1969 VICTORIA PUBLIC SERVICE ACT 1958 REPORT OF THE PUBLIC SERVICE BOARD FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30TH JUNE, 1969 PRESENTED TO THE HONORABLE THE PREMIER IN PURSUANCE OF SECTION 20 (1) OF THE PUBLIC SERVICE ACT 1958 By Authority: A. C. BROOKS, GOVERNMENT PRINTER, MELBOURNE. No. 21.-6424/69.-PRICE 45 rents To the Honorable the Premier of Victoria. I furnish for submission to His Excellency the Governor in Council, as required by Section 20 of the Public Service Act 1958, the Annual Report on the Public Service for the year ended 30th June, 1969. F. E. CAHILL, Chairman, Public Service Board. 3rd December, 1969 CONTENTS SECTION PAGE Recruitment 7 2 The Service 8 3 Training 10 4 Staffing, Classification and Claims 12 5 Organization and Methods 15 6 Electronic Data Processing 18 7 Accommodation and Working Conditions 19 APPENDICES- ·• A" Number of Officers and Employees in the Various Departments and Salaries and Wages Paid 21 ,, B" Number of Permanent Officers in Each Division in the Various Departments .. 23 . c, Number of Males and Females (Permanent and Temporary) Employed in the Various Departments 23 D" Number of Officers in each Class of the Administrative and Professional Divisions in the Various Departments 24 "E" Recruitment of Staff 25 "F" Overtime and Penalty Rate Payments 26 "G" Appeals re Promotions 27 "H" Long Service Leave Applications 27 "I" Officers Sent Abroad 28 "J" Charges Referred to the Board 30 "K" Claims by Approved Associations 31 "L" Courses and Conferences Conducted by Departments 32 "M" Officers, Emp1oyees or Persons or Classes of Officers, Employees or Persons to Whom the Provisions of the Public Service Acts have been Declared not to Apply under Section 4 (1) (k) .. 34 "N" Persons or Classes of Persons Employed under Exemption from the Provisions of Section 38 .. 48 MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC SERVICE BOARD 1968-69. Chairman: F. E. CAHILL Government Member: General Service Representative: A. H. RIGG K. J. TUTTY (Deputy: E. J. BENNETT) Mental Hygiene Representative: L. w. REGAN (Deputy: M. D. LYNCH) PUBLIC SERVICE BOARD ANNUAL REPORT 1968-69 1. RECRUITMENT 1. 1. Appendix " A " to this report is a comparative statement showing the number of officers and employees and salaries and wages paid in the Public Service in each of the preceding four financial years. Appendices " B ", " C " and " D " show the numbers of officers and employees employed on the 30th June, 1969. The over-all increase in Service personnel, permanent and temporary, was 720 compared with the figures of 533, 525, and 663 in the previous years. The total number of persons now employed is 21,741. 1.2. Recruitment figures for the Administrative, Professional and Technical and General Divisions are shown in Appendix " E ". 1.2.1. Administrative Division: Entry is by competitive examination with candidates drawn from the school leaving and matriculation levels. Two competitive examinations were conducted with the following results. Kumber of Successful Candidates Number of Accepted Appointments Examination I Leaving Matriculation Leaving Matriculation August, 1968 141 43 124 39 April, 1969 219 112 199 108 I It will be seen that of the total number of persons so appointed in 1968-69, approximately 30 per centum had passed the matriculation examination. At the 30th June, 1968 there were 36 vacancies in Class "E" whereas at 30th June, 1969, there were 68 vacancies. However, when the "reserve establishment" figure of 150 positions is taken into account there are actually 82 positions in excess of the basic authorized establishment. Recruitment in this Division in the year under review can therefore be regarded as having been satisfactory. 1.2.2. Professional Division: Under a new determination for Draughtsmen competitive examinations for appointment to base grade positions of Draughtsman are no longer held. The only competitive examination for recruitment to the Professional Division which is now held is for the base grade position of Librarian. The principal means of recruitment to the Division is by public advertisement for professionally qualified and experienced persons. The number recruited by public advertisement rose from 116 in 1967-68 to 121 in 1968-69. Architects, Engineers, Medical Officers, Social Workers, Surveyors and Quantity Surveyors were difficult to recruit but in most other groups recruitment has been satisfactory, departmental requirements having been met without undue delay. 1 . 2. 3. Technical and General Division: The position in this Division is generally satisfactory. A total of 894 persons were appointed to this Division during the year. 1 . 2. 