Retention IssuesAttraction, recruitment and retention issues vary across the subsectors of public safety. The survey suggested 40% of respondents had difficulty attracting staff over the last

12 months, in occupations including trainers and training resource developers, and field operators in regional and remote areas. However, some areas are finding they attract good numbers. For example, professional fire fighters remain a popular occupational choice, but attracting volunteer and retained fire fighters is more difficult.

Anecdotal findings reflect there is a significant concern regarding attraction and recruitment issues with regard to attracting volunteer staff which constitutes a large proportion of the public safety sector. Competition for volunteers is strong across the various sectors. As a result, segments of the public safety sector are considering strategies to keep volunteers engaged such as offering training with transferability.

According to the survey respondents, the most common reasons for difficulty in recruiting staff were: salary competition (31%), location (27%), attractiveness of other sectors (23%) and attractiveness of the resources sector in particular (18%).

Forty-five per cent of respondents also indicated their concern about expected recruitment difficulties over the next two to five years. The following occupations are expected to be challenging to recruit: trainers and training resource developers, volunteer fire fighters, some specialist technical fire and rescue roles, community engagement staff, and operational staff. Anecdotally, other organisations are having difficulty recruiting volunteers.

The main reasons for expected future recruitment difficulties were the ageing workforce and attractiveness of other sectors (both 32%) followed by lack of suitably skilled workers (27%), salary competition and attractiveness of the resources sector (23%).

Approximately a third of respondents also believed they would have difficulty retaining staff in the next 12 months, with the strongest reasons being the highly stressful work involved (27%), attractiveness of other industries (23%), unreasonable workload (18%), poor work-life balance (18%) and attractiveness of the resources sector (18%).

For some sectors within public safety, particularly defence and police, the status of attraction and recruitment issues tends to be more closely aligned to economic and policy decisions rather than by the pool of available and interested candidates.

"There is an increasing focus on business resilience and shared responsibility"

13

Skills Attainment and Professional DevelopmentThe majority of the public safety sector recruits and trains its workforce in-house rather than seeking candidates who have undertaken specific, prerequisite training elsewhere prior to applying for work in the sector. According to the survey the most common form of training offered was accredited vocational training with over 80%, followed by 77% of respondents indicating non-accredited short courses and 73% indicating they access university qualifications. Another very common form of training offered by the public safety sector over the last 12 months was on-the-job training to address regulatory and compliance requirements (68% respectively).

A broad range of professional development opportunities are offered within the sector with almost 90% of respondents indicating they deliver induction training and 77% provide RPL options. Seventy-three per cent also indicated that they offer financial support for study and provide conference attendance. Other commonly offered forms of professional development included informal learning opportunities, subscriptions to journals and relevant publications, workplace mentoring, professional memberships and paid study leave.

A common concern for the public safety sector with regard to training is the time required to undertake training, and the impact this has on the frontline, and related resource implications. Each time a member of the workforce is taken offline to train it has implications for resourcing the frontline. The survey results support this challenge, with the greatest barrier to training being a heavy workload which makes it difficult to take time out for training, followed by the cost of training and a limited training budget.

Public SectorCurrent and evolving trends, and new factors within the public sector that will impact and shape workforce capability and skills over the next five years.

Forty-two public sector organisations responded to the survey consisting of representatives from every state and territory as well as federal departments. Three quarters of respondents were based in metropolitan locations, while 16% were regional, and 8% from remote or rural.

Forty per cent of survey respondents represented organisations with more than 1000 employees; 28% represented organisations employing between 100 and 499 employees; 21% represented organisations employing up to 100 staff and 7% represented organisations employing between 500 and 1000 employees.

Findings from the survey together with anecdotal feedback and a range of GSA continuous improvement activities are discussed below.

Survey data illustrates the key trends and factors that will impact on the public sector over the next five years are:


» Economic factors

» Legislation/regulation

» Redundancies


» Growth in demand

» Labour shortages

Of particular concern is the impending retirement of a significant proportion of the middle-level to senior-level managers over the next five years. Compounding this issue is what has been described as the double-deficit impact of the mining and resources boom on the public sector. Firstly, the public sector is losing some of its workforce to the resources sector with the promise of higher wages; secondly, the resultant demand for public sector resources and infrastructure for the growing communities established in remote locations to support mining activities is costly, and putting further pressure on public sector resources.

Attraction, Recruitment and Retention IssuesForty-five per cent of survey respondents indicated that they have experienced recruitment difficulties for particular occupations over the last 12 months. Most difficult to recruit for were trainers and facilitators, followed by policy and project officer roles, and adviser roles relating to strategic workforce planning and development.

Salary competition and a lack of suitably qualified workers were cited as the most common reasons for recruitment difficulties by survey respondents. These reasons were closely followed by attractiveness of other sectors, attractiveness of the resource sector, job role descriptions, low local unemployment rate, and location. Other comments suggest government cutbacks in some jurisdictions also impacted on recruitment.

"Of particular concern is the impending retirement of the middle-level to senior-level managers over the next 5 years"


SECTION ONE.


Fifty-five per cent of respondents also expect to experience recruitment difficulties over the next two to five years. Almost one-third indicated salary competition, followed by a lack of suitably skilled workers, and attractiveness of other sectors.

Only 17% of respondents indicated they have had difficulty retaining staff over the last year which is significantly less than the other segments of the government and community safety sectors. Specialist HR, workforce planners, accountants and cleaners were the top roles listed by respondents as being difficult to retain.

Skills Attainment and Professional Development The public sector utilises long-established graduate recruitment programs together with a range of other bulk and tailored recruitment schemes. For some, the recruitment processes are considered cumbersome and demanding compared with recruitment processes for other sectors, which can deter candidates from applying.

According to survey results, apart from largely drawing their staff from within Australia, the most popular approaches to attaining the required skills for the sector are via in-house training, formal mentoring and coaching, and contracting specialised operators and consultants. Other methods listed by respondents were to attract suitably skilled staff from other government agencies and transition to retirement programs.

A variety of training options are provided to the public sector workforce through a range of organisations including enterprise RTOs, private RTOs, and peak body organisations such as the Institute of Public Administration of Australia (IPAA). Sixty-four per cent of survey respondents indicated that they use in-house training strategies to up skill staff. Both accredited and non-accredited short courses are utilised by 55%, and almost 50% access university qualifications. A further third of respondents also indicated utilising off-the-job training opportunities and 31% regularly deliver regulatory and compliance training. Almost 20% deliver traineeship, apprenticeship and cadetship programs.

A broad mix of professional development opportunities is routinely on offer to public sector employees to broaden their skill and experience base. Induction training is offered by 60% of survey respondents; almost 60% also offer paid study leave and conference attendance; and informal learning and workplace mentoring and coaching are also popular strategies with over 50% of respondents. Approximately half of the respondents indicated that they offer RPL opportunities and financial support for training. Around 40% offer professional membership and subscriptions to relevant publications and journals. Over one-third offer a graduate program and one-quarter offer reward and recognition programs.

Like all sectors, the public sector experiences a range of barriers in offering training to its workforce. The most common response for this was a limited training budget, followed by the cost of training and a lack of time to undertake training due to heavy workloads. These issues are exacerbated by the decision to exclude public sector organisations from a number of training subsidy programs such as the National Workforce Development Fund (NWDF).

Other barriers include the lack of available training as the public sector, similar to local government, is considered a relatively thin market; therefore it can be difficult for some agencies to find RTOs with the Public Sector Training Package on scope. Another reason was that training needs have not been identified by some organisations. Anecdotally, this is most likely due to efforts being channelled towards delivering the day–to-day services of some public sector organisations rather than having the resources to strategically identify current and future skill development needs.

