DEPARTMENT of EDUCATION

Loss and damage/Debts written off

Loss and damage

Departmental facilities can be subject to many causes of loss and damage. Under the department’s asset management policy, responsibility for the management of facilities is devolved to managers of individual sites who are well positioned to identify and manage priorities cost-effectively. For this reason, most events are managed locally with central office support when required. An exception is instances of fire damage where site managers are required to notify central office.

The following is a summary of claims lodged with the Tasmanian Risk Management Fund during the reporting year:

Item Number of claims Total value of claims $
Property 2 260,789
Legal liability 5 12,000
Motor vehicle 23 36,124
Motor vehicle (miscellaneous) 0 0
Personal accident (for volunteers and students engaged in workplace learning activities) 6 10,000
Staff travel 1 543
Total 37 319,456

Property protection scheme

The department operated the Property Protection Scheme (PPS) from 6 September 2003. The PPS is a self-funded pooling arrangement for schools and colleges that covers incidents valued up to $50,000. The following table is a summary of claims for 2004-05.

Number of claims lodged 461
Total value of claims $516,780
Highest valued claim $33,748
Number of schools lodging claims 104
Average cost per claim $1,121

Debts written off

Category Number of debts Amount $
Minor debts up to $50 53 1,018.22
Minor debts between $50 and $500 11 810.90
Debts over $500 2 3,707.00
Sub-total 66 5,536.12
School debt write-offs   93,534.88
Total   99,071.00