Part 2: Payments for Specific Purposes (continued)

Skills and workforce development

In 2014‑15, the Commonwealth will provide funding of $1.8 billion to support state skills and workforce development services, including $1.4 billion through the National Skills and Workforce Development SPP and $389 million through National Partnership payments, as detailed in Table 2.6.

Table 2.6: Payments to support state skills and workforce development services
$million	2013‑14	2014‑15	2015‑16	2016‑17	2017‑18
National Skills and Workforce Development SPP	1,409.0	1,435.2	1,460.0	1,487.2	1,514.6
National Partnership payments
Building Australia's Future Workforce
Skills reform	238.4	377.2	377.4	516.3	-
Training places for single and teenage parents	26.7	-	-	-	-
Commonwealth/State and Territory joint group training programme	10.5	-	-	-	-
Industry and Indigenous Skills Centres	0.9	-	-	-	-
TAFE fee waivers for childcare qualifications	21.2	11.5	-	-	-
Youth attainment and transitions
Maximising engagement, attainment and successful transitions	18.8	-	-	-	-
Year 12 attainment and transitions	28.2	-	-	-	-
Total	1,753.6	1,823.9	1,837.4	2,003.5	1,514.6

National Agreement for Skills and Workforce Development

The National Agreement for Skills and Workforce Development identifies the long‑term objectives of the Commonwealth and the States in the areas of skills and workforce development, and recognises the interest of all Governments in ensuring the skills of the Australian people are developed and utilised in the economy.

The Agreement seeks to deliver a vocational education and training (VET) system with improved quality and greater transparency for students, employers and governments; greater access to training opportunities and improved outcomes for disadvantaged students; and greater efficiency.

The reforms needed to achieve the objectives and outcomes of this Agreement include reforming training to achieve a more demand‑driven and client‑focused system, and driving the next wave of innovation and productivity.

National Skills and Workforce Development SPP
$million	NSW	VIC	QLD	WA	SA	TAS	ACT	NT	Total
2013‑14	454.5	349.7	281.5	151.6	102.3	31.4	23.4	14.6	1,409.0
2014‑15	457.4	356.6	289.5	159.5	102.4	31.1	23.7	14.9	1,435.2
2015‑16	463.6	362.9	295.1	164.6	103.4	31.2	24.1	15.1	1,460.0
2016‑17	470.4	369.8	301.2	170.1	104.5	31.3	24.5	15.4	1,487.2
2017‑18	477.3	376.7	307.3	175.7	105.6	31.3	25.0	15.7	1,514.6

The National Skills and Workforce Development SPP is the funding associated with the National Agreement for Skills and Workforce Development and is provided to work towards increasing the skill levels of all Australians.

Growth factor

The Intergovernmental Agreement defines the growth factor for the National Skills and Workforce Development SPP as the product of:

0.85 x wage cost index 1 + 0.15 x wage cost index 6.

The growth factor is currently estimated to be 1.86 per cent in 2014‑15.

National Partnership payments for skills and workforce development

In addition to the National Skills and Workforce Development SPP, the Commonwealth will provide funding through National Partnerships as detailed below.

Building Australia's Future Workforce — National Partnership on skills reform
$million	NSW	VIC	QLD	WA	SA	TAS	ACT	NT	Total
2013‑14	76.6	59.3	48.7	24.9	17.3	5.3	3.8	2.5	238.4
2014‑15	121.2	93.9	77.0	39.3	27.4	8.4	6.0	3.9	377.2
2015‑16	121.3	93.9	77.1	39.4	27.4	8.4	6.1	3.9	377.4
2016‑17	165.9	128.5	105.4	53.8	37.5	11.6	8.3	5.3	516.3
2017‑18	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

The Commonwealth is providing funding for Building Australia's Future Workforce — National Partnership on skills reform, to progress reforms of the VET sector. The agreed reforms aim to create:

accessible training for working‑age Australians and, in particular, a more equitable training system, which provides greater opportunities for participation in education and training;
a transparent VET sector, which enables better understanding of the VET activity that is occurring in each jurisdiction;
a higher quality VET sector, which delivers learning experiences and qualifications that are relevant to individuals, employers and industry; and
a more efficient VET sector, which is responsive to the needs of students, employers and industry.

