Responses to 2012–13 Performance Audit Recommendations

Overview

The objective of this audit was to determine the extent of agency response to, and monitoring of, VAGO performance audit recommendations, focusing on recommendations from the 2012–13 audits. This included 47 public sector agencies.

We found that public sector agencies are responding to, and monitoring progress against, VAGO performance audit recommendations. Agencies fully accept the majority, 94 per cent, of the actions recommended by performance audits. At September 2014, agencies reported having completed, or substantially completed, 71 per cent of the recommended actions. This is encouraging and indicates the value of performance audit recommendations in driving change.

However, there is room for improvement in agency approaches to monitoring performance audit recommendations. A minority, 15 per cent, of agencies do not have their audit committee or board monitoring progress against performance audit recommendations. Twenty-eight per cent of agencies monitor progress half-yearly or less frequently. Only four agencies report that they verify management progress reports. The quality of many agency reports submitted to VAGO suggests that those responsible for monitoring progress should apply a greater level of scrutiny.

This is the first of a series of reports that we will publish annually focusing on agency responses to recommendations from prior audits.

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Responses to 2012–13 Performance Audit Recommendations: Message

Ordered to be published

VICTORIAN GOVERNMENT PRINTER FEBRUARY 2015

PP No 4, Session 2014–15

The Hon. Bruce Atkinson MLC

President

Legislative Council

Parliament House

Melbourne

The Hon. Telmo Languiller MP

Speaker

Legislative Assembly

Parliament House

Melbourne

Dear Presiding Officers

Under the provisions of section 16AB of the Audit Act 1994, I transmit the Auditor-General's report on the audit Responses to 2012–13 Performance Audit Recommendations.

The objective of this audit was to determine the extent of agency response to, and monitoring of, 2012–13 VAGO performance audit recommendations.

We found that public sector agencies are responding to, and monitoring progress against, performance audit recommendations. At September 2014, agencies reported having completed or substantially completed 71 per cent of the recommended actions. This is encouraging and indicates the value of performance audit recommendations in driving change.

However, there is room for improvement. Not all agencies have their audit committee monitoring progress against performance audit recommendations, or monitor progress frequently enough. Very few agencies verify management progress reports. The quality of many agency reports suggests that those responsible for monitoring progress should apply a greater level of scrutiny.

Yours faithfully

Signature of Peter Frost (Acting Auditor-General)

Peter Frost

Acting Auditor-General

11 February 2015

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Auditor-General's comments

John Doyle

Auditor-General

Audit team

Renee Cassidy—Engagement Leader

Karen Ellingford—Analyst

Engagement Quality Control Reviewer

Kate Kuring

My primary role as the Victorian Auditor-General is to provide assurance to Parliament and the public on the economy, efficiency and effectiveness of the public sector and its compliance with relevant legislation. This function is a cornerstone of our system of government, providing an independent assessment of public sector performance to guide Parliamentary and community decision-making.

This work also provides a valuable opportunity to recommend ways to address the performance issues we identify. This is how we work towards VAGO's vision of being a catalyst for continuous improvement. Our performance audits cover a wide range of public sector agencies, services and issues, and as such have the capacity to make a significant positive impact. However, this can only be achieved when public sector agencies proactively engage with us in developing recommendations, which they own and enact.

This is my first report examining the extent to which public sector agencies monitor and respond to performance audit recommendations. I intend to make this an annual exercise, providing an independent, overarching assessment of public sector progress reports together with all the individual agency responses.

This inaugural report, focusing on recommendations from 2012–13 performance audits, provides a baseline from which to assess future improvement. It is pleasing to see high levels of acceptance of performance audit recommendations and reports of completed and substantially completed actions.

However, many responses lack sufficient information to fully address recommendations and show inconsistencies between the action, the completion status and dates given. I was also disappointed that many agencies take months to commence work to address audit recommendations and further that some agency responses were inaccurate as advised in their formal responses to the proposed report. Agency management can address these issues by improving the timeliness of their actions as well as the quality and accuracy of progress reporting.

These issues also highlight the need for greater oversight and verification by audit committees. I was surprised to see that not all agencies have audit committee or board level monitoring of recommendations. As a central agency and the entity responsible for Standing Directions under the Financial Management Act 1994 that outline audit committee responsibilities to monitor performance audit recommendations, I would have expected the Department of Treasury and Finance (DTF) to demonstrate best practice. To date, the DTF audit committee has not undertaken that role, though there are now indications that it will commence monitoring from this year.

