DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION —
STAFF — MENTAL STRESS CLAIMS
1081. Hon JACQUI BOYDELL to the Minister for Education and
Training:
I refer to an article in the Kalgoorlie
Miner that indicates a 40 per cent spike in mental stress claims from
public servants under this government, and the Department of Education's
plan to train principals to undertake psychological assessments.
(1) What has caused the spike in
mental stress claims?
(2) Does the
minister concede that her government's plan to axe 3 000 public
servants is putting pressure on public servants, driving up mental stress
claims?
(3) What funding
resources has the minister allocated to ensure that the education department's
initiative will not add stress to the staff carrying out the assessments?
Hon SUE
ELLERY replied:
I thank the honourable member for
some notice of the question.
(1)–(2) I
am unable to comment on the figures referred to, being for the whole of
government. However, I can inform the member that there has been no spike in
mental stress claims at the Department of Education. In fact, there has been a general
decline since 2008–09, and claims have remained fairly stable since
2015–16. Put in the context of a workforce of an approximately 47 000
headcount, the number of claims is relatively low. The number of mental stress
claims are reported in the department's annual reports from 2008–09
to 2017–18.
The rest of the answer to (1)–(2)
is in tabular form, so I seek leave to have that bit incorporated into Hansard.
Leave granted.
The following material
was incorporated —
Year
|
Number of mental stress
claims
|
2017–18
|
114
|
2016–17
|
118
|
2015–16
|
117
|
2014–15
|
103
|
2013–14
|
111
|
2012–13
|
128
|
2011–12
|
135
|
2010–11
|
136
|
2009–10
|
126
|
2008–09
|
134
|
(3) No
additional resources were required in the development of the training package
referred to in the article, which was introduced in September 2018. The package
is easily accessible and straightforward, being a 30-minute online package
created to assist staff to carry out assessments required when there is an
identified psychological hazard in the workplace. All staff with management
responsibilities who may be required to undertake psychological investigations
or carry out risk assessments are required by WorkSafe to undertake this
training. This includes principals, deputy principals, managers of corporate
services and heads of learning areas.