Asset management
Assets are managed within whole of government policies and guidelines. Key strategies for the effective and efficient use of assets include:
- optimising the use of built resources to support the provision of a range of educational programs and curriculum choices at dispersed sites
- providing capital funding for building improvements, equitably and according to priorities, ensuring appropriate standards of accommodation to encourage best practice in service delivery
- optimising maintenance effort through strategic management and managing resources in accordance with statutory obligations, occupational health and safety, optimum service delivery and asset retention
- progressing initiatives to identify, rank and mitigate risks within the context of the government’s overall risk management strategyprogressing towards industry best practice in procurement practices and full compliance with Treasury requirements
- maximising the responsible use of facilities, facilitating partnership agreements for sharing facilities, and using community and shared facilities where appropriate
- establishing the Asset Strategy Steering Committee to provide strategic oversight and direction in asset management
- finalisation of a new Strategic Asset Management Plan (SAMP) for the period 2006-2008.
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Risk management
Risk management activities are governed by the Risk Management and Audit Committee. The committee includes senior stakeholders from a cross-section of the DoE and one external member, and is chaired by the secretary.
The Tasmanian Risk Management Fund (TRMF) covers all the department’s insurable risk including general liability and property damage. Contributions to the fund for 2006-07 totalled $6.9 million, including $5.4 million for workers compensation and $880,000 for the loss of and damage to facilities.
The Property Protection Scheme is a self-funded 'pool' that covers schools and colleges’ costs for damage and loss of facilities and contents.
Students are not insured for the cost of injuries suffered in school-based activities except for students engaged in vocational education and training, workplace learning or special learning activities. Parents are required to meet such costs. Workplace learning students are also covered in respect of general liability claims brought against them.
Key risk management initiatives during the year included:
- The development of a departmental risk management strategy, with the Risk Reference Group taking a leading part in the identification of key risks and the development of a risk management framework.
- The development of risk management plans to counter threats to critical activities including Pandemic Management and Business Continuity Management Plans.
- The provision of advisory services and to raise risk management awareness throughout DoE, as well as the development of a number of risk management plans in schools and business centres.
- The ongoing development of DoE’s risk management website.
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ICT risk management
Risk management progressed in the area of ICT. Procedures to manage the confidentiality, integrity and availability of information assets were further defined, particularly in the areas of:
- loss of information
- data corruption
- inappropriate access to information
- availability of information.
Backups of all systems occur regularly to minimise the risks of losing data, with backups stored offsite. High availability options are considered for critical systems, with specific redundant hardware components in servers included as a minimum requirement. Disaster recovery plans are tested for several major systems on a rotation basis.
Access from outside the departmental network is restricted, and a range of access levels have been set for staff, students and the public to ensure that access to information is limited to a 'needs-only' level.
Risks to confidentiality, integrity and availability were identified, and mitigation strategies implemented where appropriate.
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Employment