• Key tertiary announcements made
• Unemployment drop welcomed
• Pacific peoples lottery grants committee established
• Review of training programmes
• Social development profiled

KEY TERTIARY ANNOUNCEMENTS MADE
Appointments to the new transition Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) and the release of the Government's decisions on the Industry Training Review headed up a major series of tertiary education announcements last week.

Dr Andrew West, Chief Executive of the New Zealand Qualifications Authority, has been appointed Chair of the Transition TEC. Associate Professor Kaye Turner, currently Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) at the University of Waikato, has been appointed as Deputy Chair.

Both will play a key leadership role in reshaping the tertiary education sector. The transition TEC will act as an 'establishment board' for the permanent TEC which will be established next year to improve the relevance and cost effectiveness of the tertiary education system. It will also act as an 'advisory board' during the further development of the Tertiary Education Strategy and an enhanced system of charters and profiles for all publicly funded providers and industry training organisations.

The Government's decisions on industry training are contained in a publication entitled Moving Forward, Skills for the Knowledge Economy, also released last week. A number of measures are being introduced to improve access to and responsiveness in industry training including.

• Moving Forward has been posted to Steve Maharey's website at www.executive.govt.nz/minister/
  maharey/training/index.html

Also announced last week were two further initiatives to assist public tertiary providers to adapt to the changing tertiary environment.

A $35m Tertiary Education Strategic Change Fund will support initiatives taken during 2002 by public tertiary institutions, individually or collectively, to adapt during the establishment of the permanent Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) and ahead of the implementation of the new funding and regulatory system. The fund will enable tertiary institutions to determine how they intend to operate within a strategically-focused tertiary education sector and to define the contribution they wish to make within that system.

In addition, $500,000 is to be invested in a Tertiary Efficiency Study which will identify best practice throughout the tertiary sector and to share this information to be shared widely across the sector. The study will also assist tertiary institutions to develop collaborative strategies through working together, and with industry sectors and Crown Research Institutes.

UNEMPLOYMENT DROP WELCOMED
Social Services and Employment Minister Steve Maharey welcomed a further reduction in the unemployment rate to 5.2 percent last week. Statistics New Zealand's Household Labour Force Survey (HLFS) for the June 2001 quarter was released on Thursday. The unemployment rate has dropped from 5.4 percent in the March quarter and 6.1 percent a year ago.

Mr Maharey said the Labour-Alliance government has made sustainable economic growth and a progressive reduction in unemployment a key priority and it is pleasing to see that it is on track.

The reduction in long term unemployment was particularly welcome. Total long term unemployment now stands at 26,500, down from 35,700 a year ago - a reduction of 9,200 people. Meanwhile employment levels have been increasing over the past four quarters. For the year to June 2001 full time employment was up by 46,000 people or 3.4 percent. The gains in employment have, in the main been shared across regions, age groups and ethnic communities.

However, while the reduction in the unemployment rate for Maori and Pacific peoples is welcome, it is not a statistically significant one. More remains to be done to ensure that all members of our society participate in the benefits of a growing economy.

"In summary, this is good news - but it is good news because there is every sign that the rate of improvement in the labour market is a sustainable one, and that we have a balance between labour market demand and supply," Mr Maharey said.

PACIFIC PEOPLES LOTTERY GRANTS COMMITTEE ESTABLISHED
Pacific Island groups are to receive assistance to access Lottery funding in line with the recommendations of a cultural audit released last week.

Community and Voluntary Sector Minister Steve Maharey was joined by Prime Minister Helen Clark, Ethnic Affairs Minister George Hawkins and Pacific Island Affairs Minister Mark Gosche at the launch of the Lottery Grants Board Pacific Island cultural audit report.

The audit identified that Pacific people are currently considerably under-represented among those receiving Lottery grants. They make fewer applications for smaller amounts of money, and receive a much smaller proportion of the funding they apply for. It suggests that greater administrative support should be provided to Pacific people's groups to ensure that this is rectified.

In response, the Lottery Grants Board has established a special subcommittee specifically to help develop the financial and management systems of Pacific people's groups. The subcommittee has eight members, seven of whom are Pacific people, and has an allocation budget of half-a-million dollars to give out to Pacific people's groups this year.

REVIEW OF TRAINING PROGRAMMES
The Government is to review the Training Opportunities and Youth Training programmes. Together they presently account for over $188 million of government expenditure.

The purpose of the review is to establish the appropriate future objectives for these programmes, and how we can improve their contribution in meeting the educational and employment needs of people with significant histories of unemployment and/or no or low qualifications. In the eight years since the Training Opportunities programme was established there have been many developments both within the community and government that have affected the way in which services are provided to such people.

The review team comprises both experts from the education, and the training for employment sector, and representatives of key Government agencies. Terms of reference were drawn up following consultations with stakeholders.

SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT PROFILED
A social development approach to social policy which identifies a 'good society' and encourages sound social investment was profiled in a paper released by Social Services and Employment Minister Steve Maharey last week.

The Ministry of Social Policy report, The Social Development Approach, is a companion paper to Treasury papers recently released by Finance Minister Michael Cullen. It provides a high level basis for further strategic social policy work by the Ministry and the new Ministry of Social Development.

Mr Maharey said one of the key tasks he has set for the Ministry of Social Policy is to develop a conceptual framework to assess cross-sectoral social policy Government initiatives. In future the development of social policy will need to consider the impact of proposals on all major dimensions of wellbeing, and be fully informed by evidence about the causes, and effects, of policy.

For social development to truly succeed requires recognition that social and economic policy interact with each other, so should be considered together. A strong growing economy is a necessary precondition for jobs, increasing wealth and the funding of social services. But good social outcomes such as improved health and high levels of knowledge and skills are important for economic growth.

The paper builds on a series of related work published recently by the Ministry of Social Policy, including:

• The Social Report 2001, the prototype for a regular publication on the social health of the nation which contains information about the quality of life of New Zealanders, how different groups within the community fare, how New Zealand compares with some other OECD countries on certain measures and our progress over time towards a better society;
• Distributions and Disparity - New Zealand Household Income, which outlines trends in New Zealand household incomes from 1982 until 1998.
• The Living Standards of Older New Zealanders which creates a measure for material well-being which goes beyond an individual's current income and expenditure to look at how older New Zealanders are living, what they own, such as a car or major home appliances, what they do and what they go without.

these reports are available on line at www.mosp.govt.nz (check the What's New pages)