Question On Notice No. 415 asked in the Legislative Assembly on 16 March 2022 by Ms M.J. Davies
Question Directed to the: Minister for Public Sector Management
Parliament: 41 Session: 1
Tabled Paper No: 1117-
View tabled paper
Question
I refer to the answer to Question on Notice 160, and as of the end of the 2020-21 financial year, now that the relevant data should be finalised, and I ask:
(a) What was the average staff level across Ministerial departments, government trading entities and agencies;
(b) What was the highest wage for all Ministerial departments, government trading entities and agencies;
(c) How many Level 1 staff under the age of 17 years were employed for 2020-21 in:
(i) Ministerial offices; and
(ii) Departments, government trading entities and agencies;
(d) What were the number of staff on a Public Sector Senior Executive Service (SES) wage grade or equivalent; and
(e) What were number of casual staff for:
(i) Ministerial Departments; and
(ii) Ministerial Offices?
Answered on 10 May 2022
(a) See tabled paper [x].
Information relating to the public sector workforce is published annually by the Public Sector Commission in the State of the WA Government Sector Workforce Statistical Bulletin.
Government trading enterprise data is collected annually each March, with the 2022 collection currently in progress. The latest available data is as at March 2021.
(b) $558,250 in the public sector. This is base salary excluding other remunerative allowances such as superannuation and vehicle allowance.
Salary information for government trading enterprises is not collected by the Public Sector Commission. It is published in each entity’s annual report, which are tabled in Parliament.
(c) (i) Nil, at the end of June 2021.
(ii) At the end of June 2021, there were 28 staff in departments and agencies under the age of 17 years in positions with equivalent annual salaries of less than the Public Sector CSA Agreement Level 2. The Public Sector Commission does not collect this data for government trading enterprises.
(d) In the 2021-22 Mid-year Financial Projections Statement, the McGowan Labor Government established the Executive Service Expenditure Limit (ESEL), a control that effectively converts the SES cap to a percentage (0.9%) of the total public sector salaries spend.
Importantly, had the ESEL been based on the number of SES positions when the Government came to office in 2017, it would equate to approximately 1.4% of salaries expenditure – significantly above the new cap of 0.9%. This equates to a reduction of more than 35% since entering Government in 2017.
At the end of June 2021, there were 5,762 staff in the public sector (representing 4,238 FTE) employed at or above Level 9 Public Sector CSA Agreement or equivalent annual salaries. The majority of these staff were in the medical profession, such as doctors, surgeons and specialists within the WA Health system.
(e) (i) 9,052 headcount (representing 3,271 FTE), at the end of June 2021.
(ii) Nil, at the end of June 2021.