• Regional Tertiary Education Provision
• Communities and Government Report Released
• Ministry Of Social Development Planned
• Your Weekly Informer
• Trouble Free Enrolment Period
• Renewed Mandate For Tertiary Education Reform
• Workforce 2010
• Social Development Approach Working In Canty And Otago/Southland
• Modern Apprenticeships Begins Well
• ITO Guidelines Launched
• Social Enterprises Launched
• Agenda For Children
• Proposed Youth Justice Home
• Social Development Approach Working In Canty And Otago/Southland

Regional Tertiary Education Provision

Two key decisions made recently point to the importance the Government is placing on ensuring the maintenance of quality tertiary education and training across regional New Zealand. Several regional polytechnics have been experiencing considerable financial difficulties and the Government has been actively working with them to build a secure platform for their future development.

Following community consultation Cabinet has agreed to a joint request by the councils of the Upper Hutt-based Central Institute of Technology (CIT) and its Lower Hutt neighbour, the Hutt Valley Polytechnic (HVP), that CIT should be disestablished and incorporated into HVP. The new institution is to be renamed the Wellington Institute of Technology, reflecting its strong focus the provision of a much wider range of courses and programmes to Hutt Valley and Wellington. The government is to meet the costs of disestablishing CIT and will make available up to $15 million to the Wellington Institute of Technology.

In a separate decision Associate Education (Tertiary Education) Minister Steve Maharey has announced the establishment of a working party to look at options for the future of Wanganui Regional Community Polytechnic. The group has been asked to develop a business plan by the end of July, following which time Government decisions will be made.

Community and Voluntary Sector Minister Steve Maharey said the Government welcomed the he report of the Community and Voluntary Sector Working Party, Communities and Government ? Potential for Partnership, released last week. The report details the desire of community organisations for fundamental, long-term change in their relationship with central Government.

The Working Party was charged with reporting on how the relationship between Government, which funds and contracts with community providers, and the voluntary sector could be enhanced. There are over 60,000 voluntary organisations playing a key role in the delivery of services across New Zealand.

Mr Maharey said the report provides a catalyst for very necessary change. The Government intends studying the report in detail and a formal Government response will be made in June.

* to view a copy of Communities and Government, or request a copy, visit the Ministry of Social Policy website at www.mosp.govt.nz

Cabinet has agreed to establish later this year a new Ministry of Social Development, based on the Department of Work and Income and the Ministry of Social Policy, which will be the Government's primary adviser on strategic and cross-sectoral social policy, as well as continuing to deliver income support and other social services to the community, State Services Minister Trevor Mallard announced recently.

The Ministry of Social Policy and the State Services Commission, working with DWI, have been directed to prepare structural and organisational options for the new Ministry for discussion with the new Chief Executive once he or she is appointed.

Social Services and Employment Minister Steve Maharey said the decision confirms the Government's commitment to a much-enhanced strategic social policy function with a whole of government approach. The announcement provides an opportunity to build on the significant organisational gains made within the Department of Work and Income and the Ministry of Social Policy have come along way over the past 12 months.

Regular readers may have noticed that Maharey Notes has missing from your Mondays owing to a visit from the common cold and Parliament's Easter recess. We're back this week in an extended edition. A reminder also that Maharey Notes is now available by fax. Please fax subscription requests to Michael Gibbs on (04) 495 8443 or phone (04) 470 6522.

A $6m package of improvements to the student loans system ensured students had a trouble-free enrolment period this year, Social Services and Employment Minister Steve Maharey said last week when releasing statistics detailing the performance achieved. Significant problems with the processing of student allowance applications in 1999 and student loan applications in 2000 badly affected students and tertiary providers.

Cabinet agreed last October to provide a $6m package of improvements to boost staffing levels, cut waiting times on the Student Services 0800 phone line and to provide limited networked on-campus services to students at 34 campus locations nationwide. Mr Maharey said the changes and enhancements made to the processing system had led to improved performance in all areas.

Service to students has improved considerably. An independent student satisfaction survey found 94% reporting that they are satisfied the how their loan was processed. Tertiary providers also benefited from considerably improved service. Tuition fee income was passed to providers on time meaning they did not suffer cash flow problems.

* full details of loans processing performance achieved have been posted to Steve Maharey's website at www.executive.govt.nz/minister/maharey/loans

Proposals to reform New Zealand's tertiary education system have received wide public support. Over 220 submissions were received on the Tertiary Education Advisory Commission's (TEAC) February report from business and tertiary education sector interests and the general public. Mr Maharey said the submissions clearly indicate support for the direction of Government policy and, particularly, for the TEAC proposals.

Cabinet is now considering the views expressed in the submissions along with firm proposals based on the TEAC proposals. Final decisions are expected to be announced towards the end of May.

A new government discussion paper identifies globalisation of the international economy and workplace as the key challenge facing New Zealand employers and employees in the next decade.

Labour Minister Margaret Wilson, Social Services and Employment Minister Steve Maharey and Immigration Minister Lianne Dalziel recently released Workforce 2010. The paper analyses the challenges for the New Zealand labour market.

Workforce 2010 adopts a framework for looking at the issues which is made up of three elements:

• capacity (the abilities our people have);
• opportunities (the options available for people to use their abilities); and,
• matching (connecting people's abilities to opportunities).

The study says the years to 2010 will see globalisation continue to change the face of New Zealand - with technology, demographic, social, workplace and workforce trends continuing. But it says this decade will provide an opportunity to build a strong base for the period after 2010 when demographic change such as the ageing of the population, will be even more pronounced.

