• First Heartland Services Centre Opens
• Unemployment Falls To 13-year Low
• E-Learning
• Northland Regional Jobs Plan
• More On-line Resources

First Heartland Services Centre Opens
Social Services and Employment Minister Steve Maharey opened the first Heartland Services Centre in Dargaville last Friday. The centre will serve the Kaipara district and is the first of approximately 10 Heartland Services Centres planned to be established in provincial locations around the country before Christmas this year.

Heartland Services is a new government initiative which restores face-to-face access to a range of government services in provincial communities. $2.27m is to be provided in the Budget to establish and staff the centres over the next four years.

Over recent years small towns across the country have experienced a flight of government services. Rural people experience significant difficulties accessing government services because of poor telephone coverage and lack of public transport.

Heartland Service Centre coordinators will provide the link between local people making enquiries, and government agencies. A public telephone and computer will be provided at each centre and the coordinator can help with general enquiries, including accessing government websites for job searches and other information. It is also expected that service centres may be expanded to serve as a community resource centre, supporting community and voluntary agencies in the area when they need photocopy, facsimile, training and meeting facilities.

Centres are also planned for Pukekohe, Paeroa, Te Kuiti, Taumarunui, Opotiki, Murupara, Turangi, Kawerau, Ruatoria, Taihape, Waipukurau, Dannevirke, Marton, Westport and Kaikoura. A number of other local authorities are seeking centres in their towns including Taupo, Hawera, Hokitika and Queenstown. There are currently 23 steering groups in place around the country considering the potential for either a service centre or outreach service these and other areas.

• more information about Heartland Services has been posted to Mr Maharey's website at www.executive.govt.nz/minister/maharey/heartland/

Unemployment Falls To 13-year Low
Unemployment has fallen to 5.4 percent - the lowest figures recorded in 13 years - according to Statistics New Zealand's Household Labour Force Survey for the March 2001 quarter which was released last week.

Seasonally adjusted employment was estimated at 1,804,000 - up 41,000 jobs (2.3 percent) on the March 2000 quarter.

Social Services and Employment Minister Steve Maharey said the Government welcomed the continued fall in unemployment. The lower rate this quarter is largely attributable to a decrease in labour market participation, so it is important that the factors behind the official rate are also examined.

Full-time employment has increased, while part-time employment and under-employment (the number of part-tme workers seeking additional paid hours) have fallen. Mr Maharey said it is pleasing to note that more people are working longer hours for better pay, or moving into education and training to improve their skills for a return to the workforce.

There has also been reductions in unemployment amongst Maori (down this quarter from 13.0 to 12.0 percent) and Pacific peoples (down from 11.4 to 11.2 percent), although the rate remains considerably higher than that for the pakeha population (4.2 percent).

While the rate of employment growth is clearly slowing, the signs remain positive for the June quarter.

E-Learning
An expert group is to be appointed to advise the Government on how New Zealand's tertiary education institutions can take advantage of new learning technologies.

Flexible learning systems have created new access points into learning. Considerable activity is taking place in e-learning throughout the tertiary education system. The Government wants to encourage collaboration among providers and support further e-learning developments.

Associate Education (Tertiary Education) Minister Steve Maharey said he was seeking 7-9 experts from the tertiary education and ICT sectors who have developed capability and expertise in various forms of flexible learning to work together over the next four months. The Group will consider the steps we need to take to ensure high standards are met and to identify the barriers preventing the development of e-learning opportunities.

The Advisory Group has been asked to report to the Minister the end of this year. Some funding has been tagged in the coming Budget to begin putting in place the Group's recommendations.

• further information is available from Carolyn Homes at the Ministry of Education, phone (04) 463 8704 or e-mail: carolyn.holmes@minedu.govt.nz

Northland Regional Jobs Plan
Social Services and Employment Minister Steve Maharey travelled to Northland last week for a presentation on the Department of Work and Income regional jobs plan launched last December.

The Household Labour Force Survey (see earlier story) showed a welcome drop in unemployment in the North, but with the rate still running at more than 2% above the national average there clearly is no room for complacency.

Mr Maharey said several initiatives underway across the North showed the value of devolving employment programme design away from Wellington.

These include:

• work with employers in the Far North to provide staff for seasonal industries, and
• the youth one-stop-shop planned for Whangarei which will work with young people to help them realise their potential.

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 DWI Northern Regional Commissioner has been given the authority to develop programmes which meet the needs of the local labour market and which prepare beneficiaries to re-enter the workforce.

More On-line Resources
Thank you to those readers who contacted us to say they appreciated the website details of departments and organisations reporting to Mr Maharey. The list continues this week.

• Office of the Retirement Commissioner
  Financial planning for retirement
  www.retirement.org.nz

• Child, Youth and Family
  Services, publications, contacting CYF
  www.cyf.govt.nz

• Office of the Commissioner for Children
  Making a complaint, publications
  www.occ.org.nz

• Department of Labour
  Community Employment Group, employment policy, publications
  www.dol.govt.nz