Progress has been made to address the issues raised in our 1999 audit report on the enforcement of street parking. The major achievement has been the transfer of primary responsibility for the enforcement of street parking from NSW Police to local councils in 2002. There is, however, one recommendation that has not been advanced to the extent we believe is warranted. Legislation needs to be reviewed in respect of multiple infringements, penalty structures and fine strategies for drivers from overseas.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #120 - released 10 December 2003

Our view is that decisions need to be made on a more strategic basis, if the Government’s aspirations for Sydney Harbour’s foreshores are to be met. At present there are high-level ‘aspirations’, but there is no overarching strategy or plan for Sydney Harbour that can guide individual decisions. Decision-making appears to be triggered when a proposal is made to dispose of a particular property. Decisions to dispose of, retain, or change the use of individual properties should be made in the context of a broader strategy, rather than on a case-by-case basis.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #119 - released 26 November 2003

Overall, we found there have been some improvements in the quality of annual reports since 2000. Most agencies now report key outcomes and results, provide performance data and trends and employ both qualitative and quantitative measures of performance. However, there was considerable variation in the quality of performance information in annual reports. Some agencies still focus on reporting activities and projects rather than outcomes and results. And agencies still face major challenges in producing a balanced report. Few agencies used performance targets, declared or discussed setbacks, linked costs to results or provided benchmark comparisons.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #118 - released 1 October 2003

In response to the 1999 audit, both Offices focussed on improving the transparency and consistency of decisions. Both introduced client service standards and implemented systems to improve their management of complaints. In addition, the Office of the Protective Commissioner (OPC) introduced six monthly financial statements which are sent to clients or their carers. However, there are three recommendations from the 1999 audit that are not fully implemented although progress has been made in addressing the issues. These matters relate to establishing external appeal mechanisms and the review of OPC client fees.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #117 - released 24 September 2003

We recognise that managing waiting times is a difficult and complex task. Waiting times are influenced by many factors, some of which are outside the control of NSW Health. There are, however, steps which NSW Health could, and should, take to ensure that the processes to manage waiting times are efficient and effective. By all measures used by NSW Health, patients are waiting longer for elective treatment today than six or seven years ago. In March 2003 patients admitted to elective medical or surgical treatment had waited, on average, 1.8 months, whereas in March 1997 they would have waited on average 1.1 months.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #116 - released 18 September 2003

Freedom of Information (FOI) Coordinators and their staff were supportive of the legislation. However, the agencies examined can do considerably more to fully achieve the intentions of the Act. On the positive side, all three agencies had processes in place to handle requests and had made a number of changes to improve the effectiveness of the FOI process. Fees and charges had also been kept to a minimum. No processing fees were requested in the majority of cases, and if charged, were not unreasonable.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #114 - released 28 August 2003

Some form of teacher performance assessment has been in place in NSW public schools for the past 40 years and the scheme has been significantly enhanced through its inclusion in the 2000 Award. We welcome these changes. However, we are of the opinion that further changes are required to improve its effectiveness. We have two issues of concern. Firstly, that the scheme may not provide for fair and consistent assessments across all schools. Secondly, that the annual performance review does not allow a teacher who is not a probationer or on a formal improvement program to be rated as anything other than ‘efficient’.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #109 - released 14 May 2003

In 1998 NSW Health developed Waste Management Guidelines to promote continuous improvement in waste management across the public health sector. Systematic implementation of the Guidelines was impeded in 1999- 2000 by resistance from the waste industry and transport workers. Since then, NSW Health has not actively promoted waste management in public hospitals. As a consequence Area Health Services (AHSs) and hospitals have developed separate and individual responses to waste management. This has resulted in inconsistent management of waste by public hospitals, inappropriate segregation of waste and additional costs of waste disposal.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #105 - released 10 December 2002

In our view, the agencies we studied cannot be sure that the grants they allocate align with their corporate objectives, and that program outcomes are achieved. This is mainly due to problems with grant selection and the evaluation of results. It was good to see that most of the grants programs had funding objectives which were fairly clear. But we found problems across most programs which could affect the fair and equitable selection of grants, such as, often no procedures for assessing applications, no assessment guidelines for advisory committees, often no clear rationale for assessments and poor documentation of the reasons for decisions.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #104 - released 4 December 2002

Agencies have managed the planning of outsourcing in a competent way. All agencies satisfactorily managed the contractual aspects of outsourcing. The Audit Office is of the opinion, however, that there is no objective evidence to demonstrate that agencies have achieved their goals in outsourcing IT. Most agencies had identified the current and expected costs and risks of outsourcing. Agencies were not able to demonstrate that the actual costs of outsourcing matched the expected costs.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #103 - released 23 October 2002