I hope this report inspires all public sector agencies to reflect on how they monitor performance audit recommendations and consider what improvements may be needed.

The results of this report will inform my future follow-up audit program and we will seek to verify selected agency responses and report on these from 2015–16. I will also report next year on outstanding recommendations from 2012–13 performance audits, along with all recommendations from 2013–14 performance audits. Given recent machinery of government changes, agencies should ensure they are clear about responsibilities for all outstanding performance audit recommendations.

Signature of John Doyle (Auditor-General)

John Doyle

Auditor-General

February 2015

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Audit Summary

VAGO undertakes performance audits into the economy, efficiency and effectiveness of public sector agencies and their operations to provide assurance to Parliament and drive public sector improvement. We aim to achieve this by identifying issues and making recommendations to agencies about how to address them. However, our recommendations cannot result in improvements unless they are accepted and enacted by public sector agencies.

Under Standing Direction 2.6 (f) of the Financial Management Act 1994, audit committees of public sector agencies are required to monitor whether accepted recommendations are addressed in a timely manner. In 2012–13, we made 214 recommendations that included 411 specific actions to implement.

This performance audit examines whether the 47 public sector agencies subject to performance audit recommendations in 2012–13 can:

articulate responses to performance audit recommendations
- in a timely manner
- that directly address recommendations made to them
- that outline any action taken and, where relevant, time lines for further actions
identify and report on how they monitor responses to audit recommendations.

VAGO will continue to track agency progress in responding to performance audit recommendations by:

repeating this audit next year, and covering both outstanding 2012–13 recommendations and all 2013–14 recommendations
selecting a number of 2012–13 performance audits for limited scope follow-up audits that will seek to verify agency progress reports
seeking to verify some agency progress reports when undertaking new performance audits that assess related subject matter.

As this audit was undertaken prior to machinery of government changes on 1 January 2015, departments are referred to by their 2014 titles.

Conclusions

Public sector agencies are responding to, and monitoring progress against, VAGO performance audit recommendations. Agencies fully accept the majority of actions recommended by performance audits, 94 per cent for 2012–13. No recommended actions were rejected. At September 2014, agencies reported having completed or substantially completed 71 per cent of the 2012–13 recommended actions. This is encouraging and indicates the value of performance audit recommendations in driving change.

However, there is room for improvement in agency approaches to monitoring progress against performance audit recommendations. Audit committees and/or boards are responsible for monitoring progress at 85 per cent of the audited agencies. Responses for the remaining agencies indicate a lack of an organisational approach to monitoring performance audit recommendations.

Twenty-eight per cent of agencies monitor progress half-yearly or less frequently, limiting the ability of audit committees to assess the timeliness of management actions. Only five agencies report that they verify management progress reports. The quality of many agency reports submitted to VAGO suggests that those responsible for monitoring progress should apply a greater level of scrutiny. Often responses fail to fully address the recommendation and at times contradict the level of acceptance or completion stated.

Findings

Agency responses to 2012–13 recommendations

All 47 agencies provided responses against our recommended actions from the 2012–13 performance audits. We gave agencies the opportunity to restate whether they accepted the recommended actions. Agencies accepted 94 per cent of recommended actions and partially accepted the remainder. As at September 2014, agencies reported that of the 411 recommended actions:

60 per cent were completed
11 per cent were substantially completed
27 per cent were partially completed
2 per cent had no action.

For completed actions agencies report the average time from the performance audit report tabling to completion as 13 months. For actions still in progress, agencies report the average time to due date as 26 months. Agencies reported an average of 5.4 months to commence work against recommended actions.

We assessed whether agency responses directly addressed the recommended actions and clearly explained how all aspects of the recommendation were being implemented. Of the 386, or 94 per cent, of recommended actions fully accepted, agencies provided updates that directly responded to 329 of the recommended actions—85 per cent. When agencies failed to clearly address all parts of the recommendation, VAGO deemed that the agency did not directly respond.

We also found many issues with the quality of agency responses, particularly contradictions between the completion status, activity description and the dates given.

Monitoring recommendations

Most agencies, 85 per cent, report that their audit committee and/or board monitors progress against performance audit recommendations. The remaining agencies identified individuals, business units or a working group, specific to the audit subject matter, as responsible. This does not demonstrate an organisational approach to monitoring recommendations.

The frequency of monitoring varied:

27 per cent of agencies reported bi-monthly or monthly monitoring
45 per cent of agencies reported quarterly monitoring
15 per cent of agencies reported half-yearly monitoring
13 per cent of agencies reported monitoring annually or less frequently.

