The final review of the Public Safety Training Package is underway, with an expected completion date of 30^th September 2011. Material will be available for broad industry comment through the GSA website feedback register and industry consultation channels later in the year. The proposed timeline should see a new Public Safety Training Package released for the start of 2012.

For further information on the review please contact ben.hollister@governmentskills.com.au

Four specialist units of competency in Procurement and Contracting have been developed over the past four months. They are:

• Category management
• Manage fundamental aspects of a supply chain
• Conduct demand and procurement spend analysis
• Plan and implement strategic sourcing

A workshop was conducted in Canberra on the 18th April to validate the content, some minor amendments made, and the final draft units will be placed on the GSA website for comment following a Project Steering Committee teleconference on the 2nd June. The units of competency will be included as electives in the next version of the Public Sector Training Package.

GSA regrets to announce that the Skill Sets workshops scheduled to be conducted in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth have been cancelled due to low registration numbers.

We will consult further with key stakeholders in order to establish and confirm the level of interest for the proposed Skill Sets and keep you informed of progress.

A review of the Water training package is set to go ahead upon completion of the Functional Analysis currently being conducted by the Workforce Development branch. The information gleaned from the analysis is expected to inform the traning package review which will look at all units of competency, imported units of comptency and qualification structures.

For more information please contact ben.hollister@governmentskills.com.au

The final Road Transport Compliance Qualfications and Units of Competency are now available on the GSA website.  These units have been developed and validated by industry over the past 12 months and are no longer open to comment.

For more information please contact jenny.christie@governmentskills.com.au

As part of continuous improvement activity GSA is currently undertaking a review of the following aspects of the CSC07 Correctional Services Training Package:

• Intelligence Officer qualifications - a Technical Reference Group has been set up and is currently working with GSA on units of competency to meet intelligence officer training needs.
• Imported units of competency - non-equivalent imported units of competency will be updated. Options for the replacement units are currently under consideration with the IAC and will be released for wider consideration after July 2011.
• New units of competency - new units in the areas of Female Offender Supervision, Mentally Ill Offender Supervision and High Risk Offender Supervision are currently being investigated and developed by Technical Reference Groups, managed by GSA. The draft units will be released for broad industry comment after July 2011.
• Update of existing units - revised existing units of competency are currently available to view on the GSA website. These units were revised following feedback received in nation-wide workshops run throughout 2010.

For more information please contact joanne.waugh@governmentskills.com.au

Anecdotal evidence suggests the Local Government training package is currently underutilised within the industry. Government Skills Australia is undertaking a project which aims to research and quantify the current usage of the Local Government training package, identify the issues impacting on uptake and make recommendations as to how these may be addressed. This will inform industry stakeholder discussion on work planning and the training package continuous improvement process. The primary deliverable will be a written report.

For more information on this project please contact beth.einthal@governmentskills.com.au

The National Water Commission (NWC) has funded a project to develop a national competencies framework for certifying potable water treatment operators. The project is being conducted by Government Skills Australia (GSA).

The objective of the “National Certification Framework for Operators of Potable Water Treatment Plants” project is to recognise public expectation for this role to be carried out by a suitably qualified person. The challenge is to ensure the framework is flexible enough to meet all industry needs.

The first round of consultations took place with workshops held around the country. The workshops were attended by 158 people with 107 water organisations represented.

A draft framework will be circulated in the New Year with second round consultation workshops to take place during January and February. This will provide industry with an opportunity to provide further comment.

For more information contact Sue Peisley the Industry Liaison Officer for Water at GSA. susan.peisley@governmentskills.com.au

In April 2011, Government Skills Australia (GSA) commenced research to analyse and identify the current status of articulation arrangements between Vocational Education and Training (VET) and Higher Education (HEd) providers for the GSA industry-linked qualification pathways. These pathways relate to the delivery of the Corrections, Local Government, Public Safety, Public Sector, and Water Training Packages and the Higher Education undergraduate and postgraduate degrees that may offer broadening or extension of these qualifications.

GSA recognises that meaningful collaboration between sectors, institutions and industry is the key to establishing successful and sustainable learner pathways hence the first phase of this project incorporated an online survey of VET and Higher Education providers. The aim of this survey was to ascertain current and potential collaboration between tertiary institutions, identify some of the reasons behind current good practice as well as pinpoint factors perceived to be barriers to establishing collaborative partnerships and articulation arrangements.

The Tertiary Sector Collaboration Report which includes the survey findings, the corresponding recommendations and points for consideration is now available to download.