Schools and the community would benefit if school facilities were shared more often.  The Department of Education’s ‘Community Use of School Facilities Policy’ encourages but does not require schools to share facilities. Sharing depends heavily on the willingness of school principals and there are few incentives. There are many challenges in developing agreements with community users and there is only limited support available from the Department. Ther

Several factors are reducing effective use of information and communication technology (ICT) in the classroom. These are primarily: ageing ICT equipment and inadequate wireless networks variable student access to devices at school variable teacher access to centrally provided devices for use outside of the classroom. Information and communication technologies (ICT) are pervasive in mode

In November 2013, Roads and Maritime Services (RMS) outsourced the maintenance of State roads in the Sydney region south and west zones using an innovative contracting approach called the Stewardship Maintenance Contract (SMC). The SMC links risk to reward, and uses a performance framework where outcomes should drive improved performance over time. RMS’ SMC contract management includes most elements of good practice, including governance and dispute re

The processes used to assess NorthConnex adequately considered value for money for taxpayers.This report also found that the impact of tolling concessions on road users and the motorway network was consistent with policy objectives described in the 2012 NSW Long Term Transport Master Plan. NorthConnex is a nine-kilometre tolled motorway tunnel between

The Department of Education proposes to fundamentally reform school infrastructure planning and delivery to meet the future demand for student places, and to overcome chronic under-investment for much of the last decade. To do this, it will need to spend much more than it has been receiving to date. The Department of Education (Department) must provide students with a place in a government s

This report focuses on key observations and findings from 2016 audits and highlights key areas of focus for financial and performance audits in 2017. The quality and timeliness of financial reporting continued to improve across the NSW public sector in 2016. Only one qualified audit opinion was issued and most agencies signed their financial statements on time. We found the Government’s cluster governance arrangements were unclear and inconsistently i

Transport for NSW did not effectively plan and procure the CBD and South East Light Rail (CSELR) project to achieve best value for money according to a report released today by NSW Auditor-General, Margaret Crawford. Transport for NSW is on track to deliver the project, but it will come at a higher cost with lower benefits than in the approved business case.   Parliamentary reference - Report number #278 - released 30 November 2016

In a report released today, the NSW Auditor-General, Margaret Crawford provides a snapshot of reported fraud in the NSW public sector and an analysis of NSW Government agencies’ fraud controls based on a survey of 102 agencies.

The NSW Government’s ‘program evaluation initiative’, introduced to assess whether service delivery programs achieve expected outcomes and value for money, is largely ineffective according to a report released today by NSW Auditor-General, Margaret Crawford. Government services, in areas such as public order and safety, health and education, are delivered by agencies through a variety of programs. In 2016–17, the NSW Government estimates that it will sp

Enrolments in quality early childhood education programs in New South Wales are increasing but are below the national benchmark, according to a report released today by the NSW Auditor-General, Margaret Crawford. Ninety-five per cent of children should be enrolled in at least 600 hours in the year before school, but according to the latest NSW figures 77 per cent of children were enrolled in quality early childhood education programs. This 2015 figure i