One in three ambulance crews were delayed for longer than 30 minutes at hospital. Over the year these delays totalled 84,680 hours of lost time, up from 78,224 last year and 58,399 the year before. The longer ambulance crews are at hospitals the less time they are available to respond to the next emergency.

Since the Victims’ Compensation Scheme started in 1989, $1.6 billion has been paid to victims of crime, but only $57.4 million or nearly four per cent has been recovered from convicted offenders. The remaining 96 per cent has been funded by the taxpayer.

Last year it was reported that the cost to remediate contaminated sites in New South Wales is largely unknown and that remains the case today. It is noted that this is unlikely to change because parties responsible for contaminated sites can choose not to provide remediation costs, for sites regulated by EPA. The complexity and uniqueness of each contaminated site adds to the difficulty of accurately estimating costs.

The audits of the seven State owned electricity corporations resulted in unqualified audit opinions. The electricity corporations’ end-of-year financial reporting is sound and well established, he added. After tax profits rose to $1.2 billion, up from $1.1 billion in 2010-11 and contributions to Government rose to $1.4 billion, up from $1.2 billion in 2010-11. These figures exclude profits and special dividends from the 2010-11 electricity sale transactions.

The following overview of audits from 2011 found agency restructures significantly impacted agency financial reporting processes, agencies are having difficulty establishing and enforcing compliance with their own policies and procedures, agencies experienced problems complying with regulations and providing adequate documentation to support their financial statements, the poor quality of some financial statements with 1,256 misstatements identified, 540 so significant they had to be corrected, deficiencies in information security exist across many agencies, computer system disaster recovery plans for financial systems not existing or outdated, do not align with agencies’ business recovery requirements, do not properly identify and assess critical systems and processes and testing is incomplete.

Neither agency (NSW Ministry of Health and NSW Police Force) demonstrated that they continued to get value for money over the life of these long term contracts or that they had effectively managed all critical elements of the three contracts we reviewed post award. This is because both agencies treated contract extensions or renewals as simply continuing previous contractual arrangements, rather than as establishing a new contract and financial commitment. Consequently, there was not a robust analysis of the continuing need for the mix and quantity of services being provided or an assessment of value for money in terms of the prices being paid.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #220 - released 1 February 2012

Over 96 per cent of the audit recommendations made were accepted by the agencies. And more than half of these recommendations have been implemented. In addition, many of the problems identified in the 1999 audits have been addressed. For over 90 per cent of recommendations there has been some measurable change in practices or performance.

In general, the approach taken by the agencies to monitor and report on the progress of implementation could be improved. Agencies should establish arrangements, like an audit committee, to follow up on the progress of implementation of the recommendations and report on the progress of the implementation of recommendations in their annual report to Parliament.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #86 - released 14 September 2001

The acceptance of audit recommendations by agencies in the current review was high and represented 96 per cent of the recommendations made. In addition, half of the recommendations in the 1998 audits have been adequately addressed and for over 70 per cent of recommendations there has been some measurable change in practices or performance.

But overall, most of these improvements have been incremental. And, for nearly one third of the recommendations, changes have not yet taken effect and there is a risk that the issue or problem contained in the original reports may persist. There is also a danger that current reporting arrangements may not provide Parliament sufficient assurance as to the extent accepted recommendations have been implemented and improvements have been achieved. 

To provide greater transparency and accountability, agencies, following a performance audit, should establish arrangements, such as an audit committee, to follow up on the progress of implementation of the recommendations and report on the progress of the implementation of recommendations in their annual report to Parliament.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #84 - released 21 June 2001

Correctional Industries (CIs) have come a long way in NSW.  CIs have grown to employ rates of inmates which rank amongst the highest in the world.  This is a commendable achievement by the Department. Whilst there are other notable achievements to date, the Audit Office believes that CIs have developed to a stage where they can, and should, tackle even more challenging issues.

The audit is found that to optimise the development of inmates for employability purposes, further actions are needed to improve CIs’ effectiveness. Among these is the option to shift the inmate development focus towards providing inmates with broader, foundational employability skills which are transferable to the wide variety of work they may pursue upon release. There would also be benefit in using more specific performance indicators to monitor and assess CIs’ achievements against this objective.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #83 - released 13 June 2001

The regulatory framework introduced under the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997, along with other initiatives progressively being implemented by the Environment Protection Authority (EPA), should enhance the overall effectiveness of environment protection in NSW. The Audit Office is of the opinion that the framework is consistent with best practice and once fully implemented, should contribute to the achievement of further improvements in the environmental performance of industry.

However while the legislative framework supports best practice in regulation and enforcement, there are a number of issues which limit the effectiveness of the reforms. Some of the problems, such as the quality of licences and the effectiveness of compliance activities, have been identified by the EPA and may be addressed through recent initiatives.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #82 - released 18 April 2001