Page 4615 - Week 11 - Tuesday, 19 October 2010
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statutory authorities, including that they comprehensively review performance measures included in their statement of intent and ensure that performance measures and the results in their statements of performance can be readily understood. Statutory authorities review their performance measures each year, including in relation to relevance, clarity and measurability.
The Auditor-General’s seventh recommendation is that agencies should report in subsequent years on the outcomes of significant activities for which undertakings were made in the previous annual report. The ACT government notes that the audit confirms that in the majority of cases this is being fulfilled.
The first recommendation of the report is that agencies should provide indicators of quality of services as well as quantity for each output class. The government agrees that agencies should consider both quantity and quality aspects when determining the most appropriate indicators to use. The government, however, does not support mandating both quality and quantity indicators as a small number of focus indicators is preferable to a large number of indicators which might add little in measuring performance.
The government considers that it is better practice to allow agencies to choose the most useful key indicators to suit specific circumstances. The Auditor-General also recommends that the Chief Minister’s Department should improve the usefulness of its accountability indicators. The government supports the need for clear and useful reporting from its central policy department. It is unclear from the report, however, as to how the report has assessed clarity and usefulness. The Auditor-General’s report rightly notes the difficulty in providing indicators for policy-oriented departments.
Finally, the Auditor-General made a number of recommendations in relation to reporting on ecologically sustainable development. The government is proud of its strong record in implementing sustainability measures. This year the government has fulfilled its commitment to introduce triple bottom line reporting requirements into agencies’ annual reports. The Chief Minister’s Department and the Department of Environment, Climate Change, Energy and Water will also undertake a review of existing ecologically sustainable development indicators and related requirements in the annual report directions.
I have tabled the government’s submission to the public accounts committee on the Auditor-General’s report, and I would like to thank the Auditor-General and her office for the work in reviewing the ACT government’s performance reporting and in developing their recommendations.
Papers
Mr Corbell presented the following papers, which were circulated to members when the Assembly was not sitting:
Annual Reports (Government Agencies) Act, pursuant to section 13—Annual Reports 2009-2010—
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