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CONTENTS
Passage History
Purpose
Background
Main Provisions
Endnotes
Contact Officer & Copyright Details
Vocational Education and Training
Funding Amendment Bill 1999
Date Introduced: 30 June 1999
House: House of Representatives
Portfolio: Education, Training and Youth Affairs
Commencement: Royal Assent or the day on which
Schedule 2 to the Australian National Training Authority
Amendment Act 1999 commences, whichever is the later.
The amendments
proposed by the Bill:
-
- supplement 1999 funding for vocational education and training
provided to the Australian National Training Authority (ANTA) for
distribution to the States and Territories, in line with real price
movements; and
-
- appropriate vocational education and training funding for the
year 2000.
Commonwealth role in the provision
and support of vocational education and training (VET)
The Commonwealth provides grants to the States
and Territories for the provision and support of vocational
education and training primarily to the Technical and Further
Education system. Approximately one third of public expenditure on
the VET sector comes from the Commonwealth government. Arrangements
first established under the Vocational Education and Training
Funding Act 1992, provide for a single pool of funds
comprising the previously separate recurrent expenditure grants and
capital expenditure grants to be passed to the Australian National
Training Authority (ANTA) for allocation among the States and
Territories.(1)
The functions of ANTA include allocating and
remitting funding to State and Territory training agencies on the
basis of guidelines determined by the Ministerial Council, and
administering any programs, agreed by the Ministerial Council as
requiring national delivery, within the guidelines approved by the
Ministerial Council.
Funding arrangements under the ANTA
Agreement
The Australian National Training Authority
Act 1992 gave effect to the ANTA agreement, announced by the
then Prime Minister on 21 July 1992, between the Commonwealth,
States and Territories for the establishment of ANTA. Under the
agreement, funding arrangements were made for the 1993-95
triennium. These included the Commonwealth's agreement to maintain
its then current financial support for VET; provide an injection of
$100 million in recurrent funding provided in the November 1991
One Nation economic statement; and an additional $70
million of growth funding for each year of the triennium. These
arrangements were subsequently extended to 1996 and 1997 by the
then Labor government.
In the 1996-97 Budget the new Coalition
government introduced an efficiency dividend on Commonwealth
own-purpose outlays which resulted in a 5% reduction of funding
provided to ANTA. In addition, the 5% real growth on base recurrent
funding was discontinued.
In its 1997-98 Budget the Commonwealth reduced
annual funding to the States and Territories appropriated under the
Vocational Education and Training Funding Act 1992, to
provide 'an incentive to the States to achieve efficiency gains in
their VET operations'.(2) The reduction, which took effect from 1
January 1998 and was to be carried into subsequent years, was
estimated to be approximately $20 million in the 1998 calendar
year.
Negotiations for a revised ANTA Agreement took
place in 1997.(3) In April 1998 Commonwealth, State and Territory
vocational education and training Ministers reached consensus on a
three-year funding agreement. Under the revised ANTA Agreement, the
Commonwealth is committed to maintain current 1998 funding in real
terms ($904.144 million in 1998) for the three years 1998 to 2000.
The States and Territories agreed to maintain their level of
activities, and to the principle of growth through efficiencies.
The revised Agreement therefore locked in the reduction in annual
funding announced in the 1997-98 Budget.
Consistent with the Commonwealth's commitment
under the revised agreement to maintain real funding in 1998 terms,
the current Bill provides supplementation for the 1999
appropriation in accordance with real price movements reflected in
Treasury indices, and makes provision for base funding for the year
2000.
The effect of Item 1 of Schedule
1 is to amend the amounts payable to ANTA under section 9
of the Vocational Education and Training Funding Act 1992
in the following manner:
-
- increasing the amount payable for 1999 from $904.144 million to
$918.352 million; and
-
- providing for base funding appropriation for the year 2000 of
$918.352 million.
-
- For a brief outline of arrangements prior to this see Ireland,
Ian and Kempner, Carol, 'Vocational Education and Training Funding
Amendment Bill 1996', Bills Digest No. 34, Department of
the Parliamentary Library, 1996-97.
- Budget paper No. 2, 1997-98, p.40.
- For further background on the revised ANTA Agreement see Bell,
Rosemary and Kempner, Carol, 'Australian National Training
Authority Amendment Bill 1998', Bills Digest No. 35,
Department of the Parliamentary Library, 1998-99.
Carol Kempner
20 July 1999
Bills Digest Service
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ISSN 1328-8091
© Commonwealth of Australia 1999
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