Reports
Actions for Managing Forensic Analysis: Fingerprints and DNA
Managing Forensic Analysis: Fingerprints and DNA
Fingerprints and DNA play a critical role in solving crime and serving justice, but DNA evidence can result in more arrests, more prosecutions and more convictions. We found that while police effectively prioritise fingerprint evidence, it could better manage the screening and analysis of both fingerprint and DNA evidence to reduce delays.
Parliamentary reference - Report number #195 - released 10 February 2010
Actions for Helping Aboriginal Defendants through MERIT
Helping Aboriginal Defendants through MERIT
The Magistrates Early Referral into Treatment program (MERIT) diverts adult defendants with drug problems from the local court into a drug treatment program. Recent studies of MERIT outcomes indicate that MERIT is a highly appropriate intervention program for Aboriginal defendants. It has improved the health of participants, including significant reduction in drug use and significant improvement in mental health. Better justice outcomes include lower rates of imprisonment and reduced rates of reoffending.
Overall, the ability to identify MERIT clients, the eligibility criteria, the location and the ability of MERIT teams to engage with Aboriginal defendants are key factors that limit MERIT’s capacity to treat Aboriginal defendants. MERIT needs to overcome these barriers. If MERIT is to be a truly mainstream program, it must adapt to meet the needs of all who should participate.
Parliamentary reference - Report number #189 - released 5 August 2009
Actions for Tackling Cancer with Radiotherapy
Tackling Cancer with Radiotherapy
Overall radiotherapy services are managed in a reasonably efficient and effective manner. Much is being done to further improve efficiency and effectiveness, and more can be done. While New South Wales has a number of well-established radiotherapy treatment centres, the high capital cost limits their availability in all hospitals. Some patients need to travel long distances and be away from their homes for up to seven weeks. The projected growth in demand for radiotherapy services will further challenge NSW Health and it needs to more clearly demonstrate how it will have the right facilities in the right place at the right time.
Parliamentary reference - Report number #188 - released 23 June 2009
Actions for Grants Administration
Grants Administration
We found no significant difference in the funding of government and opposition electorates. However, more money was given to electorates that were safely held by the major parties. These seats received $1.29 for every dollar given to marginal and independent seats with government marginals getting the least. Electorates also receive different levels of funding according to which region they are in. Such variations may reflect valid agency objectives such as meeting State Plan targets or addressing socio-economic disadvantage.
But while agencies publish who gets what, they do not adequately evaluate or explain what grant programs have achieved. As a result, there is a risk that New South Wales may not get the best value for its spending. We recommend that agencies regularly evaluate their grant programs and publish the results.
Parliamentary reference - Report number #186 - released 6 May 2009
Actions for Readiness to respond: Follow-up audit
Readiness to respond: Follow-up audit
The Ambulance Service of New South Wales has substantially implemented the 28 recommendations of the 2001 audit report that it accepted. It has also introduced significant new initiatives to improve performance that were not part of the 2001 recommendations. It has made substantial changes to its organisation and operations to implement these changes. Many of the changes are still proceeding. The Service has addressed a key finding of the 2001 audit report - that it did not have adequate, relevant or credible management data for decision making. The Service now has five years of operational data from the Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system.
Parliamentary reference - Report number #167 - released 6 June 2007
Actions for Responding to homelessness
Responding to homelessness
Many projects, both Partnership Against Homelessness and by individual agencies, have shown good results or led to improvements. One example is helping mental health patients maintain stable housing. Another is providing street outreach services to homeless people in inner Sydney. Despite these efforts, we were unable to determine how well the government is responding to homelessness statewide. This is because there are no statewide performance measures or targets on homelessness. Also there is limited benchmarking, and no formal means of spreading information on homelessness initiatives and projects.
Parliamentary reference - Report number #165 - released 2 May 2007