❓ A parliamentary question seeks data on emergency service volunteer leave across government departments, but the responsible ministers decline to provide detailed figures, citing resource constraints and the breadth of the inquiry.
AnsweredQoN 868Legislative Council
QuestionView source ↗
I refer to the Department of Productivity and Labor Reform Circular to Departments and Authorities No. 2 of 2001 titled Paid Leave for Emergency Service Volunteers . For each Department, Agency or Government Trading Entity under your portfolio, I ask: (a) how do you inform your employees of this policy; and (b) for the past two financial years: (i) how many employees have requested paid leave as an emergency service volunteer; (ii) how many employees have had a request refused; (iii) how many total hours were granted; and (iv) how many total hours were refused?
AnswerView source ↗
Answered
20 September 2022
Responded by
Minister for Emergency Services representing the Minister for Environment; Climate Action
Response time
5 days
DBCA
(a) Information on emergency service leave is available to employees through various leave and allowances guidance documentation published on the department’s intranet.
(b)(i) – (iv) This detailed information is not readily available and would require considerable time to collate and prepare, which would divert staff away from their normal duties. It is not considered to be a reasonable or appropriate use of Government resources to provide this information, noting that this question has been asked to all Ministers for all Government Departments, Agencies and Government Trading Enterprises.
DWER
(a) The Department of Water and Environmental Regulation employs several internal communication methods to engage and advise its workforce on internal and government policies and announcements.
The department informs staff of this leave during emergencies when volunteers are called up. This is done through an all-staff internal ‘Staff Communication’ email, our primary staff communication channel.
Other methods to communicate include:
· A selectable ‘Emergency Leave’ type in the leave booking system
· Self-Service Knowledge articles
· Ask the executive Q&A on the intranet
(b)(i) – (iv) This detailed information is not readily available and would require considerable time to collate and prepare, which would divert staff away from their normal duties. It is not considered to be a reasonable or appropriate use of Government resources to provide this information, noting that this question has been asked to all Ministers for all Government Departments, Agencies and Government Trading Enterprises.
(a) Information on emergency service leave is available to employees through various leave and allowances guidance documentation published on the department’s intranet.
(b)(i) – (iv) This detailed information is not readily available and would require considerable time to collate and prepare, which would divert staff away from their normal duties. It is not considered to be a reasonable or appropriate use of Government resources to provide this information, noting that this question has been asked to all Ministers for all Government Departments, Agencies and Government Trading Enterprises.
DWER
(a) The Department of Water and Environmental Regulation employs several internal communication methods to engage and advise its workforce on internal and government policies and announcements.
The department informs staff of this leave during emergencies when volunteers are called up. This is done through an all-staff internal ‘Staff Communication’ email, our primary staff communication channel.
Other methods to communicate include:
· A selectable ‘Emergency Leave’ type in the leave booking system
· Self-Service Knowledge articles
· Ask the executive Q&A on the intranet
(b)(i) – (iv) This detailed information is not readily available and would require considerable time to collate and prepare, which would divert staff away from their normal duties. It is not considered to be a reasonable or appropriate use of Government resources to provide this information, noting that this question has been asked to all Ministers for all Government Departments, Agencies and Government Trading Enterprises.
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