Forty-five per cent of respondents also indicated their organisation is undergoing a reorganisation which will impact on the future skill needs of the agency. One-quarter indicated they are downsizing, putting further pressure on the remaining resources.

WaterCurrent and evolving trends, and new factors within the water sector that will impact and shape workforce capability and skills over the next five years.

The water sector is greatly affected by climate change and environmental issues, so it is critical to manage the impact of these changes to ensure the sector provides the community with a safe and consistent supply of drinking and waste water services. Managing its workforce and the changing skill requirements is crucial to effective service provision to all Australians. The water sector experiences a high media profile, with many vested interests in the appropriate management of water including farmers and irrigators, desalination plants and the general public.

"The contest for trained staff is highly competitive between water organisations"

15

A mixture of water organisations responded to the environmental scan survey with 64% of respondents representing major metropolitan water organisations, one-quarter representing regional providers and 10% representing rural water operators. Of those:

» more than one-quarter employ over 1000 employees

» approximately one-third represent organisations employing between 100 and 500 staff

» almost 20% represent organisations employing less than 100 employees

» almost 20% employ between 500 and 1000 staff.

Survey data indicated that key trends and factors that are most likely to impact on the water sector over the next five years are:


» Labour shortages


» Climate change

» Legislation/regulation

Anecdotally, a significant portion of the workforce is nearing retirement with only small numbers of new recruits being attracted to the sector. The contest for trained staff is highly competitive between water organisations, with staff being lured from one organisation to another via increased salary and other incentives. To compound these issues, the resources sector is also proving to be an alluring alternative for the water workforce.

Over one-third of respondents indicated their organisation was undergoing a reorganisation which will have an impact on the future skill needs in the organisation.

Attraction, Recruitment and Retention IssuesAttracting new recruits is a challenge for the sector. The survey supports this view with 64% of respondents advising they had difficulty recruiting for particular positions in the last 12 months; these include water industry trainers and assessors, water and waste water operators, engineers and electricians. Survey results indicated that the most common problems for recruitment difficulties were salary competition, the lure of the resources sector and lack of suitably skilled workers.

Forty-five per cent of respondents expected to face difficulty recruiting for particular occupations over the next two to five years. In particular, respondents were concerned about recruiting engineers, water operators, workplace trainers and assessors, project and contract managers.

The main reasons for anticipated recruitment difficulties were attraction of other sectors, location of opportunities and a lack of suitably skilled workers.

Almost 20% indicated that they had retention difficulties in the last year, with trainers and assessors being the most problematic.

Skills Attainment and Professional Development The most common method for attaining the relevant skills in the water sector workforce is in-house training, with 45% indicating that they use this approach. Training using an external training body, group training arrangements, and formal mentoring and coaching are of equal importance (36%).

The types of training utilised by the water sector varies across organisations but accredited vocational training, regulatory/compliance training, apprenticeship, traineeship and cadetship programs, on-the-job and off-the-job training all rated at 55%. Forty-five per cent of survey respondents indicated that they also use non-accredited/short courses, while just over one-third indicated that they access university qualifications.

A range of professional development activities are also supported by the water sector with over 60% citing conference attendance. Induction training, financial support for training and workplace mentoring are also commonly accessed within the sector (45%). Over one-third of respondents indicated that graduate programs, paid study leave, professional membership, subscriptions to relevant publications, informal learning and RPL are also offered.

Anecdotal feedback suggests that there are relatively few training providers in the water sector because it is perceived as a thin market. In more heavily populated areas this is not necessarily a concern, but for smaller operators in regional, rural and remote areas, this presents more of a challenge. The survey results supported this issue with the most common barriers to training for the sector identified as a lack of available training providers, limited training budgets, training needs not yet identified, and the need for a coordinated approach to training.

There is also a concern among some segments of the sector that the inevitable increasing requirement for staff to be trained—particularly water operators involved in potable water—will be cost prohibitive to the sector, especially for smaller operators. Some parts of the sector are already struggling to fund training and find appropriate training providers, and there is a plea from some for the government to provide increased subsidisation of training for the sector to manage these demands into the future.


IDENTIFIED WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT NEEDS

SECTION TWO.


SECTION TWO.


Hands on local government engineer

17

Challenges, Skill Gaps and OpportunitiesGSA’s approach to workforce development has been via a comprehensive service called ‘Get Smart, Get Skilled’ which combines tailored online surveys, in depth interviews and reports and recommendations. GSA’s Workforce Development branch has worked closely with enterprises and on some occasions at the industry level in the government and community safety sectors to identify their workforce development issues and develop and prioritise future strategies to address these.

Due to increasing requests from industry for assistance in workforce development and planning, GSA has recently reviewed its existing service model and made some significant changes to ensure it has the capacity to meet this extra demand. The new service model will be launched during 2012 and focuses on providing industry with the resources, skills and support to identify, measure and address their own strategic and operational workforce development issues.

Over 1.2 million people are employed by the government and community safety sector with a large volunteer workforce supporting the public safety segments of the sector. All segments of the government and community safety sector are experiencing workforce development challenges with common issues being an ageing workforce, competition from more lucrative sectors, changing work practices due to environmental considerations and emerging technologies.

Correctional Services OverviewThe correctional services sector consists of 112 prisons, community correctional facilities and transition centres throughout Australia. There is also an increasing number of immigration detention centres being established and managed by private providers from within the sector under federal government direction.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) during the 2011 September quarter, the average daily number of full-time prisoners in Australia was 29,008 persons. This was an increase of 99 persons (less than 1%) from the June quarter of 2011. Community-based corrections orders are non-custodial orders served under the authority of adult corrective services agencies and include restricted movement, reparations (fine options and community service) and supervision orders (parole, bail, and sentenced probation).

In the September quarter of 2011, there were 54,545 persons in community-based corrections in Australia based on first day of the month averages, a decrease of 64 persons (less than 1%) from the June quarter.

Of the average daily number of full-time prisoners in Australia in the 2011 September quarter, 26,966 (93%) were male and 2,042 (7%) were female. The workforce in the correctional services sector is male dominated with approximately 60% male employees. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are heavily over represented in correctional facilities comprising 26% of the full-time prisoner population in Australia during the 2011 September quarter. The sector is trying to attract Indigenous employees to the community and prison settings to work with clients in a culturally appropriate manner.

The correctional services sector has a strong learning culture and is adopting a wide range of mediums for provision of training and engaging their staff in development opportunities.

Major Challenges and TrendsBased on workforce development activity undertaken by GSA, the following issues remain a concern for the correctional services sector:

» recruitment and retention issues, particularly with regard to attracting suitably skilled candidates for correctional officer positions in custodial and community settings

» the image of the sector continues to be a challenge in attracting appropriate staff

» organisations are experiencing a reduction in training budgets due to financial constraints as a result of broader economic pressures. This is exacerbated by public sector organisations being ineligible for the National Workforce Development Fund

» the pending retirement of the baby boomer generation is of major concern to the sector, with the related challenge to attract enough people to replace those leaving and to reduce the loss of corporate knowledge and experience that often accompanies retirements

» the workforce is time poor with heavy workloads and it is costly to take them offline to undertake training as they need to be replaced on the frontline

» there is an increasing demand for employees with higher-level skills requiring further resources and time for up-skilling.



SECTION TWO.

Current and Emerging Skill GapsThough these identified areas continue to be a problem, new units of competency have been introduced to the Correctional Services Training Package (CSC07) to help address many of these gaps:

» Dealing with sex offenders

» Offender management in the community

» Intelligence Officers

» Interpreting and applying complex legislative requirements for high-risk offenders

» Custodial officer and community corrections workers.

Current and Future Labour ShortagesOccupations identified with current and emerging shortages include:

» Psychologists

» Correctional officers

» Social workers

» Nurses

» Senior managers

» Education staff.

