Chapter 1 - Introduction
Background to the inquiry
1.1
In early 2008, the government
announced it would introduce a simpler and more effective national employment
services system to replace the Job Network. On 27 September 2008, the
government released a $3.9 billion request for tender to deliver the reformed
employment services from 1 July 2009. The new employment services would be
named Job Services Australia: People, Skills and Jobs. The tender results were
announced on 2 April 2009. The tender process and outcomes received criticism
from some stakeholders which has resulted in this inquiry. The terms of
reference are addressed in the chapters which follow.
Terms of reference
1.2
On 13 May 2009, on the motion of
Senators Rachel Siewert and Mitch Fifield, the Senate referred the following
matters to the Senate Standing References Committee on Education, Employment
and Workplace Relations for inquiry and report by 25 June 2009:
- the conduct of the 2009 tendering
process by the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations to
award Employment Services contracts, with particular attention to:
- the design on the tender, including
the weighting given to past performance and the weighting given to the ‘value
for money’ delivered by previous and new service providers,
- evaluation of the tenders submitted
against the selection criteria, including the relationship between recent
service performance evaluations in various existing programs (such as provider
star ratings), selection criteria and tendering outcomes, and
- the extent to which the
recommendations of the 2002 Productivity Commission report into employment
services have been implemented;
- the level of change of service
providers and proportion of job seekers required to change providers, and the
impacts of this disruption in communities with high levels of unemployment or
facing significant increases in unemployment;
- any differences between the recommendations of
the Tender Assessment Panel and the announcement by the Minister for Employment
Participation of successful tenders on 2 April;
- the transaction costs of this level of provider
turnover, the time taken to establish and ‘bed-down’ new employment services,
and the likely impacts of this disruption on both new and existing clients
seeking support during a period of rapidly rising unemployment;
- communication by the department to successful
and unsuccessful tenderers, the communications protocol employed during the
probity period, and referrals to employment services by Centrelink during the
transition period;
- the
extent to which the Government has kept its promise that Personal Support
Program, Job Placement Employment and Training and Community Work Coordinator
providers would not be disadvantaged in the process, and the number of smaller
‘specialist’ employment service providers delivering more client-focused
services still supported by the Employment Services program;
- the
particular impact on Indigenous Employment Services providers and Indigenous-focused
Employment Services providers;
- the Employment Services Model, including whether it is sustainable in a climate
of low employment growth and rising unemployment, and whether there is capacity
to revise it in the face of changed economic circumstances; and
- recommendations
for the best way to maintain an appropriate level of continuity of service and
ongoing sector viability while at the same time ensuring service quality and
accountability and maximising the ancillary benefits for social inclusion
through connection and integration with other services.
Conduct of inquiry
1.3
Notice of the inquiry was posted on
the committee's website and advertised in The Australian newspaper,
calling for submissions by 28 May 2009. The committee also directly contacted a
number of interested parties, organisations and individuals to notify them of
the inquiry and to invite submissions. 23 submissions were received as listed
in Appendix 1.
1.4
The committee conducted a public
hearing in Melbourne on 11 June 2009. Witnesses who appeared before the
committee are listed at Appendix 2.
1.5
Copies of the Hansard transcript from
the hearings are tabled for the information of the Senate. They can be accessed
on the internet at http://aph/gov.au/hansard.
Acknowledgements
1.6
The committee thanks those who
assisted with the inquiry.
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