Reports
Actions for Effectiveness of the New Death and Disability Scheme
Effectiveness of the New Death and Disability Scheme
More NSW Police officers are returning to work after being injured and there are fewer medical discharges as a result of the new NSW Police death and disability scheme. The new scheme is also costing less and if early trends continue, costs may fall sufficiently to meet the government’s target. Parliamentary reference - Report number #242 - released 22 May 2014
Actions for NSW State Emergency Service Management of Volunteers
NSW State Emergency Service Management of Volunteers
The SES needs to better understand the location, availability and skills of its volunteers so it can properly plan for emergency events. It needs to improve how it selects and retains the right volunteers and provide more up-to-date and focused training. The SES has improved volunteer safety with injury claims falling by 40 per cent to 70 in the four years to 30 June 2013. The average cost of claims has fallen by 58 per cent to $3,547. The SES attribute
Actions for The coordination of bushfire fighting activities
The coordination of bushfire fighting activities
The NSW model of rural fire fighting is complex, and requires an extensive amount of coordination and cooperation to function properly. This has inherent risks. In general, the model has been made to work quite well and much improvement in rural fire fighting has been achieved over the past decade. The efforts of all concerned should be recognised and applauded especially since any change must be developed cooperatively between a number of agencies and g
Actions for Planning statewide services
Planning statewide services
The Audit Office is of the view that: there is no system wide plan for the location of emergency departments. This function is undertaken by each Area Health Service coordination between the Department and the NSW Ambulance Service could be improved in aspects such as the collocation of facilities and direct communications between ambulances and emergency departments there is no policy framework that recognises the increasing role and impa
Actions for Police response to fraud
Police response to fraud
This audit was initiated following concerns expressed by the Department of Agriculture about the Police’s handling of a suspected fraud that it had first reported in 1996. The Department’s main concern related to the long delays before a full Police investigation took place. Nevertheless, the current review highlighted a number of areas that, in the opinion of The Audit Office, require closer examination and resolution by the Police Service in implement
Actions for Management of sickness absence NSW public sector volume 1
Management of sickness absence NSW public sector volume 1
Information relating to the NSW public sector wide sickness absence levels, unlike in some other states, are presently not maintained or monitored centrally. The salaries and wages paid to individuals whilst on sickness absence on a public sector wide basis in 1996-97 was estimated to be $368.3m. This estimate does not take into account any flow -on effect resulting from sickness absence, eg overtime or other replacement cost. Improved management o
Actions for Management of sickness absence NSW Public Sector: Volume Two, The Survey - Detailed findings
Management of sickness absence NSW Public Sector: Volume Two, The Survey - Detailed findings
This Volume, Volume Two: The Survey - Detailed Findings, is the second of a two part Performance Audit Report on Management of Sickness Absence New South Wales Public Sector. The first volume, Volume One: Executive Briefing, identifies the main issues of sickness absenteeism identified during the audit. This Report Volume, Volume Two: The Survey - Detailed Findings, presents the more detailed findings of the audit which were gathered from: the revi
Actions for The levying and collection of Land Tax
The levying and collection of Land Tax
Land tax has a significantly higher cost to collection ratio than other State taxes. In part this is because of its design. But there are opportunities to reduce collection costs within current policy constraints. The Office of State Revenue (OSR) has been actively pursuing better practice initiatives for some time and a substantial range of improvements has been made. OSR is continuing these efforts. However, inadequate systems and continued difficultie
Actions for Police response to calls for assistance
Police response to calls for assistance
While central communications units are responsible for broadcasting calls from the public for assistance to police cars; these units have no authority over those police cars. And while local police commands are responsible for police deployment, they have no ready capability to communicate with their police cars. The report also found that Local police management have limited contemporaneous knowledge of what their response resources are doing, and
Actions for Redevelopment proposal for East Fairfield (Villawood) Estate
Redevelopment proposal for East Fairfield (Villawood) Estate
This audit examines the processes which led to the Government’s decision to demolish and sell the East Fairfield (Villawood) housing estate at a cost of nearly $32m gross ($17m net). In doing so, the audit focuses on whether the decision process demonstrates that it is an efficient and effective use of government funds. The audit raises a number of concerns about the decision-making process. Although demolition and redevelopment may have been the most e