Updating progress reports half-yearly or less frequently limits the ability of those charged with oversight to assess the timeliness of management action to address issues raised by audits.

Only five agencies, the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, the Department of Environment and Primary Industries, the Department of Justice, the Victorian WorkCover Authority, and the Metropolitan Fire and Emergency Services Board reported having verification processes when asked to describe how they monitor progress against performance audit recommendations. This represents better practice and is consistent with expectations of Standing Direction 2.6 (f) of the Financial Management Act 1994.

We also expected portfolio departments to oversee how their portfolio entities are progressing against performance audit recommendations. Of the nine portfolio departments, only four reported monitoring this routinely.

Submissions and comments received

We have professionally engaged with all agencies and departments—see Appendix A for the list—throughout the course of the audit. In accordance with section 16(3) of the Audit Act 1994 we provided a copy of this report, or relevant extracts to those agencies, and an opportunity for their submissions or comments.

We have considered those views in reaching our audit conclusions and have represented them to the extent relevant and warranted. Their full section 16(3) submissions and comments are included in Appendix J.

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1 Background

1.1 Performance audits

1.1.1 Purpose of performance audits

Each year, VAGO undertakes a broad range of performance audits, culminating in reports to Parliament that contain findings and conclusions about the economy, efficiency and effectiveness of public services, and compliance with relevant legislation. These audits offer independent assurance to Parliament and the community about public sector performance. Performance audits may also identify better practice and are a catalyst for continuous improvement in the public sector.

1.1.2 Performance audit recommendations

Performance audit reports include recommendations designed to address any deficiencies identified by the audit and improve the management and delivery of public services.

The Audit Act 1994 requires the Auditor-General to ask audited agencies for submissions or comments on proposed reports and to publish these responses in the final report to Parliament. As part of these responses, the Auditor-General asks agencies to respond to recommendations, stating whether they accept them. Recently, the Auditor-General has also asked agencies to specify what actions they will take, and the timing of implementing our recommendations. These action plans will provide the foundation for following-up performance audit recommendations in the future.

In 2012–13, we audited 47 agencies as part of 29 performance audits, listed in full in Appendix A. We made 214 recommendations that included 411 specific actions to implement. We provided each of the audited agencies with an opportunity to respond to the audit reports and recommendations that involved them.

1.1.3 Monitoring and reporting of agency responses

The Auditor-General does not have powers to enforce recommendations made to audited agencies.

Agencies are required to monitor audit recommendations and enact planned responses under Standing Direction 2.6 (f) of the Financial Management Act 1994. This includes requirements for audit committees to:

recommend how the responsible body should act on advice received from external audit
monitor actions taken by management to resolve issues raised by external audit
monitor whether accepted recommendations of the external auditors are adopted and addressed by management on a timely basis
review the impact of actions taken by management intended to resolve issues.

This Standing Direction also refers to managements' role in responding to audit recommendations—that management act on and address recommendations in a timely way. Management must also provide sufficient progress reporting and evidence to audit committees to support them to comply with the Standing Direction.

Commencing with this report, VAGO will compile information on agencies' reported progress in implementing recommendations annually and report the results. Understanding and reporting on the extent to which public sector agencies are responding to and monitoring audit recommendations will:

increase the accountability of audited agencies for their responses to audit recommendations
provide valuable information to Parliament and the public
facilitate knowledge sharing across public sector agencies about how they are responding to the issues identified by audits.

Agencies will be required to report on progress against recommendations annually for up to three years after an audit. We will also examine the impact of actions taken by management to address performance audit recommendations through specific follow‑up audits.

1.1.4 Follow-up

The Public Accounts and Estimates Committee (PAEC) of Parliament selectively follow-up matters raised in Auditor-General's reports. PAEC may seek a briefing from VAGO and may also require an agency to provide further information and/or give evidence at a hearing. In September 2014, PAEC tabled a report on its latest follow-up inquiry of selected audits. The report contains an assessment of the status of 37 recommendations from eight audit reports completed between 2009 and 2011.

PAEC made two recommendations of particular relevance to public sector agencies in addressing and monitoring progress against performance audit recommendations:

'Agencies need to implement effective internal processes to monitor and track the complete and timely implementation of the Auditor-General's recommendations. Agency senior management, internal audit and audit committees all have an important role to play in this area. Agencies should develop detailed action plans for the implementation of audit recommendations which ensure that:

responsibilities for implementation are clearly assigned
a time frame for implementation is specified
regular reporting and acquittal of audit recommendations is made to the agency's senior management and audit committee.

