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 spend over $73 billion on programs to deliver services.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #277 - released 3 November 2016

New South Wales has a lower rate of foodborne illness than the national average. This reflects some good practices in the NSW Food Authority’s approach to monitoring food safety standards. It also is a factor of the long-standing commitment by local councils’ to ensuring retail food businesses meet these standards.

To ensure foodborne illness remains low, the Authority needs to better monitor its arrangements with councils which inspect retail food businesses on its behalf, and receive additional and more timely information from councils on compliance with food safety standards.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #274 - released 15 September 2016

The management of the sale and lease of Crown land is not effective because oversight of decision-making is inadequate and community involvement is limited, according to a report released today by NSW Auditor-General, Margaret Crawford.

The audit found limited oversight of sales and leases of Crown land by the Department of Industry - Lands. The Department has only just started monitoring whether tenants are complying with lease conditions, and does not have a clear view of what is happening on most leased Crown land. The majority of guidance provided to staff has not been updated in the past decade, contributing to staff not correctly implementing policies on rental rebates, unpaid rent, rent redeterminations and the direct negotiation of sales and leases on Crown land.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #273 - released 8 September 2016

Overall, NSW Government initiatives and processes to prevent and reduce red tape were not effective, according to a report released today by the NSW Auditor-General.

In 2015, the Government reported that its red tape reduction initiatives, implemented between 2011 and 2015, had resulted in $896 million in savings. While these initiatives resulted in some savings, the total value of savings is unknown because estimates for some initiatives were based on unverified assumptions, cost transfers or unrealised projections.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #272 - released 25 August 2016

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 is below the benchmark, but is a significant improvement on 2013 when 59 per cent were enrolled.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #271 - released 26 May 2016

The Department of Education is doing a reasonable job in managing how well students with disability transition to a new school and supporting teachers to improve these students’ educational outcomes, according to a report released today by the NSW Auditor-General, Margaret Crawford.

The level of support provided to students with disability can vary between schools. This is partly due to cultural resistance in some schools and teachers not always having the necessary skills to support children with disability.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #270 - released 12 May 2016

Juvenile Justice prepares and assists young people to reintegrate into the community reasonably well, given the complex needs of young people in detention, according to a report released today by the NSW Auditor-General, Margaret Crawford.

Juvenile Justice has many processes and programs to identify and address young people’s needs while in detention and links them to relevant support services in the community. It still faces some significant barriers which make reintegration difficult. Some are within its control to fix, such as improving training and recreational activities available to young people in detention. Others relate to external factors, such as the capacity of other organisations to address their reintegration needs like housing, education and employment, and a young person’s period of detention.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #269 - released 28 April 2016

Overall, the governance arrangements for unsolicited proposals are adequate. However, there needs to be greater transparency and public reporting on unsolicited proposals received by government, according to a report released today by the NSW Acting Auditor-General, Tony Whitfield.

'Unsolicited proposals warrant more disclosure as they pose a greater risk to value for money than procurements done through open, competitive and transparent processes,” said Mr Whitfield. “This could include aggregate information about why proposals are declined, as well as more extensive information about proposals that have progressed beyond the preliminary and strategic assessment stages', he added.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #268 - released 10 March 2016

The effectiveness of Corrective Services NSW’s performance framework is limited because organisational key performance indicators (KPIs) do not cascade to public correctional centres, according to a report released today by the Acting New South Wales Auditor-General, Tony Whitfield.

'As a result, individual public correctional centres could not be assessed on how well they are contributing to overall Corrective Service objectives, and it is difficult to vary performance expectations in response to changing operating environments', said Mr Whitfield. 'Its commissioning and contestability project is designed to address these issues', he added.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #267 - released 3 March 2016

The current benefits realisation approach for Service NSW needs to improve so benefits and savings can be effectively measured, reported and realised, according to a report released today by the NSW Acting Auditor-General, Tony Whitfield.

Customers are finding that Service NSW provides a convenient and practical way to access all government transaction services.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #266 - released 17 February 2016