Statement 1:
Budget Overview
(Continued)
Skills for sustainable growth
In this Budget, the Government is investing $661.2 million in a new Skills for Sustainable Growth strategy to boost the skills of Australian workers and ensure that the education and training system is responsive to the needs of the economy.
The Government's Skills for Sustainable Growth strategy involves three mutually reinforcing approaches:
- skills for recovery — investments to respond to immediate capacity constraints;
- a training system for the future — supporting participation in quality and timely training with a strengthened nexus between training and business needs; and
- foundation skills — a package of measures to provide Australians with the core foundations skills needed (such as language, literacy and numeracy) to become more productive.
Skills for recovery
The Government will provide $200.2 million for a Critical Skills Investment Fund that will encourage industry partnerships with Government to plan for and meet our nation's skills demands (estimated to deliver up to 39,000 training places).
The Critical Skills Investment Fund will leverage industry co‑investment, providing support for 50 per cent of the cost of training for large firms and up to 90 per cent of the cost of training for small firms. Funding will be allocated through a competitive process. A board will be established to assess proposals for funding from industry and to provide advice to the Government.
Continued investment by employers in trade and technical skills will be vital as key sectors switch gears as the economy strengthens. The Government will build on the success of the Kickstart Apprenticeship bonus by providing $79.4 million for small and medium businesses to take on young traditional trade apprentices in skills shortage occupations. This will expand the pool of skilled workers to help meet increases in demand and help around 22,500 apprentices and their employers. Additionally, the $19.9 million Smarter Apprenticeships initiative will encourage competency‑based apprenticeships, improving the efficiency of skills formation.
A training system for the future
The 2010‑11 Budget builds on the reforms announced in the 2009‑10 Budget to the higher education system, by ensuring that our training systems are in the best position to meet the skills needs of industry, students and the broader economy.
The Government is showing national leadership in the education and training reform agenda by offering significant financial assistance in return for ambitious training reforms that give effect to broad training entitlements to youth under 25 and for others wishing to up‑skill or re‑skill (thus increasing student access to higher level qualifications). Enhancements to quality, transparency and competition will also be sought.
Reforms may vary between jurisdictions and will be subject to negotiation between the Commonwealth and states and territories. Depending on the level of reforms, Commonwealth support for jurisdictions may include access to income contingent loans and the extension of access to the VET Fee Higher Education Loan Program (HELP) for eligible students. The cash‑out of funding available from 2011‑12 for training under the Productivity Places Program (PPP) National Partnership will also be available to states undertaking significant reform.
In addition, the Government's commitment to quality and transparency in our training institutions will further be improved through the establishment of a National VET regulator, a MySkills website and $129.8 million in reward payments to drive higher standards and performance in training organisations.
Foundation skills package
The importance of foundation skills such as literacy, language and numeracy cannot be overstated. Poor foundation skills can be a major barrier for job seekers and for those wishing to up‑skill. These core skills are crucial to higher educational outcomes — which in turn lead to higher workforce participation and higher productivity.
The 2010‑11 Budget makes a significant investment in these key skills. Specific initiatives include:
- $67 million over four years, for a further 13,570 places in the Language, Literacy and Numeracy program to assist job seekers achieve sustainable employment;
- $28.7 million over four years, to provide an additional 9,500 Workplace English, Language and Literacy places and establish a community‑based foundation skills program with 8,000 places; and
- a National Foundation Skills Outreach and Leadership Project to increase awareness of opportunities to improve foundation skills and implement innovative approaches to training in this important area.
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