On the 1st July, the Commonwealth Government Training Guarantee Act (1990) and Training Guarantee (Administration) Act (1990) came into effect. The aim of the national Training Guarantee scheme is to increase and improve the skills of the Australian workforce thereby improving the productivity and effectiveness of Australian industry. It is New South Wales Government policy to support implementation of the Training Guarantee.

Public sector compliance with the scheme is a Commonwealth legislative requirement which will be formalised in a Commonwealth-State agreement. This agreement will provide for the disbursement of Training Guarantee monies within the State; connect the State to support the Training Guarantee scheme; require that all monies returned to NSW are, on the advice of a tripartite body comprising State Government, employer and union representatives, disbursed on eligible training only; and, require that monies returned to the State are not used to substitute for existing or future training expenditure. The Government is committed as an employer and in terms of the Commonwealth-State agreement to the Training Guarantee scheme. If the State does not uphold the agreement, the legislation provides for full or partial repayment of any Training Guarantee funds returned to the State by the Commonwealth. It is expected that the agreement will be negotiated in early 1991.

All public sector organisations are required in 1990-91 to expend a minimum (which may be exceeded) of 1% o their annual wage and salary bill on structured training, or suffer a tax penalty. Detailed guidelines outlining obligations of Government Departments and Authorities are attached for your information.

The public service is regarded in terms of the Act as a single employer. Consolidated Funded Departments Will be required to
submit details of training expenditure to the Treasury twice in 1991. The Treasury will be writing to Departments regarding these reports. The first report which will be required with the End of February Monthly Expenditure Review will assist implementation of the Training Guarantee in the NSW public service and enable The Treasury to monitor the level of eligible training expenditure. The final annual report for 1990-91 and for each subsequent year is to be submitted to The Treasury at the end of the second week in July. Returns for the inner budget Departments will be collated by Treasury, and any necessary reports forwarded to the Australian Tax Office

Declared Authorities are regarded in the legislation as individual employers and therefore are required to monitor and record eligible expenditure and report to the Australian Taxation Office on any shortfall.

The Government's expectation is that Chief Executive Officers will ensure that Departments and Authorities meet their obligations under the Act. It is, therefore, important that systems for monitoring training expenditure be established as quickly as possible. All Government Departments and Authorities will need to maintain accurate records of expenditure as these may be inspected by the Australian Tax Office at any time.

A kit of model work and summary sheets designed to assist Departments and Authorities develop in-house systems for gathering information on eligible training expenditure is available on request from the Personnel Policy Division of the Office of Public Management.

The information provided in this Memorandum and the attached Guidelines is a summary of the legislative requirements. Further information is available from the Australian Government Publishing Service and the following source documents are recommended: Training Guarantee Act (1990), Training Guarantee (Administration) Act (1990), and the Training

Guarantee (Administration) Bill (1990), Training Guarantee Act (1990): Explanatory Memorandum.

A copy of this Memo is being directly issued under separate cover to all Chief Executive Officers.

Nick Greiner MP