Legislative Council Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2) 53 2 Parliament of South Australia Legislative Council published Question Time Vocational Education and Training Vocational Education and Training The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY Legislative Council Leader of the Opposition Vocational Education and Training The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Leader of the Opposition) (14:28): There was evidence given by the agency to the Budget and Finance Committee, I think in 2013, that says that the figures were 86,561, which is 5,560 more than the 80.4 or the 80,400 now promised. So are you suggesting that the evidence that was given to the Budget and Finance Committee was incorrect? The Hon. G.E. GAGO Legislative Council Minister for Employment, Higher Education and Skills, Minister for Science and Information Economy, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Business Services and Consumers Vocational Education and Training The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Employment, Higher Education and Skills, Minister for Science and Information Economy, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Business Services and Consumers) (14:29): The numbers that I have been given are quite clear. The pre Skills for All, which was prior to 2012-13, was 65,000— The Hon. R.I. Lucas interjecting: The President Legislative Council The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Lucas, if you want to ask a question, ask a supplementary; do not do it while she is trying to reply. The Hon. G.E. GAGO Legislative Council The Hon. G.E. GAGO: Skills For All was introduced in 2012-13. So, pre Skills for All would be the financial year prior to that, which would be 2011-12. So, that is pre Skills for All. Skills for All was introduced in 2012-13. The training hours then shot up to 104, which is not surprising—huge amounts of additional money were made available. Pre Skills for All was 65.4. The proposed training for a number of subsidised training places available for 2015-16 is 80.4, so approximately 81,000. It is above pre Skills for All training levels and so, too, the funding continues to be above pre Skills for All. It was sitting on about $259 million, and in 2015-16 the proposed figure is $285 million. There is some more money in the training system, more training activity than pre Skills for All and, as we said, Skills for All was the result of significant additional once-off money being made available to the system to enable us to achieve our goal of 100,000 additional training places.