Strategies for Addressing Skill ShortagesGSA recommends the following strategies to the sector to assist in addressing the skill shortages:

» increase the skill level of existing workers

» consider mature aged workers when recruiting

» integrate workforce plans into strategic plans

» undertake workforce forecasting and gap risk analyses on a regular basis

» implement succession planning and transition to retirement programs

» provide leadership development programs and mentoring opportunities

» clearly articulate and promote career pathways and opportunities within the sector

» provide tailored Indigenous employment development programs

» offer traineeships.

Workforce Planning ActivitiesWith regard to workforce planning activities, almost 70% of survey respondents from the correctional services sector indicated that they are now undertaking workforce forecasting. Over 50% indicate that they integrate formal workforce planning and development strategies into their business planning processes, as well as undertake career development and succession planning. Half of the respondents also now undertake workforce gap risk analysis processes to assist with planning. Twelve per cent of respondents indicate that they still do not undertake any of these workforce planning activities.

Local GovernmentOverviewThe local government sector employs approximately 185,000 employees and consists of 700 organisations including 558 local government councils with statutory responsibilities.

The local government sector has a committed learning culture and an interest in developing its staff. There has been a recent surge in interest at the industry and peak body level in utilising social media to both engage existing staff, and attract and recruit new staff.

An issue impacting a significant proportion of the sector is that of reorganisation and amalgamation of councils. This presents a distinct set of challenges for the sector in terms of retaining staff that are experiencing a changed environment with a perceived increase in workload, reduced resources, and a loss of corporate knowledge through redundancies and retirements. Such environments are at risk of low morale and poor retention rates. The sector is keenly aware of these issues and is striving to provide a sound working environment for its employees.

Major Challenges and TrendsBased on workforce development activity undertaken by GSA the following issues remain a concern for the local government sector:

» salary competition from other sectors, particularly the resources sector which continues to lure existing staff and potential new recruits

» impending retirements of the baby boomer generation resulting in a significant loss of staff and corporate knowledge

Increasing demand for employees with higher-level skills

Attracting suitably skilled candidates for correctional officer positions

Reduction in training budgets due to financial constraints M

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» reduced training budgets due to economic constraints

» a perceived lack of career pathways and opportunities, particularly in the face of amalgamations and restructures

» the image of the sector and job roles not seen as desirable

» lack of workforce planning which is resulting in skill gaps and labour shortages.

Current and Emerging Skill GapsThese skill gaps continue to be a problem for the sector, as confirmed by the GSA environmental scan survey results. A range of new units of competency have been introduced to the Local Government Training Package (LGA04) which may help address some of these gaps:

» Engineering and civil construction

» Planning and building

» Environmental health

» Management and leadership

» Training and assessment

» Finance

» Occupational Health and Safety awareness

» Customer service

» Report writing.


» Engineering and civil construction

» Planning and building

» Environmental health

» Finance

» Surveying

» Environmental services

» Childcare staff

Strategies to Address Skill and Labour ShortagesThe following strategies have been identified which may assist in addressing the identified skill and labour shortages:

» improve work/life balance programs and council culture

» use of social media in communicating and engaging with new and existing staff

» introduce recognition and reward systems

» implement succession planning and transition to retirement programs

» address the sector’s image problems through targeted recruitment campaigns

» offer flexible working arrangements to all staff

» redesign job roles

» contract training providers for graduates.

Workforce Planning ActivitiesA portion of the local government sector appears to be integrating workforce planning activities into their business approach. Almost half of survey respondents indicated that they undertake career development and succession planning with their staff; 45% integrate formal workforce planning and development strategies into their business planning processes; 37% undertake workforce forecasting; and almost 30% undertake workforce gap risk analysis activities. However, 17% of respondents indicated that they do not undertake any kind of workforce planning activities.

Public SafetyOverviewPublic safety organisations employ an estimated 142,800 employees with a volunteer workforce of more than 450,000. Volunteers and career personnel alike require ongoing professional development to ensure their skills and knowledge reflect the most recent insights into policy, practice and procedures of the sector. As with all GSA sectors the public safety sector is facing staffing challenges with retirements due to the ageing workforce, difficulty recruiting in a competitive environment with other sectors, and an additional challenge in needing to recruit and retain unpaid volunteers who are so crucial to many elements of the sector.

Some public safety organisations, particularly defence and police, manage their workforce development needs confidentially. Therefore, information regarding these organisations is not contained in this section.

Engineering & Civil Construction

Current & Future Labour Shortages

Planning & Building

Environmental Health



SECTION TWO.

Major Challenges and TrendsIdentified challenges and trends include:

» pending retirements due to the ageing population present a significant problem for the sector with regard to recruiting new staff and reducing the loss of corporate knowledge

» increasing demand for services with an increase in the number and duration of emergencies and public safety events, both locally and internationally

» attracting and retaining volunteers in a competitive environment

» shortages of staff with training and assessment skills

» shortages of staff with leadership and management skills

» image of the sector among younger generations not as attractive as it once was with other sectors offering more appealing conditions

» national and global competition for some specialist technical roles

» gender equality issues continuing to be a problem in some areas

» performance management processes lacking across some sectors

» shared responsibility for disaster resilience.

Current and Emerging Skill GapsPublic safety has identified the following current and emerging skill gaps (with exception to defence and police):

» emergency services volunteers in rural and remote areas

» fire fighting in rural and remote areas

» training and assessment

» curriculum development

» media liaison

» community consultation and planning

» some specialist fire and technical rescue disciplines.

Current and Future Labour Shortages Occupations identified with current and future labour shortages include:

» Project managers

» IT professionals

» Finance staff

» Trainers

» Bushfire planners

» Retained fire fighters.

Strategies to Address Skill and Labour ShortagesIdentified strategies to address skill and labour shortages include:

» targeting recruitment of indigenous and mature aged workers

» up-skilling existing staff to meet the changing needs of the sector

» developing and maintaining strong internal training cultures

» targeting overseas recruitment campaigns

» integrating workforce planning and forecasting into strategic plans.

Workforce Planning ActivitiesThe public safety sector, particularly defence and police have a strong understanding of the status of its workforce having had long-term planning and forecasting processes in place for many years.

The sector is committed to workforce planning activities; based on the environmental scan survey, almost 80% of the respondents indicated that they integrated formal planning and development strategies into their business plans in the last 12 months. Almost 70% of respondents also provide career development and succession planning, while almost 60% undertake workforce gap risk analysis and 50% undertake workforce forecasting. These results are noticeably higher than the other industries within government and community safety.

80%

70%

60%

50%

Workforce Gap Risk Analysis

Workforce Forecasting

Career Development & Succession Planning

Integrated Formal Planning

Workforce Planning Activities

21

Public SectorOverviewThe public sector employs approximately 850,000 people across federal, state and territory government departments, agencies and bodies. According to the Australian Public Service Commission, the federal public service alone employed 166, 495 people as at 30 June 2011.

The public sector provides critical services to the public on a daily basis and is currently facing a combination of challenges. Impending retirements of a large proportion of the workforce, mostly from management levels, is likely to cause significant skill and labour shortages. This issue, coupled with the lure of competing sectors for new staff and the perceived complex recruitment processes that appear to go hand in hand with the public sector, are posing serious concerns for the future shape of the workforce. Unlike the other industries in the government and community safety sector, women are well represented in the public service at all levels (women constitute 57% of all federal public servants). A majority of personnel recruited by the sector hold a degree-level qualification.

