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Reports

Published

Actions for Improving Literacy and Numeracy in Public Schools

Improving Literacy and Numeracy in Public Schools

Education
Internal controls and governance
Management and administration
Service delivery
Workforce and capability

During the course of the audit we were impressed by the dedication and efforts of teachers in NSW public schools, particularly when dealing with the needs of students with learning difficulties. Although NSW schools perform well nationally and internationally, NSW has a high concentration of poor outcomes in some schools and some regions. Each year a group of between 5 and 15 per cent of children are at risk of not reaching the minimum level of achieveme

Published

Actions for Delivering Health Care out of Hospitals

Delivering Health Care out of Hospitals

Health
Management and administration
Project management
Service delivery
Workforce and capability

Area Health Services and hospitals have developed programs which can provide clinical outcomes as good for patients as in-hospital care and can reduce the time they spend in hospital. They have operated for several years and show considerable potential. Ageing of the population, increasing costs and higher expectations of health care will continue to challenge health systems. Sometimes, unfortunately, the system struggles to cope.    Par

Published

Actions for Protecting our Rivers

Protecting our Rivers

Environment
Industry
Compliance
Internal controls and governance
Management and administration
Regulation
Shared services and collaboration

At the time of our 2003 audit agencies were unable to measure the water quality in NSW rivers as they had not established a comprehensive and ongoing monitoring system for water quality. Agencies are now developing a monitoring system to measure the progress against the State Plan 2006 target to improve the condition of riverine ecosystems by 2015. It may not be possible to identify an overall trend in the condition of riverine ecosystems by the State Pl

Published

Actions for Managing the Amalgamation of the Greyhound and Harness Racing Regulatory Authority

Managing the Amalgamation of the Greyhound and Harness Racing Regulatory Authority

Industry
Information technology
Internal controls and governance
Management and administration
Project management
Shared services and collaboration
Workforce and capability

The Authority has achieved staff reductions and salary related savings in line with targets. That said, the amalgamation was not project managed effectively. It has been slow to implement some of its key objectives against plans and the costs of the amalgamation have increased to the extent that it is unable to meet key objectives. Stakeholders are dissatisfied with the amalgamation outcomes. This dissatisfaction would have been mitigated with bette

Published

Actions for Implementing Successful Amalgamations

Implementing Successful Amalgamations

Finance
Internal controls and governance
Management and administration
Project management
Service delivery
Shared services and collaboration

The Better Practice Guide (BPG) aims to provide guidance for those implementing an amalgamation. It provides a series of questions identifying what needs to be done to achieve a successful amalgamation following the formal announcement of the amalgamation and the Administrative Orders for the new arrangements being finalised. The BPG’s aim is to alert those managing an amalgamation to actions that should be considered. How the Guide is applied will

Published

Actions for Managing Departmental Amalgamations

Managing Departmental Amalgamations

Industry
Finance
Internal controls and governance
Management and administration
Project management
Service delivery
Shared services and collaboration

Both Commerce and DPI substantially achieved their stated amalgamation savings objectives as set by government. The departments are expected to achieve savings targets of about $150 million and $190 million respectively over their first four years. Our analysis indicates that there are two key factors in successful amalgamations. The first is effective early planning by departments based on clear objectives, supported by quick action. Second, significant

Published

Actions for Ageing Workforce - Teachers

Ageing Workforce - Teachers

Education
Management and administration
Service delivery
Workforce and capability

The Department of Education and Training including TAFE NSW is faced with the loss of large numbers of retiring teachers and their associated skills and the need to replace this loss in an increasingly competitive labour environment. While the overall impact of the ageing workforce is likely to be gradual, there is still a risk of shortages. This will particularly apply to specialist secondary school teachers and TAFE teachers in certain skill sets

Published

Actions for Improving efficiency of irrigation water use on farms

Improving efficiency of irrigation water use on farms

Industry
Management and administration
Procurement
Service delivery
Shared services and collaboration

The Department of Primary Industries (DPI) has a crucial role in assisting the irrigation industry to respond to the conflicting demands placed upon the state’s water resources. The State Plan emphasises the importance of water to agriculture, and gives DPI responsibility to use its training programs to help farmers continue to increase water use efficiency. DPI needs to work closely with agencies with which it shares responsibilities in the St

Published

Actions for Government Advertising 2007

Government Advertising 2007

Premier and Cabinet
Finance
Compliance
Internal controls and governance
Management and administration
Regulation

Since our performance audit in 1995 the government has improved guidance for agencies and introduced a more robust framework for approving advertising campaigns. Greater rigour has been introduced into the process by requiring campaigns to be peer reviewed and approved by Cabinet. This new approach aims to improve the effectiveness and value for money of government advertising. We found however that the current guidelines are not adequate to prevent

Published

Actions for Signal failures on the metropolitan rail network

Signal failures on the metropolitan rail network

Transport
Information technology
Infrastructure
Internal controls and governance
Project management
Risk
Service delivery

Between 2004 and 2006, the number of signalling failures, signalling downtime and the number of trains delayed as a result of signal failures all fell. RailCorp’s on-time running performance improved over the same period. The fall in failures is a clear indication of improved performance. Changes in the definition of on-time and to the timetable during 2005 and 2006 however make it difficult to determine whether improvements in response downtime and sign