Terms of Reference for an Action Group were discussed and agreed at the CEOs meeting of 9 September 2005.
1. To consider the feasibility of the formation of the new Ministerial company as intended by the Ministers’ decision and subsequent discussions by senior officials.
2. To develop a model for the new Ministerial Company’s operations that:
(a) takes full account of the breadth and diversity of the current functions of both Australian Training Products Pty Ltd (ATPL) and AEShareNet Ltd (AESL) and how these activities can be delivered and integrated, where appropriate, within the new company;
(b) provides for Secretariat services to the National Industry Skills Committee (NISC) and the National Quality Council (NQC) and gives it the scope to support activities of the National Quality Council, including project work associated with its work plan;
(c) takes full account of the need for the independence of the NQC and NISC secretariat within the new company’s operation and ensures that any real or perceived conflict of interest between the various functions of the secretariat, ATP and AESL are addressed;
(d) considers options for rationalising the role of the new Ministerial company and ISCs in distributing Training Packages and other support material;
(e) is a sustainable funding model for the new company that takes account of the financial performance of both ATP and AESL and their continued reliance on government funding, as well as the impacts of developments in the commercial environment and developments associated with, for example, the National Training Information Service (NTIS) and Resource Generator; and
(f) explicitly recognises those ‘public good’ functions that will be funded from the Commonwealth-State Training Funding Agreement on an ongoing basis, and separately identifies those functions which are to be delivered on a cost-recovery or commercial basis.
3. To bring forward a proposal for an appropriate governance structure including:
(a) a draft charter and objects of the company including arrangements for the secretariat functions to report directly to the Board of the new company;
(b) a funding model that addresses the need for a separation of funding between functions and also includes any requirement for Strategic National Initiatives funding; and
(c) reporting arrangements for the new entity.
Chair
- Ms Leslie Loble, Deputy Director-General, Strategic Planning & Regulation, NSW Department of Education and Training
Commonwealth Representative
- Ms Helen McLaren, A/G Branch Manager, Technology and Information Services Branch, DEST
State Training Authority Representatives
- Mr Peter Dedrick, Policy Officer, Training and Operations Division, Office of Training and Tertiary Education (VIC)
- Ms Ann Doolette, Director Quality, Department of Further Education Employment Science & Technology (SA)
- Mr Mike Brough, Director Regulation and Support, Department of Education (TAS)
National Quality Council (NQC) representative
- Ms Stella Axarlis, Chair, NQC
Industry representatives
- Ms Megan Lilly, Australian Industry Group (AIG)
- Mr Patrick Coleman, Business Council of Australia (BCA)
- Ms Michelle Bissett, Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU)
Industry Skills Council representative
- Mr Neil Jacobson, Agri-Food Industry Skills Council (ISC)
The Action Group met for the first time in November 2005, which allowed time for nominations to be received for representatives from States and Territories, as well as for other Action Group representatives.
CEOs agreed at their 17 November 2005 meeting that the new Ministerial company should be formed by modifying the existing Memorandum and Articles of Association for Australian Training Products Ltd.
A proposal for the new Ministerial company will be provided to the National Senior Officials Committee in late February 2006 for forwarding to Ministers in March 2006 for their consideration.
- The Action Group will be established for a maximum of 9 months.
- The Action Group will be chaired by NSW.
- Funding for the operations of the Action Group will be provided from National Project/Strategic National Initiatives funds up to a maximum of $50,000.
- All Government representatives on the Action Group will meet the costs associated with the membership of the Action Group (including travel and accommodation). Industry and client group representatives will be assisted, where necessary, with the costs of attending meetings.
- The Secretariat function will be provided by NSW.
- The Chair of the Action Group will be responsible for approving all Action Group costs in line with the approved finance plan.