Major Challenges and TrendsThe major challenges and trends identified for the sector include:

» significant levels of retirements resulting in a significant loss of corporate knowledge and expertise

» gaining recognition as an industry that requires access to training funding support/subsidies

» reinforcing a positive workplace culture

» adopting structured workforce planning practices

» optimising training opportunities within tight training budgets

» addressing the impact of the resources sector on staffing and resource requirements, to support new mining communities requiring government-funded services and infrastructure.

Current and Emerging Skill GapsThe public sector has identified the following current and emerging skill gaps:

» Policy development

» Project management

» General procurement

» Financial management

» Frontline management and leadership


» Workforce planning.


» Senior policy development

» Strategic human resources and workforce planning

» Information and Technology (IT) professionals

» Project managers/project officers

Strategies to Address Skill and Labour ShortagesThe following strategies to address skill and labour shortages have been identified:

» implementing targeted recruitment campaigns toward Indigenous, mature aged, people with disabilities and overseas recruits

» redesigning job roles

» delivering workplace based training

» establishing formal mentoring programs

» identifying interagency collaboration opportunities

» implementing succession and retirement transition programs

» introducing flexible work arrangements

» conducting regular staff cultural climate surveys and act on feedback

» promoting health and wellbeing programs

» developing workforce planning policies and frameworks.

Managing the impending retirements of the baby boomer generation

Gaining recognition as an industry that requires access to funding support/subsidies

Addressing the impact on staffing and resources to support new mining communities

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SECTION TWO.

Workforce Planning Activities The public sector has a major workforce challenge to manage with the impending retirements of the baby boomer generation. This, coupled with the ageing of the population putting further pressure on public sector services and infrastructure, presents a significant challenge for the future resources of the sector. Therefore, careful and considered workforce planning and strategies are a critical element to managing this issue into the future. Fifty-five per cent of survey respondents indicated that they integrate formal workforce planning and development strategies into their business plans; forty-five per cent utilise career development and succession planning in their workplace; almost 30% undertake workforce forecasting exercises; and one-quarter undertake workforce gap risk analyses.

WaterOverviewThe water sector is very active in developing its workforce to meet industry standards, and much work has gone into the development of a range of support materials to complement the training package in recent years. The water industry employs approximately 44,000 people in a range of occupations, including water and wastewater treatment operators; network maintenance personnel and specialists, such as hydrographers; environmental advisers; water quality officers; infrastructure and treatment system designers and managers; remote essential services operators; trade waste operators; dam safety operators; and water scientists, including chemists, biologists, microbiologists, lock operators, and ground water hydrologists.

The water sector is also being impacted by the impending retirements of the baby boomer generation; they are having difficulty attracting new staff in the same numbers as the expected losses. The resources sector is proving to be a particularly strong competitor for new and existing staff in water operations and engineering roles.

A further issue raised anecdotally is the perceived inconsistent employment conditions of people employed in the water sector with regard to water operators receiving inequitable remuneration and conditions compared with recognised trade plumbers.

Major Challenges and TrendsThe strategies identified to meet the major challenges and trends in the industry are:

» implementing effective recruitment and retention strategies

» establishing workforce planning strategies to address the expected shortfall of water industry operators over the next five years

» creating positive recruitment campaigns to improve the image of the sector to potential recruits

» up-skilling and maximising the current skill sets of the existing workforce

» managing the increasing demand for staff in the face of retirements

» effectively responding to water quality legislation and their related skill requirements and work practices

» developing and articulating clear career pathways for the new and existing workforce.

Current and Emerging Skill GapsThe following gaps continue to be problematic to the sector based on GSA workforce development analysis:

» Maintaining water and waste water systems

» Water quality treatment

» Operating groundwater source systems


» Project management

» Financial/budgetary management

» Inspecting and maintaining catchments, dams and reservoirs

» Policy development

» Installing and maintaining hydrometric systems

» Frontline management and leadership.

Effectively responding to water quality legislation and their related skill requirements

Creating positive recruitment campaigns to improve the sector image

Developing clear career pathways for the new and existing workforce

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Current and Emerging Labour ShortagesThe following continue to present labour shortages based upon GSA workforce analysis:

» Engineers

» Operations and maintenance personnel

» Technical officers

» Water and waste water treatment personnel

» Environmental officers

» Asset engineers

» Managers

» IT personnel

» Skilled trade workers

» Process and water quality specialists

» Electricians.

Strategies to Address Skill and Labour ShortagesThe following strategies have been identified to address skill shortages in the industry:

» collaboration with schools, universities and local training providers to develop attraction and recruitment campaigns

» offering competitive, above award wages to specialists in regional areas to compete more effectively with other sectors

» promoting work/life balance programs and improving the image of the sector to existing staff and potential recruits

» developing workforce planning strategies

» providing traineeships and cadetships with future job security

» collaborating with other water organisations to maximise staff training opportunities and transfer options

» developing effective working relationships between industry and training providers in the sector

» promoting and utilising cross-industry initiatives such as the H2Oz website.

Workforce Planning ActivitiesA great deal of activity has been taking place at the industry level in the water sector with regard to workforce planning, including a national functional needs analysis of water operators conducted by GSA.

In addition, many water organisations are actively undertaking workforce planning activities at the local level. Forty-five per cent of survey respondents integrate formal workforce planning and development strategies into their business planning, and the same percentage offer career development and succession planning processes. Over one-quarter of respondents also undertake workforce forecasting and a further quarter undertake workforce gap risk analyses.


CASE STUDY

A Workforce Development Case Study: A look into the impact of workforce development activityIn 2009, the Western Australian Public Sector Commission (PSC) and GSA undertook three workforce development activities using the GSA Get Smart, Get Skilled program. The PSC engaged GSA to undertake:

» an internal analysis of the PSC’s workforce and their workforce development issues

» a whole of government workforce development analysis of human resource personnel

» a whole of government workforce development analysis of policy maker personnel.

Each of these activities resulted in the recommendation of the following strategies:

» Up-skilling/development

» Workforce planning

» Recruitment

» Retention

Many of these recommendations are currently being implemented; following is a snapshot of the PSC’s experience.

The RationaleThe PSC was established in 2008 with the objective to lead and assist the public sector to build a skilled, ethical, diverse and knowledgeable workforce.

In order to achieve this end, it was necessary for the PSC to look at its own capabilities to identify and understand its own areas in need of development. With this in mind, the PSC partnered with GSA to undertake a skills audit of PSC staff in WA.

All staff and executives were encouraged to complete a workforce planning survey. GSA also conducted one-on-one interviews with key personnel within the PSC to gain an understanding of its new strategic direction and future challenges.

GSA used the survey and consultation with key stakeholders to develop a comprehensive report of findings and recommendations that the PSC could implement to address its workforce development issues. The Corporate Executive of the PSC endorsed the report and 28 of the 30 recommendations made. Once the Western Australia PSC was able to see the way in which the workforce planning survey could be used, the PSC again partnered with GSA to undertake a skills audit of priority occupational groups across the WA Public Sector; this included human resource practitioners and policy practitioners.

The Workforce Development ExperienceThe PSC, as a central agency within the WA Public Sector, has developed a strong working relationship with GSA. GSA has access to tools, resources and personnel who have a sound understanding of VET as a workforce development solution. This internal capacity has not always been available at a local level; however, access to this skills and knowledge base has been critical to building the level of knowledge locally.

Additionally, GSA’s link to the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR), and its contacts in other public sector jurisdictions was extremely useful as the PSC was able to easily tap into cross-jurisdictional networks and working and reference groups that had similar workforce development issues.

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Recommendations and Resultant ImpactThe most useful recommendations were those linked to VET units of competency and qualifications. This provided the PSC with tangible and meaningful information on the exact skill gaps, and more importantly, a pathway to minimising these skills gaps.

The recommendations that GSA made were seen as pragmatic, achievable and common sense solutions.

