There are 63 agencies in the DTIRIS cluster. These agencies include nine electricity and eight water agencies that were reported in the NSW Auditor-General’s report to Parliament Volume Five 2014 on 11 November 2014. Commentary in this volume is on the remaining 46 DTIRIS cluster agencies. The findings found the quality of financial statements in the trade and investment cluster needs to improve.

The Learning Management and Business Reform (LMBR) program was established in 2006 to improve service delivery to schools, corporate staff and TAFE NSW. Some parts of the three major components of the LMBR program have been delivered to different areas of the Department of Education and Communities. However, complete implementation is behind schedule and over budget, and the Department has yet to demonstrate that it will achieve the expected benefits.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #246 - released 16 December 2014

The quality of financial statements in the education and communities cluster continues to improve with fewer reported misstatements over the last three years. The financial statements of all agencies within this cluster received unqualified audit opinions. The Department of Education and Communities has 24 performance targets for early childhood through to tertiary education. Seven of these are either not being achieved or unlikely to be achieved.

The quality of financial statements in the health cluster continues to improve with significantly fewer misstatements. The financial statements of all cluster agencies received unqualified audit opinions. Health has maintained or bettered its emergency triage performance and the percentage of patients admitted for elective surgery within clinically appropriate timeframes has improved.

The quality of financial reporting in the Finance and Treasury cluster continues to improve with fewer reported misstatements over the last three years. The financial statements of all cluster agencies received unqualified audit opinions, except for the New South Wales Self Insurance Corporation.

The quality of financial reporting in the cluster continues to improve with the number of reported misstatements identified during audit decreasing over the past five years. The audits resulted in unqualified audit opinions on the financial statements of all cluster agencies for the year ended 30 June 2014, with the exception of the State Emergency Service.
 

For the second consecutive year, the General Government and Total State Sector Accounts received an unqualified auditor’s opinion following more than a decade of qualifications. The quality and timeliness of financial reporting across the NSW public sector has continued to improve. Compared to previous years, there were fewer errors in agencies’ 2013–14 financial statements submitted for audit and used for whole-of-government financial reporting.

More NSW Police officers are returning to work after being injured and there are fewer medical discharges as a result of the new NSW Police death and disability scheme. The new scheme is also costing less and if early trends continue, costs may fall sufficiently to meet the government’s target.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #242 - released 22 May 2014

The SES needs to better understand the location, availability and skills of its volunteers so it can properly plan for emergency events. It needs to improve how it selects and retains the right volunteers and provide more up-to-date and focused training.

The SES has improved volunteer safety with injury claims falling by 40 per cent to 70 in the four years to 30 June 2013. The average cost of claims has fallen by 58 per cent to $3,547. The SES attributes this reduction to better equipment and work practices. 

Parliamentary reference - Report number #240 - released 15 April 2014

Fire and Rescue NSW do not know whether all its firefighters are fit to perform their full range of operational duties. Once they are employed, there are no formal checks on firefighters’ health and fitness during their career. Also, while a health standard for firefighters has been developed it has not been agreed nor implemented.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #239 - released 1 April 2014