South East Region Connections Newsletter: November Edition

Welcome to the last edition of the South East Region Department of Employment, Small Business and Training Connections.

Our Connections newsletter provides stakeholders with updated information and links to programs and initiatives relevant to our region.

In November, we announced Round 4 of the Business Basics Grant, and we announced our Queensland Training Awards winners who recently represented the region at The Australian Training Awards ceremony which was held in Adelaide on 18 November 2022, the South East Region would like to congratulate all finalists and winners.

Feel free to forward this newsletter to your networks.

Bevan Repia

Acting Manager, South East Region 

Department of Employment, Small Business and Training

P: 1800 210 210  E: southtraining@desbt.qld.gov.au  W: desbt.qld.gov.au

Eligible small businesses (including non-employing and micro businesses, and new and emerging businesses with less than 20 employees and a turnover of less than $300,000 for the last financial year) are able to register their interest to apply for a $5,000 grant.   

The program guidelines, eligibility criteria and FAQs for the Business Basics Grants program are now available online.  

Funds are to be used for a project to increase core skills and adopt best practice — think website development and upgrades, strategic marketing, training and coaching, and business planning for continuity and succession. 

This round has a $5 million funding pool, of that $1.5 million that has been allocated for regional businesses outside of South East Queensland. The program is extremely popular, and we receive many more applications than can be funded. We are committed to best practice and listened to feedback from small businesses to make the application process easier.   

Grants will be awarded through a two-stage process starting with businesses registering their interest to apply by completing an online form that collects basic business information. Then businesses will be selected by a ballot process to complete their applications. 

This process ensures all small businesses have equal and fair opportunity to register their interest at any time once registrations open and have an equal chance of being selected to apply. Please note that not all businesses that complete a registration of interest or a full application will be successful.

Registrations of Interest are now open, and will close at 11.59pm on 5 December 2022.  

To learn more visit: www.business.qld.gov.au/business-basics 

Extended to 10 March 2023: Extraordinary Disaster Assistance Recovery Grants

The Queensland Government is continuing to show its support for the small business sector by extending the application deadline for the Extraordinary Disaster Assistance Recovery Grants.

South East Queensland primary producers, businesses and non-profit organisations impacted by rainfall and flooding between February and April 2022 have more time to apply with the application deadline extended to 10 March 2023.

Grants of up to $75,000 are available for primary producers, and $50,000 for small businesses and not-for-profit organisations. These grants are jointly funded by the Commonwealth and Queensland governments under the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA), and are designed to assist with the costs of clean-up, and reinstatement of operations. 

The application extension date was in response to feedback from affected communities, acknowledging the severe and ongoing challenges of recent weather events, and to ensure that every eligible Queenslander has access to the support they need as they continue to recover. 

For eligibility criteria and information on how to apply, visit www.qrida.qld.gov.au. 

Got questions? Call QRIDA on 1800 623 946 or email by visiting the QRIDA contact page. 

Stay up-to-date with the latest small business information from the Queensland Government: 

- visit the Business Queensland website 

- follow us at facebook.com/businessqldgov 

subscribe to our newsletter.  

When you’re a small business owner, your greatest asset is you.

So, look after yourself with our free small business wellness coaching available now. Six new wellbeing coaches located in Cairns, Mackay, Townsville, Toowoomba, and North and South Brisbane have joined the existing statewide network of over 40 rural, tourism and small business financial counsellors.

The Small Business Wellness package is being delivered by the Queensland Government in partnership with the Queensland Mental Health Commission, the Office of the Queensland Small Business Commissioner, and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Queensland.

A statewide campaign has started through radio, digital and social media advertising to help small business owners consider their wellbeing and raise awareness of the support available to them.

The campaign is a reminder to our small business owners and operators that they are their business’ greatest asset and encourages them get the support they need to keep their businesses running smoothly.

For details on how to find a small business wellness coach click here.

At this time of year, we are often contacted by schools concerned that they cannot see VET information in Student Management, concerned something is wrong. I would like to clarify a few points to answer some common questions.

1. I cannot see my student’s VET qualification in Student Management even though the Registered Training Organisation (RTO) says they have reported it. How can I make sure it is recorded in their learning account so they get their QCE?

Most non-school RTOs report VET to QCAA via DESBT (only a few report directly into Student Management). Non-school RTOs had until, 24 November, to report VET enrolments and results to DESBT so that information will be received in time by QCAA for certification of exiting students.