From the perspective of the PSC, the process was extremely worthwhile. As a result of the skills audit undertaken by GSA on PSC staff, the PSC was able to provide evidence to support their application for the Enterprise Based Productivity Places Program (EBPPP), thereby securing a significant amount of funding which made it possible to offer 23 staff an opportunity to undertake a qualification from the Public Sector Training Package.

PSC personnel are undertaking a range of qualifications ranging from a Certificate III in Government to Certificate IV in Government, Diploma in Government and Diploma in Government (Project Management).

This has been a useful exercise in not only recognising the wealth of skills and talent that the PSC has internally, but also shows where development is required now and into the future.

Future DirectionsThe PSC believes direct access to the a workforce planning survey and expertise would be useful. This will assist many agencies, particularly those who do not have dedicated workforce planning functions within their agency, to identify their workforce issues.

The workforce planning and development services offered by GSA provided the PSC with an opportunity to recognise the benefits that can be derived from VET—an often under-utilised workforce development solution in the WA Public Sector. As a result of this, the PSC has committed to converting or aligning many of its existing training programs to a VET qualification from the Public Sector Training Package.

"This has been a useful exercise in not only recognising the wealth of skills and talent that the PSC has internally, but also shows where development is required now and into the future."


CURRENT IMPACT OF GSA TRAINING PACKAGES

SECTION THREE.


SECTION THREE.CURRENT IMPACT OF GSA TRAINING PACKAGES

Surf Life Savers keeping watch

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GSA has the responsibility to manage, maintain and continuously improve the five nationally accredited VET training packages representing the government and community safety sector.GSA is responsible for the following training packages:

» CSC07 Correctional Services Training Package

» LGA04 Local Government Training Package

» PUA00 Public Safety Training Package

» PSP04 Public Sector Training Package

» NWP07 Water Training Package.

Following the embedding of sustainability skills into all training packages and ensuring compliance with the new packaging rules, 2011 has seen GSA’s training packages go through a range of content review processes as part of the normal continuous improvement cycle. In preparation for the forthcoming streamlining processes of training packages, GSA has spent significant time in looking for opportunities to simplify the content of some of the more complex packages to make them more flexible and responsive to industry and RTOs alike.

During 2011 work was undertaken on CSC07 to streamline a number of Certificate III qualifications. Three Certificate III qualifications were merged to create a single qualification with three specialist streams: Youth Custodial, Custodial, and Community. This increases the flexibility of the package and makes it more cost effective for RTOs to have on their scope with a single qualification offering three specialist streams.

Similar work is underway on all of the GSA training packages to reduce unnecessary duplication, simplify qualifications, and increase specialist paths in response to industry requirements, thereby increasing the likelihood of RTOs putting qualifications on their scope.

In addition, a range of new units and qualifications have been developed across all training packages and imported units have undergone review.

GSA is also in the process of developing a resource to assist industry to better understand the various ways in which a training package can be utilised; for example, in job design, performance management processes, identifying training needs, and facilitating RPL processes.

Utilisation of Training Packages

Correctional ServicesThe majority of survey respondents from the correctional services sector indicated they heavily utilise CSC07. Over 50% of respondents also use RTO defined skill sets drawing on units from the training package. Beyond up-skilling of staff and using it to develop training program content, the next most popular uses of the training package by the sector are to facilitate RPL processes (56%) and identify training needs and skill gaps (40%). It is also used by some enterprises to assist in staff retention strategies, performance management and compliance with licensing regulations.

Local GovernmentThe local government sector hosts a diverse range of occupations with responsibilities that overlap with many other sectors. The survey responses regarding the utilisation of GSA training packages reflects this fact, with 49% indicating that they use the Local Government Training Package, 14% utilise the Water Training Package, 9% use the Public Sector Training Package and 6% use the Public Safety Training Package. Twenty-seven per cent indicated that they do not use training packages.

GSA also undertook a review of the uptake of LGA04 during 2011 via desktop research, two online surveys of RTOs and councils and a series of phone interviews. It was found that while many local government councils utilise LGA04, many prefer to access the Business Services Training Package. Preference towards the Business Services Training Package was due to: easier accessibility for some councils (many RTOs do not have LGA04 on scope as the sector is perceived as a thin market and it is therefore not cost effective); the perception that its content was more beneficial to the participants for transferability of knowledge; and that many councils were not aware of the relevance and tailored content of the package.



SECTION THREE.

Public SafetyThe Public Safety Training Package is on the verge of significant change with the defence sector seeking to separate its content from the package in order to produce a nationally endorsed Defence Training Package. The Public Safety Training Package is the largest training package in the national system. For some of the stakeholders who use this training package, the size and the impact of changing requirements of the national VET system has become a problem in managing change in an expedient and responsive manner to meet industry needs.

The public safety sector is highly scrutinised and as a matter of course, is subject to coronial inquests, royal commissions and various evaluations and investigations into the handling and outcomes of many of the operational activities undertaken by the sector. Many of these investigations lead to recommendations that may require new approaches or standards to be embedded into operational and policy practices. The sector needs to be responsive to such recommendations, as do the tools they use to inform such findings to their workforce. It is at this point that some feel the training package is not responsive enough to industry’s needs with regard to prompt changes; on some occasions organisations within the sector will turn to short courses to meet their needs rather than wait for the national system to respond.

Almost three-quarters of survey respondents utilise the Public Safety Training Package and approximately one-quarter also use training packages offered by other Industry Skills Councils. Anecdotal feedback suggests that the defence sector is committed to ensuring its workforce gain transferable skills and qualifications to enable smooth transition upon leaving the sector, and the use of generalist packages like the Business Services Training Package is an example of this approach.

When asked how the sector is using the training package, over 80% of survey respondents indicated that they use the package to inform training program content. The next most common use of the package was to up-skill staff (73%) and to inform RPL processes (73%). Almost one-half of respondents indicated they use the training package to help them identify training needs and skill gaps.

Public SectorOver 40% of public sector survey respondents use GSA training packages with one-quarter utilising the endorsed or RTO-defined skill sets, and almost 40% utilising unit competencies. Reflecting the diversity of the public sector workforce, over 40% use the Public Sector Training Package, 17% use the Public Safety Training Package, and 5% use the Water Training Package and Correctional Services Training Packages. Twelve per cent indicated that they use training packages outside the scope of GSA.

Training packages are predominantly used by the sector to up-skill their workforce, inform training program content, facilitate RPL processes, and identify training needs and skill gaps. Almost 30% of respondents utilise these training packages through their own enterprise RTOs, and approximately one-quarter use external training providers.

WaterOver 60% of water sector survey respondents indicated that their organisation uses the Water Training Package, with 18% utilising RTO-defined skill sets and over one third using units of competency. The water sector most commonly uses the training package to up-skill their staff and inform the content of training programs (both 55%). Forty-five per cent of respondents indicated that they use the training package to identify training needs and skills gaps, and to facilitate RPL processes and staff retention. Over one-third of respondents also use the Water Training Package to assist their workforce to comply with licensing requirements.

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Table 1: Planned continuous improvement activity for GSA training packages

Code Training Package RTOs on Scope Jan 2012

RTOs on Scope Jan 2011^

CSC07 Correctional Services 15* 13

LGA04 Local Government 55* 65

PSP04 Public Sector 182** 197

PUA00 Public Safety 275** 262

NWP07 Water 31* 38

* GSA data collection ** data from training.gov.au database ^ data from NTIS database Note: This data represents RTOs with qualifications on scope

The national data sets collected by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) are helpful in providing indications of trends and participation in GSA’s training packages. However, the data does not fully reflect the true uptake of these training packages; the majority of training in many of the sectors covered by GSA, but particularly the public sector, contain organisations that do not attract government training funds, but rather are publicly funded from operational budgets. NCVER data is only collected from public providers covering only publicly funded positions, therefore this data does not reflect private or enterprise-based positions which constitute a large percentage of RTOs delivering against GSA training packages. These therefore are also not captured in the national data sets.