Building Australia's Future Workforce — National Partnership on training places for single and teenage parents
$million	NSW	VIC	QLD	WA	SA	TAS	ACT	NT	Total
2013‑14	8.5	6.3	5.7	2.6	2.2	0.8	0.2	0.3	26.7
2014‑15	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2015‑16	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2016‑17	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2017‑18	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

The Commonwealth is providing funding for Building Australia's Future Workforce — National Partnership on training places for single and teenage parents to improve their skills. The funding will provide training places at the Certificate II level or above.

A savings measure associated with this National Partnership is discussed in Budget Paper No. 2, Budget Measures 2014‑15.

National Partnership on the Commonwealth/State and Territory joint group training programme
$million	NSW	VIC	QLD	WA	SA	TAS	ACT	NT	Total
2013‑14	-	3.1	3.2	2.6	1.1	-	0.3	0.2	10.5
2014‑15	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2015‑16	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2016‑17	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2017‑18	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

The Commonwealth is providing funding for the National Partnership on the Commonwealth/State and Territory joint group training programme. This National Partnership supports group training organisations to deliver strategies and initiatives to improve Australian apprenticeship commencements and completions.

National Partnership on Industry and Indigenous Skills Centres
$million	NSW	VIC	QLD	WA	SA	TAS	ACT	NT	Total
2013‑14	-	0.1	0.3	0.2	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.9
2014‑15	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2015‑16	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2016‑17	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2017‑18	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

The Commonwealth is providing funding for the National Partnership on Industry and Indigenous Skills Centres to assist industry and/or Indigenous community organisations to purchase, construct, fit out or refurbish capital infrastructure intended for the delivery of VET.

National Partnership on TAFE fee waivers for childcare qualifications
$million	NSW	VIC	QLD	WA	SA	TAS	ACT	NT	Total
2013‑14	5.8	6.1	5.4	1.6	1.2	0.5	0.5	..	21.2
2014‑15	1.7	4.4	2.4	1.4	1.3	0.3	0.1	-	11.5
2015‑16	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2016‑17	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2017‑18	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

The Commonwealth is providing funding for the National Partnership on TAFE fee waivers for childcare qualifications. This National Partnership removes fees for the Diploma and Advanced Diploma of Children's Services courses delivered at TAFE institutions, or by other government VET providers.

National Partnership on youth attainment and transitions

The Commonwealth is providing funding for the National Partnership on youth attainment and transitions. This National Partnership was established to support the achievement of a national Year 12 or equivalent attainment rate of 90 per cent by 2015, and to halve the gap in Indigenous Year 12 or equivalent attainment by 2020. Measures under this National Partnership aim to increase the educational engagement and attainment of young people and to improve their transition to post‑school education, training and employment.

The maximising engagement, attainment and successful transitions component of the National Partnership provides funding to assist with the implementation of strategies to address multiple learning pathways, career development and mentoring. The Year 12 attainment and transitions component provides reward funding for the achievement of participation and attainment targets.

Maximising engagement, attainment and successful transitions component
$million	NSW	VIC	QLD	WA	SA	TAS	ACT	NT	Total
2013‑14	4.2	8.5	2.8	1.4	1.0	0.3	0.3	0.2	18.8
2014‑15	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2015‑16	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2016‑17	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2017‑18	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Year 12 attainment and transitions component
$million	NSW	VIC	QLD	WA	SA	TAS	ACT	NT	Total
2013‑14	10.2	7.2	-	4.8	3.9	0.7	0.5	1.0	28.2
2014‑15	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2015‑16	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2016‑17	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2017‑18	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-