Page 2415 - Week 09 - Thursday, 17 September 1992
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QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
Government Service - Staff Numbers
MR KAINE: My question is directed to the Chief Minister and Treasurer and refers to Budget Paper No. 3. I commend the Chief Minister on the presentation of the budget this year - the attempt to reduce it to a lesser volume of paper - and also the incorporation of the forward estimates, which I think is a step forward. There is one notable omission from Budget Paper No. 3, which perhaps represents a specific position of the Government. There is no reference to staff numbers, which have been a feature of previous program papers. Is it a specific decision of the Government to exclude staff information from the program data that is published with the budget?
MS FOLLETT: I thank Mr Kaine for his commendation on the budget papers. We are improving over time. I know that it can create difficulties for people wanting to get an understanding of the budget papers when they change, particularly in format; but I can advise that the information in this year's budget papers is at least as comprehensive as it has been in previous years. It includes additional information by way of the forward estimates. If there is further information that members require, I hope that they will come to me and ask for it.
Mr Kaine has asked specifically about staff numbers. In looking at the budget, we have not set any specific targets for staff numbers. I do not recall having taken a specific decision not to include them, but I can advise members of the analysis of staffing that was undertaken at pay 26, at the end of the last financial year. We can do a comparison of that with pay 1, which would have been in July 1991. The figures indicate that there has been an overall decrease of some 507 individuals on the payroll. Those 507 include all full-time, part-time, casual and inoperative employees, whether or not they were receiving an entitlement on that particular payday. So the figure is not one that you can take at its face value.
There are a number of significant variations that can account for those 507 positions, one of which is the reclassification of permanent full-time teachers' aides to the permanent part-time category as a result of the implementation of SEP. There was also an overall increase of 276 at Calvary Hospital, comprising principally casual staff. There was a rationalisation of the number of casual employees within TAFE and the Department of Health. Casual employees are used on a needs basis, so it is possible to have large numbers of them on payroll at any one time, although they will not necessarily be receiving salary each fortnight. Each year the departments cull the number of casual employees they have on their books, so to speak. This process is reflected in the net decrease of 389. Calvary Hospital undertakes this culling process at the end of the financial year, that is, after the pay 26 analysis had been conducted.
I have some tables here that members may find it useful for me to table, if that is their wish. There are four tables showing staffing information. The first is the number of staff on the payroll by employing authority; table 2 shows the number of staff by employment type; table 3 shows the number of staff by agency; and table 4 is a snapshot of payroll numbers in pay 26 of June 1992. I am happy to table those four tables, for the information of members, and I trust that they are of further assistance to Mr Kaine.
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