Table 2: Publicly funded training numbers 2011 – apprentices and trainees ‘in training’ and ‘completion’

Code Training Package Persons in training 2011

Persons in training 2010

Learner completions 2011*

Learner completions 2010^

CSC07 Correctional Services 336 412 298 293

LGA04 Local Government 399 541 199 274

PSP04 Public Sector 1149 1233 744 1514

NWP07 Water 1085 1057 488 392

Source National Centre for Vocational Education and Research (NCVER) *Completions at 30 June 2011 ^Completions at 30 June 2010. **Public Safety data is confidential

Excluding the water sector, which has had a 2.6% increase in participation, each of the other sectors appears to have experienced a decline in persons enrolled in publicly funded training over the last 12 months. There was a slight increase in learner completions for correctional services of 1.7%, and a more substantial increase for water of 24% compared with the 2010 completions data. There was a significant reduction in completions for the public sector, achieving only 49% of the previous year’s completions.



SECTION THREE.

The table below indicates the qualification levels being utilised from GSA training packages via publicly funded training.

Table 3: AQF levels - persons in publicly funded training from GSA Training Packages 2011

Code Training Package Certificate I/II

Certificate III Certificate IV Diploma/Advanced Diploma

Total

CSC07 Correctional Services

0 289 47 0 336

LGA04 Local Government 20 115 259 5 399

PSP04 Public Sector 2 372 438 337 1149

NWP07 Water 127 879 79 0 1085

Source: National Centre for Vocational Education and Research (NCVER) GSA interpretation of NCVER data *Public Safety data is confidential

Enterprise Based Productivity Places Program and the National Workforce Development FundThe most in demand qualifications applied for over the last two years via the EBPPP and NWDF are outlined below. Public sector applicants are not eligible for the NWDF; therefore, there has been no change to data for the public sector qualifications, and a reduced level of applications from the rest of the government and community safety sectors.

Table 4: Qualifications in demand by GSA sector, based on EBPPP and NWDF applications over 2010-11

Correctional Services

Local Government Public Sector Public Safety Water

Certificate IV in Correctional Practice (209)

Certificate IV in Frontline Management (445)


Certificate IV in Public Safety (Firefighting Supervision) (561)

Certificate III in Water Operations (379)

Certificate IV in Training and Assessment (151)

Diploma of Management (321)


Certificate III in Public Safety (Firefighting and Emergency Operations) (389)




Certificate IV in Government (299)

Diploma of Public Safety (Firefighting Management) (226)

Certificate IV in Water Operations (241)

Diploma of Correctional Services (84)

Certificate IV in Project Management (223)

Diploma of Government (229)


Diploma of Water Operations (204)


Diploma of Project Management (207)

Certificate IV in Government (Project Management) (214)



31

Correctional Services

Local Government Public Sector Public Safety Water


Certificate III in Local Government (Operational Works) (193)




Advanced Diploma of Correctional Practice (40)

Certificate IV in Local Government (Planning) (190)

Certificate III in Government (149)

Advanced Diploma of Public Safety (Firefighting Management) (124)


Certificate III in Government (20)

Certificate IV in Local Government (165)

Diploma of Government (Project Management) (148)


Certificate III in Customer Contact (77)

Advanced Diploma of Correctional Administration (15)

Diploma of Local Government (Planning) (161)


Certificate III in Public Safety (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Policing) (41)


Diploma of Government (12)



Diploma of Government (Human Resource Management) (40)

Certificate IV in Customer Contact (59)



SECTION THREE.

Continuous Improvement and Review of Training Packages 2011During 2011 GSA finalised implementing the flexible packaging policy requirements to all training packages. Work on the streamlining of training packages, including development of companion volumes, will commence during 2012 once greater clarity and direction is provided at the national level.

Throughout 2011 work on a range of new and revised units has taken place across GSA’s training packages as discussed in the table below.

Table 5: Changes to GSA training packages during 2011 (see Appendix A for more detail)

Code Training Package Summary of Continuous Improvement Activity 2011

CSC07 Correctional Services » The last ISC Upgrade was released on 31 December 2010. CSC12 will be submitted for endorsement in early 2012.

» Specialist pathways for Intelligence Officers were developed.

» A range of new units have been developed and approved by the GSA Industry Advisory Committee (IAC) ready for endorsement in 2012.

» Eleven existing units of competency were updated including range statements, to cover identified gaps and emerging needs.

» Two new elective units were imported from TLI07.

» Imported units of competency were updated.

» Work was carried out to simplify the training package by merging three existing Certificate III qualifications from CSC07 and developing three specialist streams in Youth Custodial, Custodial and Community.

LGA04 Local Government » Work commenced on a generalist diploma with specialist streams.

» Elementary work on possible skill set development; greater support required from industry to progress this.

» Review of uptake of elements of LGA04 to assess utilisation of units and qualifications to inform the future shaping of the training package.

PUA00 Public Safety » Full review of the training package conducted.

» Separation of the defence content of PUA00 with the intention to create a separate training package for defence.

» New units for shoreline oil spill response.

» Development of biosecurity emergency response qualifications.

PSP04 Public Sector » Development of further specialist procurement units.

» Development of a Certificate IV in Government (HR).

» Integration of OH&S units into core units of qualifications.

» Development of a Diploma of Government (Heavy Transport Regulation).

» Development of a Diploma of Government (Investigation).

NWP07 Water » Full review of the training package conducted.

» New units for drinking water guidelines, calculations and lagoon control processes.

» Advanced Diploma of Water Engineering Design developed.

33

Learner ProfilesThe following discussion is based on data from NCVER which identifies VET apprentices and trainees undertaking publicly funded training; this is therefore a limited profile of learners within the government and community safety sector.

Due to the nature of the government and community safety sector it tends to employ people with work experience or post-school education and training rather than young school leavers; interest is developing in some sectors to recruit school-based apprentices to help alleviate the anticipated skills shortage due to the pending retirements of the ageing workforce.

Correctional Services Almost 27% of participants undertaking training in the CSC07 are female. The sector is male dominated, although not to the same extent as the learner profiles suggest. Almost 65% of training participants are aged between 25 and 44 years, with only 2.5% aged 19 years and under. Twenty per cent of students were aged 45 years and over. Almost 10% of training participants already hold a Bachelor degree or above, while 15% either achieved Year 11 or below.

Indigenous Australians represented 5% of training participants, which is positive with regard to the proportion of Indigenous people in the general community. However, the correctional services sector is actively seeking to attract more Indigenous Australians to their workforce to work with this over-represented group in custody. Less than 1% of participants have a disability, while almost 9% come from a non-English speaking background. Over 70% of participants opted for full-time study and no students were undertaking a school-based apprenticeship.

Local Government Over 65% of students undertaking a qualification from the LGA04 package were male. A quarter of students were aged 45 years and over. Forty-five per cent of students were aged between 25 to 44 years and 15% were 19 years and younger. Approximately 60% of students had attained Year 12 or less prior to undertaking this training, while 2.5% had a Bachelor degree or above. Nearly five per cent of students were identified as Indigenous and 7% of students came from a non-English speaking background. Only 1% of participants identified as having a disability. Ninety-three per cent of students undertook training on a full-time basis. Four per cent of students were school-based apprentices; this is the largest proportion of school-based students in any of the GSA sectors.

