Page 337 - Week 01 - Thursday, 9 December 2004
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3. North Canberra Community Council Inc
4. Tuggeranong Community Council Inc
5. Weston Creek Community Council Inc
6. Woden Valley Community Council Inc
Housing—community access hours
(Question No 34)
Mrs Burke asked the Minister for Disability, Housing and Community Services, upon notice, on 8 December 2004:
(1) Does the September 2004 quarterly performance report in Output Class 1, Output 1.1, Disability Services and Policy state in Note (1) that ‘some agencies have redefined the services they provide from community support to accommodation support’; if so, can the Minister explain the redefinition;
(2) Was the first quarter year-to-date result for Community Access (hours of services) 84 803 yet the 2004-05 target was 63 756; if so, why did the target not better predict the number of community access hours provided according to the definition of client hours.
Mr Hargreaves: The answer to the member’s question is as follows:
(1) The September 2004 Quarterly Performance Report in Output Class 1, Output 1.1, Disability Services and Policy does state in Note (1) the that ‘some agencies have redefined the services they provide from community support to accommodation support’. An explanation of the redefinition is as follows.
Disability ACT’s output targets for 2004-05 were based on outputs included in 2003-04 contracts. The targets for 2004-05 were set in May 2004, before the contract negotiations for 2004-05 had been completed. During the contract negotiation process, service providers were given the opportunity to revise the ‘service type’ of outputs provided to give a more accurate picture of services delivered.
Disability ACT purchases services for people with a disability through a number of mechanisms. One of these is through the provision of individual support packages to individuals who use the funds to purchase a range of services including community access, accommodation support or respite. These funds are often brokered through community agencies, and in 2003-04, funds allocated through this mechanism were included in the output figures as ‘community support’.
One of the major brokerage agencies informed Disability ACT that 100% of the funds it manages for 20 of our clients are spent on ‘accommodation support’ and that this service type provides a more accurate description of services purchased through this output. Disability ACT’s output figures were changed to reflect this, hence there was a shift of 20 people from “community support” purchased in 2003-04 to ‘accommodation support’ in 2004-05.
(2) The first quarter year-to-date result for Community Access (hours of services) was 84,803 and the 2004-05 target was 63,756. As stated above, 2004-05 targets were based on the information provided in the 2003-04 contracts. During the 2004-05 contract negotiation process, Disability ACT was able to gather better data on the number of hours of
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