Gary Humphries (ACT, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Defence Materiel) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

asked the Minister representing the Minister for Veterans' Affairs upon notice on 18 September 2012.

(1) What is the net financial effect on the department's budget of:

(a) the original 1.5 per cent efficiency dividend;

(b) the additional 2.5 per cent efficiency dividend; and

(c) other savings measures as introduced in the 2012-13 Budget papers.

(2) What measures or strategies are being considered to ensure continued operation within the budget and efficiency dividend targets of the department.

(3) What percentage of total expenditure is represented by staff costs.

(4) Is a net reduction in:

(a) staff; and

(b) consultants and/or contractors, expected for the financial year; if so, can a quantitative total for each reduction be provided.

(5) How many:

(a) voluntary redundancies; and

(b) involuntary redundancies, are expected to be executed.

(6) What is the current distribution of full-time equivalent staff across classification bands.

Bob Carr (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Minister for Veterans' Affairs has provided the following answer to the honourable senator's question:

(1) (a) The impact of the 1.5% efficiency dividend for the 2012-13 Financial Year is $4.5 million.

(b) The impact of the 2.5% efficiency dividend for the 2012-13 Financial Year is $7.3 million.

(c) There were no other decisions of Government that resulted in other savings measures for the Department in 2012-13.

(2) The Department has implemented the efficiency dividend targets without impact on any services to the veteran community. Areas of where savings were made include:

(3) For the 2011-12 Financial Year, out of a total expenditure of approximately $360 million, DVA spent approximately $192 million on staffing costs, equating to 54%.

(4) As a result of the efficiency dividend for 2012-13 a net reduction is expected of:

(a) approximately $6.07 million savings from 67 staff reduction (which equates to approximately 62 FTE); and

(b) approximately $3.6 million savings due to reduced expenditure on contracts and consultants.

(5) As a result of the efficiency dividend:

(6) The current distribution of full-time equivalent staff across classification bands is provided below:

Current Distribution of FTE across classifications

Figures as at 30 September 2012.