4. Temporary Employees: Little difficulty was experienced in meeting the requirements of Departments in the general office group except for Stenographers. Recruitment of Stenographers especially during the winter months again proved difficult. This is giving the Board concern and if this position does not improve it may become necessary to re-introduce part-time employment which proved successful some years back. 8 2. THE SERVICE 2.1. Appendix "F" indicates that the increase in overtime payments was $717,565 above the figure for the previous year with main increases being in the Education and Chief Secretary's Departments and the Mental Hygiene Branch. The increase in the Chief Secretary's Department is misleading as the figure returned from the Department for last year's report was understated by $153,431 in respect of the office of the Chief Commissioner of Police. The actual overall increase therefore was $564,134 instead of $717,565. The increase in the Education Department resulted from extensive overtime being worked in connection with the new Teachers' Award. The overtime payments to institutional staff in the Chief Secretary's Department and the Mental Hygiene Branch increased as a result of the more liberal overtime regulations which came into effect from August, 1968 and shortage of staff. A significant decrease occurred in the State Forests Department mainly because the previous year's overtime was well above normal due to the long hours worked as a result of a long dry summer. Decreases also occurred in the Departments of Law and Mines. 2. 2. Penalty rate payments increased by approximately $300,000. As mentioned in last year's report it was expected that penalty rate payments would increase by a substantial amount as this was the first full year that penalty rates had been paid at the increased rates. 2.3. Promotions and Appeals: There were 1,228 positions advertised during the year for which persons from within the Public Service applied and had the right of appeal pursuant to the provisions of Section 32 of the Public Service Act. Appeals against non-recommendation were received in respect of 520 positions of which the Board heard appeals in respect of 328 cases. The Board upheld appeals in 51 cases. Appendix " G " shows the actual figures for the General Service and Mental Hygiene. 2. 4. The number of applications received for long service leave or pay in lieu thereof is shown in Appendix " H ". There was a small increase in the number of officers applying for long service leave and it was noted that more younger officers are taking long service leave as their entitlements become due. As this was the second complete year in which officers were entitled to apply for pay in lieu of long service leave on resignation it is interesting to note that the number of officers who received pay in lieu under this provision rose from 34 in 1967-68 to 65 in 1968-69. 2.5. In the year under review 46 officers and employees were called up for National Service training. The Board has promoted nine of these officers while absent on training. 2. 6. Details of officers sent abroad on official duty are shown in Appendix " I ". Officers sent abroad on assignments included the Permanent Heads of two Departments, Messrs. A. G. Coulthard, Secretary to the Premier's Department and A. 0. Lawrence, Chairman, Forests Commission. 2. 7. Appointments to some of the more senior positions in the Public Service during the year are listed below :- Department of Agriculture- H. L. Hore, Chief of Division of Agriculture, vice W. B. McDonald, retired. E. J. O'Brien, Chief Chemist, vice F. H. Williams, retired. Department of Health- C. W. Crick, Accountant, vice R. R. Coughlan, retired. Department of Labour and Industry- D. C. Duncan, Chief Industrial Officer, vice J. C. Thomas, appointed Chairman of Wages Board. Local Government Department- E. R. Inglis, Secretary, vice P. P. Mithen, deceased. A. J. McGlade, Valuer~General, vice E. R. Inglis, promoted. Premier's Department- F. Carrigan, Senior Public Service Inspector (Claims and Industrial), vice R. L. King, promoted. Treasury- W. H. Breen, Special Duties Accounting Officer, new office. P. W. Merrett, Accountant to the Treasury, vice W. H. Breen, transferred. R. A. Livingston, Assistant Accountant to the Treasury, vice P. W. Merrett, promoted. 9 2. 8. The following honours were awarded :- Mr. R. Duke, Senior Works Staff, National Gallery, was awarded the B.E.M. Mr. C. D. Laycock, Supervisor, National Gallery, was awarded the B.E.M. Miss L. J. Renkin, Senior Field Officer, Social Welfare Branch, was awarded the B.E.M. Miss H. Jenkins, Stenographer, Department of Crown Lands and Survey, was awarded the B.E.M. Mr. R. F. Buchanan, Inquiry Officer, Premier's Office, was awarded the B.E.M. Mr. G. T. Roddick, Lighthouse Keeper, Public Works Department, was awarded the B.E.M. Mr. A. 0. Lawrence, Chairman, Forests Commission, received the award O.B.E. PERMANENT APPOINTMENT OF MARRIED WOMEN. 2.9. Although the services of married women have been used extensively in a temporary capacity in the Public Service and they are employed in virtually all the female occupational groups, permanent appointments have been restricted to married women who are separated from, and are not being maintained by, their husbands.