* Workforce 2010 can be viewed on the Department of Labour website at www.dol.govt.nz/publications.htm

Eligibility for the Community Services Card remains unchanged following recent Government decisions. Cabinet agreed last week to carry over the entitlement of those superannuitants who have a Community Services Card after increases to superannuation on 1 April. No other group of New Zealanders is affected.

Beneficiaries are automatically entitled to the card and the income threshold for low-income workers has not changed.

* a fact sheet on the Community Services Card has been posted to Steve Maharey's website at www.executive.govt.nz/minister/maharey/cards. See also www.winz.govt.nz/pdf/brochures/community_services_card.pdf

An evaluation of the pilot phase of Modern Apprenticeships shows a strong endorsement for it from employers and Modern Apprentices. The report Formative Evaluation of the Modern Apprenticeships Pilots was prepared by Skill New Zealand as the first part of an ongoing evaluation process.

Employers have responded positively to Modern Apprenticeships, in particular the individualised approach to training and the services provided by Modern Apprenticeships Coordinators.

The Government had two aims with the Modern Apprenticeships initiative:

• to increase the number of young people able to access quality apprenticeship training; and,
• to address the skills shortages developing in key industries.

There are now over 500 Modern Apprentices. There is evidence that young people who may not have otherwise considered careers in industry are including Modern Apprenticeships in their thinking. More than 50% of the new apprentices are 18 or under. This is a group who have tended to miss out in recent years

Modern Apprenticeships Co-ordinators report they are confident of meeting Government's targets of up to 1,300 Modern Apprentices in training by mid-2001 and 3,000 in 2002.

Mr Maharey said he had also received a report from Skill New Zealand analysing responses to the 0800 toll-free phone number which prospective employers,apprentices and their parents ring for information on Modern Apprenticeships. The call and web site enquiry patterns show a consistently high interest across New Zealand, with relatively high numbers in the Auckland area. Call numbers showed a significant rise in the usually quiet January period, coinciding with the national rollout of stage 1 of Modern Apprenticeships and the launch of the national marketing campaign.

* the Formative Evaluation of the Modern Apprenticeships Pilots is on-line at www.skillnz.govt.nz

Sharing best practice across industry training organisations is the goal of a new publication launched recently by Associate Education (Tertiary Education) Minister Steve Maharey for the Industry Training Federation.

Leading Industry Training: Good Practice in Industry Training Organisations focuses on the activities of ITOs and aims to share leading examples of good and best practice amongst their peer educators.

A skilled workforce is vital to New Zealand's future economic growth, standard of living, and our international competitiveness. We require an industry training system that is closely aligned with industry and regional development, employment, education and training policies.

Mr Maharey said the guidelines were a key tool which ITOs can use to respond very quickly to the challenges emerging in the labour market.

Details of the first group of social enterprises to be funded under the Community Employment Organisations (CEOs) programme have been announced.

The Government has allocated $8.5 million over three years to pilot the CEOs programme. CEOs are social enterprises in the community and voluntary sector undertaking commercial activity not in competition with the private sector to meets community needs and to create employment. A mix of advisory support and financial assistance from the Community Employment Group and wage subsidies from DWI are provided to assist CEOs.

Six CEOs are currently in place from Moerewa in the north, to Invercargill to the South. Current CEOs have developed around waste management, energy efficiency projects, forestry and catering work. A further 6 proposals are being assessed, with another 35 proposals currently under development with CEG advisers.

A consultation document for children and young people on making New Zealand a great place to live has been launched by Social Services and Employment Minister Steve Maharey and Youth Affairs Minister Laila Harré. The Agenda will provide a plan for child policy and research work over the next five years.

Consulting with children, young people and adults interested in children's issues is an important part of developing this plan. Over the next 10 weeks a discussion booklet seeking the views of various organisations and individuals working with children and young people, and the parents or care givers of young people, will be distributed around the country. The booklet sets out the early thinking on a vision, principles, key goals and possible priority action areas for child policy.

* children and young people can send their views and ideas on the Agenda for Children to the Ministry of Social Policy through the interactive website www.globalnet.org.nz

Community consultation has begun on a proposed new a secure, purpose built youth justice residence for up to 40 children and young people at Mandeville, north of Christchurch.

Local employment partnerships in the Canterbury and Otago/Southland regions show the success of adopting a social development approach to job creation. Social Services and Employment Minister Steve Maharey recently travelled to Dunedin and Christchurch to meet with southern employers, local government and community representatives and to discuss regional employment initiatives and the progress of the Department of Work and Income (DWI) Southern regional plan, launched last December.

A new Ministry of Social Development, incorporating DWI and the Ministry of Social Policy, is to be developed to refocus social policy, social welfare, and employment assistance delivery around a social development model.

The Government's new approach to welfare refocusses DWI on assisting beneficiaries to move off welfare and into real paying jobs and away from the make-work schemes of the past.

The onus is now on working with job seekers and beneficiaries to remove the barriers to gain meaningful employment. Successful local examples of this type of approach include:

• the partnership between DWI and the Canterbury Development Corporation through the Actionworks Youth Strategy for Canterbury;
• the 3rd Age Group's work with mature unemployed Cantabrians;
• the Local Employment Coordination Group's work to the develop a Regional Employment Plan for Canterbury linked to the local labour market needs;
• Dunedin-based fashion incubator initiative involving local designers, manufacturers, retailers and other members of the business and professional community; and,
• the bus service which provides subsidised transport for Lumsden locals to the job market in Queenstown. Reflecting the particular success of this initiative is the development of further accommodation in Lumsden.

These initiatives have as a common element a recognition that a 'one-size fits all' approach is too blunt and does not recognise that communities have particular needs which they themselves need to be involved in addressing.

* copies of DWI regional jobs plans have been posted to Mr Maharey's web site at www.executive.govt.nz/minister/maharey