Reports
Actions for Distributing Legal Aid in New South Wales
Distributing Legal Aid in New South Wales
We found the Commission to be performing well in delivering legal aid services. It has maintained and expanded services despite funding pressures and increasing demand. Overall, we found the Commission’s practices of making people aware of legal issues and its services to be comprehensive. Communication is via brochures, telephone and internet. We also found its processing of applications for legal aid to be sound. Parliamentary reference - Repo
Actions for Attracting, retaining and managing Nurses in hospitals
Attracting, retaining and managing Nurses in hospitals
The department has done well to attract and retain nurses. Between 2001-02 and 2005-06 the average number of nurses employed increased to 39,804 with the annual resignation rate falling from 16 to 14 per cent. Overall, the public health sector gained 5,588 nurses, representing an average annual increase of four per cent. Despite the gains, there are indicators that there may still not be enough nurses. Parliamentary reference - Report numbe
Actions for The Police Assistance Line: Follow-up audit
The Police Assistance Line: Follow-up audit
In this 2006 follow-up audit, we found that NSW Police had addressed most of the key areas for improvement we identified in 2003. The contact centre which operates the Police Assistance Line (PAL) is well managed, and has implemented several improvements since our 2003 audit. The centre’s speed in answering and handling PAL calls is better than in 2003. Caller satisfaction with PAL services is high, and NSW Police calculate it releases 200 police fo
Actions for Helping older people access a residential aged care facility
Helping older people access a residential aged care facility
Assessment processes for older people needing to go to an Residential Aged Care Facility (RACF) vary depending on the processes of the Aged Care Assessement Teams (ACAT) they see and whether or not they are in hospital. The data collected on ACAT performance was significantly revised during 2004 making comparisons with subsequent years problematic. ACATs have more responsibilities than assessing older people for residential care. It is not clea
Actions for Major infectious disease outbreaks: Readiness to response
Major infectious disease outbreaks: Readiness to response
NSW Health is working to increase its preparedness to respond to a major infectious disease outbreak. It is also contributing to the development of national policies, strategies and capabilities, which affect its level of preparedness. We found however little evidence that other jurisdictions were significantly further advanced than NSW in preparation and testing of plans for a pandemic. In our view NSW Health needs to balance the costs of over-prep
Actions for Educating primary school students with disabilities
Educating primary school students with disabilities
Special education programs so far have been able to support schools to accommodate these students and as a result, we have an inclusive education system. Our concern is that as the number of students with disabilities increases, pressure will be placed on both funding and the capacity of schools to provide quality services. The Government’s special education initiative is a positive step towards addressing these problems. Nevertheless, other changes nee
Actions for The Cross City Tunnel Project
The Cross City Tunnel Project
In our opinion the Government’s ‘no net cost to government’ requirement was a legitimate (but not the only possible) basis for the tunnel bid process. The Government was entitled to decide that tunnel users meet the tunnel costs. Structuring the bid process on the basis of an upfront reimbursement of costs incurred (or to be incurred) by the Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) was therefore appropriate. In our opinion, however, the Government, Treasu
Actions for Prisoner Rehabilitation
Prisoner Rehabilitation
In recent years the department has significantly changed its approach to rehabilitating prisoners. It has introduced programs to address offending behaviour based on evidence of what works. It has also formed partnerships with other agencies to help reintegrate prisoners into the community. We believe the department is on the right path and should continue building on these initiatives. Despite these efforts, almost one in two prisoners return to prison
Actions for NSW Senior Executive Service: Professionalism and Integrity Volume 1 Part 1 Summary and Research Report
NSW Senior Executive Service: Professionalism and Integrity Volume 1 Part 1 Summary and Research Report
The Audit Office is of the opinion that there are several features of the current Senior Executive Service (SES) model, or its application, which hinder the capacity of the SES to operate effectively in line with the Government’s stated objectives. The ultimate effect of these features is to reduce the capacity or perceived capacity of the SES to meet the Government’s objectives for the operation of the SES. Taken overall, difficulties in the SES i
Actions for NSW Senior Executive Service: Professionalism and Integrity Volume 1 Part 2 SES Research
NSW Senior Executive Service: Professionalism and Integrity Volume 1 Part 2 SES Research
This Performance Audit Report, prepared by the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) on behalf of The Audit Office of New South Wales (NSW), is a study of the NSW Senior Executive Service (SES). It found the dissonance between where optimal executive performance might take place on a performance spectrum, encompassing the formal SES and less formal political arenas, is canvassed. The critical point here is that this arena, between the informal politica