News | ATTTO Meeting Performance Expectations

ATTTO’s future as an industry training organisation (ITO) is secure, despite a report in the New Zealand Herald suggesting ATTTO could “face losing taxpayer funding”.

Chief Executive (Acting), Kathy Wolfe, says ATTTO has been through rigorous auditing processes with the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) in 2010/2011 and has now had initial funding for 2012 confirmed at the same level as this year.

The ITO has also had its recognition as the training organisation for aviation, tourism, travel and museums confirmed for a full further five years, through to 2016.

The New Zealand Herald article referred to funding being claimed back from ITOs that had received funding in 2009 for trainees no longer employed by the company that registered them for training. ATTTO is not among the ITOs that have been required to repay the government.

However TEC audits found that ATTTO had a percentage of trainees in 2009 who were not employed and not engaged in training. This prompted the Minister for Tertiary Education, Hon Steven Joyce, to issue a warning requesting that ATTTO improve its processes and systems to reduce this percentage.

Kathy Wolfe says ATTTO has made changes since 2009 to better track trainees and their progress.

“Because our trainees are widespread in workplaces across New Zealand, we rely on employers to keep us up-to-date with changes in their workplaces, particularly when registered trainees cease employment. We are continuing to make changes to improve how we work with our customers to ensure our records are up-to-date,” says Kathy Wolfe.

ATTTO will be audited again by the TEC in early 2012, at the same time that all other ITOs are audited. Kathy Wolfe says she is confident ATTTO’s performance will meet the targets set for this audit.

ATTTO continues to deliver value to its industries. The cost for a trainee to complete a qualification through an industry training organisation is, on average, a quarter of what it would cost through another kind of tertiary provider.

“ITOs deliver good value for government investment. We also deliver value to our industries, by working with them to ensure they have the skilled workforces they need to grow and prosper. As well as developing qualifications and facilitating training, we are engaged in a range of activities that help industries plan and manage their ongoing skills and workforce needs,” says Kathy Wolfe.