Unless you have made specific arrangements with non-school RTOs that you work with for them to report early, it is quite possible you will not see information final reported by those RTOs in Student Management prior to certification on 16 December. There is no problem with this and it does not mean anything is wrong or has been missed. It just takes time for data to be loaded.

 2. Why does my student’s VET qualification have a status of “Continuing” in Student Management when they will not be completing any more units of competency?

When a student partially completes a VET qualification with a non-school RTO who reports to QCAA via DESBT, the only possible status for this qualification is “Continuing”. This is normal and correct. QCE credit for partially completed qualifications will be finalised during end-of-year certification processing. Non-school RTOs who report via DESBT cannot report a qualification status of “Statement of Attainment”, so please don’t ask them to. Only RTOs who report to QCAA directly into Student Management can report a qualification status of “Statement of attainment”.

3. My student has completed part of a qualification that was superseded, then transferred into the new qualification. Why doesn’t the QCE credit show in the “completed” column on the QCE eligibility screen in Student Management?

If students have partially completed a superseded qualification e.g. BSB30115 and it has a status of “Continuing” or “Statement of Attainment”, then those units of competency have been transferred to the new qualification e.g. BSB30120 and it has a status of “Awarded”, the QCE credit projected on the QCE eligibility screen in Student Management will not appear in the “completed” column. This is not a cause for concern. During end of year certification processing, Student Management will “match up” the superseded qualifications and provide full credit for the later, “Awarded” qualification, including having it contribute to the completed core requirement. There are a number of commonly completed qualifications affected by this in 2022 due to training package changes during the year, including Business. The QCE projection done by Student Management cannot “match up” these superseded qualifications, but end of year certification processing will do this.

Finally, if there does end up being something incorrect or unreported with regards to students’ VET records in Student Management, and this is not corrected prior to certification, students will not be disadvantaged or miss out on their QCE. Anything that is incorrect or unreported will be fixed as quickly as possible after certification – staff will be working right up until Christmas to do this, then from 3 January 2023. Students simply need to apply for “Verification of information” via their learning account in the Student Portal, providing documentary evidence of their awarded or partially completed VET qualification. Records will then be corrected ASAP and Senior Education Profiles reprocessed. Schools may email certification@qcaa.qld.edu.au for advice if needed.

 For information about when and where schools can see final student achievement data for their students, please see Memo 068/22 - Release of 2022 student achievement data to schools.

On 24th November the South East Region in collaboration with Metropolitan Region held an Australian Apprenticeship Support Network (AASN) forum. The Australian Government contracts AASN Providers as the first point of contact to provide information and advice to support employers, apprentices and trainees across Australia to better navigate the apprenticeship and traineeship system.
 
Utilising the DESBT / AASN collaboration group, the AASN Providers were able to reach out to their Apprenticeship Field Officers and gather their most common questions about training contracts.

The forum gathered over 79 Apprenticeship Field Officers from SEQ and put them in the one room with representatives from their local regional offices. The questions put to DESBT by the collaboration group were then addressed in detail by a panel of DESBT Regional Managers and Operational Policy and Regional Assistance (OPRA) representatives. The forum also provided a platform for Apprenticeship Field Officers to raise their concerns, share their experiences working with stakeholders and make connections with their local regional office.

The event received very positive feedback from all of those who attended and they have requested that these events continue bi-annually moving forward.

We look forward to hosting this event again in 2023.

Staff from Department of Employment, Small Business and Training (DESBT) South East Region Office, attended and presented at the breakfast held on 25 November at the Ashmore Campus of Gold Coast TAFE. 

Attendees were informed about the role of DESBT in relation to the Train and Retain Strategy focussing on improving workplace culture and completion rates of females in male dominated industries and resources available to assist Small Business to thrive and grow.

Represenation from all different aspcests of the Construction Industry ensured that the event was very well attended and informative.

A Cyber Security Assessment Tool is available to help you identify what your business is doing well, and where your business can improve when it comes to cyber security. 

This tool will ask a series of questions about how you manage your cyber security risks and provides a downloadable PDF list of recommendations to action. 

All you need is your ABN to get started Cyber Security Assessment Tool (business.gov.au).

Have a specific question or business need? 

Want to subscribe to our regional newsletter?
Email your query/request to southtraining@desbt.qld.gov.au and an officer will be in touch.

Subscribe to our DESBT Small Business Connect Newsletter or 
follow us on Facebook for updates on upcoming grants.