Public SectorOver 70% of students were aged between 20 and 44 years, 18% of students were aged 45 years and over, while less than 9% were aged 19 years and under. Unlike the other sectors, females outnumbered male students, representing 65% of the student population. Another significant difference between the public sector and others in the GSA sphere is that almost 52% of students already held a Bachelor degree or higher. This is reflective of the public sector itself, tending to recruit graduates into the sector and then offering specialised government-related training via the VET system. Nine per cent of students identified as Indigenous which is also significantly higher than the representation in other sectors. Thirteen per cent of students came from non-English speaking backgrounds and nearly 4% identified as having a disability. Full-time training was undertaken by 84% of students, and there were no school-based apprentices.

Water The water sector is also traditionally a male dominated industry, although efforts are being made to attract more women to the sector. Less than 3% of students undertaking training in the water sector were female. Almost 35% of students were aged 45 years and over which is the greatest proportion of older workers accessing training from GSA sectors. Only 8% of students were aged 19 years and under, which presents an opportunity to increase participation by this age group for the future security of the workforce. Almost 35% of students already held Certificate III qualification or higher. Almost 5% of students identified as Indigenous, while 2% were from non-English speaking backgrounds. Two per cent of students identified as having a disability. Nearly all students studied via full-time options and less than 1% of participants were school-based apprentices.



SECTION THREE.

Table 6: VET Apprentices and Trainees undertaking publicly funded training from GSA Training Packages at the year ending 30 June 2011

Age Local Government LGA

Public Sector PSP

Correctional Services CSC

Water NWP

TOTAL

19 years and under 30 76 8 52 166

20 to 24 years 28 271 38 69 406

25 to 44 years 90 355 203 309 957

45 years and over 52 158 64 222 496

Sex

Male 133 302 230 633 1298

Female 67 558 83 18 726

Previous highest education level

Bachelor degree or above 5 443 30 11 489

Diploma, advanced diploma or associate degree

9 28 33 17 87

Certificate III or IV 59 88 126 198 471

Certificate I or II 4 8 5 35 52

Non-award course 0 0 1 2 3

Year 12 57 175 69 154 455

Year 11 or lower or did not go to school

66 115 48 233 462

Indigenous status

Indigenous 9 81 16 30 136

Not Indigenous 190 758 272 613 1833

Disability

With a disability 2 32 2 11 47

Without a disability 194 811 281 636 1922

English (main language spoken at home)

English 180 717 252 638 1787

Non-English 13 112 28 13 166

Study mode

Full-time 186 722 233 645 1786

Part-time 14 138 80 6 238

School-based status

School-based 8 0 0 2 10

Not school-based 192 848 313 649 2002

35

Public SafetyPlease note, for the year ending 30 June 2011 data from NCVER was not available; data for the year ending 30 September 2011 has therefore been analysed. The source for this data is the National Apprentice and Trainee Collection, December 2011 estimates (NCVER).

From the data available, 69% of apprentices and trainees undertaking Public Safety Training Package qualifications were aged 25 to 44 years. Twenty-five per cent are aged 20 to 24 years. The sector is male dominated with the data illustrating that 76% of students are male. Indigenous Australians represent 13% of students, which is the highest percentage of Indigenous students in training when compared with all other government and community safety training packages.

All students are undertaking their training in the workplace in a full-time capacity. Thirty-one per cent of students achieved year 12 or higher before commencing their apprenticeship/traineeship. A further 37% achieved a Certificate III or IV level qualification, and 17% were degree or above qualified prior to commencing their apprenticeship/traineeship.

Table 7: Apprentices and trainees in-training as at 30 September by selected characteristics in Public Safety (PUA), 2007-11

Age 2011

19 years and under 8

20 to 24 years 88

25 to 44 years 241

45 years and over 11

Sex

Male 266

Female 83

Previous highest education level

Bachelor degree or above 61

Diploma, advanced diploma or associate degree

25

Certificate III or IV 128

Certificate I or II 3

Misc. Education or Non-award course 0

Year 12 107

Year 11 or lower or did not go to school 26

Indigenous status

Indigenous 45

Not Indigenous 302

Not Known 2

Disability

With a disability 2

Without a disability 346

English (main language spoken at home)

English 332

Non-English 16

Not Known 1

Study mode

Full-time 348

Part-time 0

School-based status

School-based 0

Not school-based 348


FUTURE DIRECTION FOR ENDORSED COMPONENTS OF TRAINING PACKAGES

SECTION FOUR.


SECTION FOUR.


Boating Service Officer with Maritime NSW

37

GSA industry sectors are clearly asking for faster response times to integrate the changing needs of industry. The public safety sector in particular is feeling the pressure of having to integrate outcomes and recommendations from various inquests and commissions following major disasters.

It is evident that all sectors require efficient change processes to ensure training packages reflect industry requirements in a timely manner, whether it be due to legislative change, emerging technology, new responsibilities or other industry imperatives. GSA’s short to medium term focus is on the streamlining of training packages. Content will be adapted and developed to be more responsive to industry with regard to reducing duplication, simplifying qualifications and increasing flexibility through the provision of more specialist streams attached to generic qualifications.

While the system-led changes for the streamlining of training packages arrives at the end of a long period of require changes, GSA foresees the implementation of such an approach will be beneficial for industry in the long term.



SECTION FOUR.

Table 8: Planned continuous improvement activity for GSA training package

Brief summary of proposed changes

Industry imperatives for change Status Proposed NSSC Endorsement Date

Correctional Services CSC07

Gain endorsement of the revised Correctional Services Training Package including:

» new Intelligence Officer qualifications

» updated existing units

» new units

» imported units.

Continuous Improvement cycle Almost completed

April 2012

Commence simplification and streamlining of training package process.

NSSC imperatives Ongoing N/A

Local Government LGA04

Skill set development for:

» Local Government Emergency Management

» Elected Council Members

» Rates/Revenue Clerks.

Industry feedback and Workforce Development activity identified these needs.

Commenced August 2012

Gain endorsement of the revised Local Government Training Package including:

» Generic Diploma

» Reviewed units and qualifications.

Continuous Improvement cycle and industry led changes.

Ongoing August 2012



Public Safety PUA00

Gain endorsement of the revised Public Safety Training Package including:

» New occupational outcomes identified by industry sectors

» New units for maritime safety

» Biosecurity qualifications.

Continuous Improvement cycle and industry required changes.

Ongoing June 2012

Gain endorsement of separated Defence Training Package.

Industry driven requirement Almost complete

February 2012



39

Brief summary of proposed changes

Industry imperatives for change Status Proposed NSSC Endorsement Date

Public Sector PSP04

Gain endorsement of the revised Public Sector Training Package including:

» New procurement and contract units

» Certificate IV in Government (Human Resources)

» OHS units in core

» Diploma of Government (Heavy Transport Regulation)

» Diploma of Government (Investigation).

Continuous Improvement cycle, industry required changes and legislative changes.

Ongoing October 2012



Water NWP07

Gain endorsement of the revised Water Training Package including:

» Advanced Diploma of Water Engineering Design

» New units for drinking water guidelines, calculations and lagoon control processes.

Continuous Improvement cycle, industry required changes and legislative changes.

Ongoing April 2012

Identification and development of new skill sets.

Industry led initiative To be commenced

Late 2012




APPENDIX A

Brief Summary of Change

Industry imperatives/rationale for change

Date Submitted to NSSC

Date Endorsed by NSSC or ISC Upgrade

Date made public through training.gov.au

CSC07 Correctional Services Training Package

Specialist pathways for Intelligence Officers have been developed and will be put up for endorsement in early 2012.

Identified through CSC07 review scoping report, GSA online feedback register, and Industry Advisory Committee feedback.

March 2012 Forecast (April 2012)

Pending endorsement

A range of new units have been developed and approved by the IAC ready for endorsement in 2012 on the following subjects:

» Dealing with high risk offenders

» Managing female offenders

» Dealing with mentally ill offenders.



Pending endorsement

Eleven existing units of competency were updated including range statements, to cover identified gaps and emerging needs.



Pending endorsement

Two new elective units were imported from TLI07.



Pending Endorsement

Updated imported units of competency.

Standard Training Package Continuous Improvement activity


Pending Endorsement

CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT ACTIVITY

41






LGA04 Local Government Training Package

Potential development of skill sets for Local Government Emergency Management, Elected Council Officer and Rates Revenue Clerks.

Initial development work has commenced but low enrolments in workshops have slowed down the progress on this activity.

Feedback from industry indicates a need for skill sets for emergency management and elected council officers.

Data collected through the GSA Workforce Development Branch indicates a need to strengthen the skills of Rates Revenue Clerks.

July 2012 Forecast (August 2012)

Pending Endorsement

Generic Diploma qualification. Need identified as a result of feedback from industry and GSA research project.


Pending Endorsement

Review of qualifications/units of competency in LGA04.

Based on GSA research project.


Pending Endorsement







NWP07 Water Training Package

Full review of NWP07 including functional analysis of water operators.

Concern that ANZSCO job descriptors do not reflect current industry job roles and by extension NWP qualifications. Also issues specifically with required skills/knowledge, number of units at all levels, higher levels for trade waste units, and inclusion of emerging technology information.


Pending Endorsement

CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT ACTIVITYAPPENDIX A CONTINUOUS

IMPROVEMENT ACTIVITY

43






PSP04 Public Sector Training Package

Specialist procurement and contracting units.

Need identified during the development of other procurement qualifications in 2010.


Pending Endorsement

Certificate IV in Government (Human Resources).

Need identified during development of Workplace Relations and as a result of workforce development audits.


Pending Endorsement

OHS units in core of qualifications – review level and content – requires recoding of large proportion of current qualification.

RTOs report implementation difficulty now that OHS has become a specialist rather than generalist role in government.


Pending Endorsement

Diploma of Government (Heavy Transport Regulation).

New national Heavy Transport regulation.


Pending Endorsement

Diploma of Government (Investigation).

Address three deleted imported PUA units (in V8 of the TP) present in core units of this qualification. Need identified through industry feedback. These units have been deleted from the PUA TP, and no equivalent is identified in the mapping document.


Pending Endorsement







PUA00 Public Safety Training Package

Complete review of the PUA00 Public Safety Training Package:

» Development of new occupational outcomes as identified by the industry sectors.

PUA00 has not been completely reviewed since its initial endorsement in 2000. While continuous improvement has been conducted, all material needs to be reviewed to reflect occupational changes and also comply with new policy.

All sectors have identified occupational standards that need to be agreed and endorsed as part of PUA00.

Significant events such as bushfires and severe weather have highlighted the need for coordination across jurisdictions and state and territory boundaries. This has resulted in the development of nationally agreed operations standards.

The defence sector has indicated that they believe the sector will be better served by having a separate training package; the police sector has indicated that the current model is not meeting their needs.

May 2012 Forecast (June 2012)

Pending Endorsement

Creation of 6 units of competency for Shoreline Oil Spill Response

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority identified the need for consistent and endorsed competency standards for this area.


Pending Endorsement

CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT ACTIVITYAPPENDIX A CONTINUOUS

IMPROVEMENT ACTIVITY

45






PUA00 Public Safety Training Package

Development of qualifications for Biosecurity Emergency Response

The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) and other biosecurity industry stakeholders identified need for qualification packaging a Certificate III and IV levels to address occupation pathways and lead into higher education level emergency management qualifications.


Pending Endorsement

Creation of Defence Training Package

GSA was approached by defence to create a separate Defence Training Package due to size and complexity of PUA00. This will allow the training package to be more responsive to industry needs and improve timeliness of response. Content development is largely self-funded.

January 2012 Forecast (February 2012)

Pending Endorsement


Australian Bureau of Statistics 2011, Corrective Services, Australia, September edition, viewed 1 January 2012, <http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/[email protected]/Latestproducts/4512.0Main%20Features1Sep%202011?opendocument&tabname=Summary&prodno=4512.0&issue=Sep%202011&num=&view>

Australian Bureau of Statistics 2011, Retirement and Retirement Intentions, Australia, July 2010 to June 2011, viewed 30 December 2011, <http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/Latestproducts/6238.0Media%20Release1July%202010%20to%20June%202011?opendocument&tabname=Summary&prodno=6238.0&issue=July%202010%20to%20June%202011&num=&view>

Australian Capital Territory Commissioner for Public Administration 2010, ACT Public Service Workforce Profile 2009-2010, viewed 31 January 2012 <http://www.cmd.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/191870/wfp0910.pdf>

Australian Public Service Commission 2011, State of the Service Report 2010-2011, viewed 13 December 2011, <http://www.apsc.gov.au/stateoftheservice/1011/index.html>

Department of Defence 2011, Defence Annual Report 2010-2011, viewed 20 December 2011, <http://www.defence.gov.au/Budget/10-11/dar/>

Department of Defence 2009, Defence White Paper, viewed 19 December 2011, <http://www.defence.gov.au/whitepaper/mr/>

Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet 2011, Reform of Australian Government Administration, viewed 12 December 2011, <http://www.dpmc.gov.au/reformgovernment/#blueprint>

Government Skills Australia 2011, Local Government Training Package: Capacity, Capabilities and Challenges, <http://www.governmentskills.com.au/images/file_groups/10769/local_government_research_report.pdf>

Government Skills Australia 2011, Water Industry Operations Functional Analysis Report 2011

National Centre for Vocational Education Research 2011, VET Students by Industry, viewed 22 December 2011, <http://www.ncver.edu.au/resources/intro.html?friendly=printable#Training>

New South Wales Department of Premier and Cabinet 2011, The NSW Public Sector Workforce: A 2010 Snapshot and Snapshot Tables, viewed 31 January 2012, <http://www.dpc.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/127665/2010_Snapshot_Report-August_Update_REP_v03.pdf>

Northern Territory Office of the Commissioner of Public Employment 2011, State of the Service Report 2010-2011, viewed 13 December 2011, <http://www.ocpe.nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/54879/OCPE_SOS_2011.pdf>

APPENDIX B BIBLIOGRAPHY

47

Queensland Public Service Commission 2011, State of the Service Report 2010-11, viewed 12 December 2011, <http://www.psc.qld.gov.au/page/workforce-statistics/state-service.shtml>

South Australian Commissioner for Public Sector Employment/Office for Ethical Standards & Professional Integrity 2010, South Australian Public Sector Workforce Information, viewed 31 January 2012, <http://www.espi.sa.gov.au/files/wic---data/table-1---june-2010.pdf>

Tasmanian Office of the State Services Commissioner 2011, State Services Commissioner Annual Report 2010-11, viewed 14 December 2011, <http://www.ossc.tas.gov.au/annualreport/2010-2011/osscannualreport.pdf>

Victorian State Services Authority 2011, The State of the Public Sector in Victoria, viewed 14 December 2011, <http://www.ssa.vic.gov.au/products/view-products/the-state-of-the-public-sector-in-victoria-all.html>

Western Australian Public Sector Commission 2011, State of the Sector Report 2011, viewed 12 December 2011, <http://www.parliament.wa.gov.au/publications/tabledpapers.nsf/displaypaper/3814246a8008fdc76405622c4825795200074f03/$file/4246.pdf>

Creative Grease_H936_GSA

government skills australia environmental scan 2012

Documents

environmental issues

notthis scan

commonwealth government

australian government

training vet system

macroenvironmental factors

review of training packages

ageing workforce