Lead agencies strengthen their leadership and governance with regard to their operational and subsidiary agencies to ensure that those entities are fully appraised of the issues and recommendations raised in the Auditor-General's reports and to actively promote the effective implementation of the Auditor‑General's recommendations'.

VAGO has recently introduced its own follow-up program to enhance agency accountability and transparency in responding to performance audits. The follow-up program includes:

this report on the status of performance audit recommendations
a select number of limited-scope follow-up performance audits that will examine agency responses to past performance audit recommendations in more detail
new performance audits that include an assessment of agency responses to past recommendations in addition to new lines of inquiry.

The follow-up program aims to increase the impact and value of VAGO's performance audit work.

Information gathered for this performance audit will provide VAGO and PAEC with useful information to guide further follow-up work.

1.2 Audit objective and scope

The audit objective was to determine the extent of agency response to, and monitoring of, VAGO performance audit recommendations. To address this objective the audit examined whether all public sector agencies subject to performance audit recommendations in 2012–13 can:

articulate responses to performance audit recommendations

in a timely manner
that directly address recommendations made to them
that outline any action taken and where relevant time lines for further actions

identify and report on how they monitor responses to audit recommendations.

The audit scope included those public entities that were directly included in performance audits in 2012–13 and were subject to performance audit recommendations.

1.3 Audit method and cost

The audit was conducted in accordance with the Australian Auditing and Assurance Standards. Pursuant to section 20(3) of the Audit Act 1994, unless otherwise indicated any persons named in this report are not the subject of adverse comment or opinion.

Audit evidence was gathered through a survey issued in August 2014. The survey asked agencies to specify what actions they had taken in response to recommended actions, whether the actions are complete or in progress, and the dates they were completed or were due for completion. Agencies had six weeks to complete and return the survey.

Figure 1A lists the definitions used in the survey and this report.

Figure 1A

Survey definitions

Term	Definition
Recommendation	The original recommendation included in the tabled audit report.
Recommended action	The individual actions within a recommendation. Some recommendations include multiple dot points with specific, distinct action items.
Partially accepted	The agency accepts part, but not all of the recommendation, or accepts its intent but prefers an alternate method to achieve it.
Partially completed	Work to address the recommendation is underway but there is still significant work—e.g. 50 per cent—to complete
Substantially completed	The majority of the work to close off the action—e.g. 75 per cent—is complete.

Source: Victorian Auditor-General's Office.

As this audit was undertaken prior to machinery of government changes on 1 January 2015, departments are referred to by their 2014 titles.

The cost of this audit was $140 000.

1.4 Structure of the report

Part 2 of the report provides an analysis of agency responses to the 2012–13 performance audit recommendations.

Part 3 provides an analysis of how agencies report that they monitor performance audit recommendations.

Appendix A lists all the performance audits for 2012–13 and the agencies included in those audits. The further appendices provide each agency's individual survey response, collated in sector groupings.

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2 Agency responses to 2012–13 recommendations

At a glance

Background

VAGO makes recommendations to address issues identified through performance audit. Agencies have an opportunity to comment on audit recommendations prior to reports being tabled and are encouraged to assist in the development of recommendations to ensure they are practical, achievable and address the issue. We then expect that agencies will monitor their progress in implementing recommendations to ensure timely completion.

Conclusion

Agencies reported significant acceptance of—and activity in response to—our 2012–13 performance audit recommendations. This demonstrates the relevance and value of these recommendations and shows that agencies are working to address audit issues. However, some agencies can improve the clarity and completeness of their responses, and could address delays in commencing and completing actions. This will help agencies to rectify the issues raised by audits in a thorough and timely way.

Findings

Agencies accepted 94 per cent of the recommended actions. Sixper cent were partially accepted with agencies generally reporting a reduced or alternate action.
Agencies reported the majority of recommended actions, 71 per cent, as either complete or substantially complete. Twelve of the 47 agencies reported completion of all their recommended actions.
On average, agencies reported taking just over five months to start work on a recommended action.
The reported average time to completion or 'due for completion' date from report tabling is 13 months and 26 months respectively.
Of the recommended actions fully accepted, 85 per cent of responses by agencies directly addressed the recommended actions.

2.1 Introduction

Each year, VAGO undertakes performance audits into the efficiency, economy and effectiveness of public sector agencies and their operations. Through these performance audits, VAGO makes recommendations to address identified issues. Agencies have opportunity to comment on recommendations prior to report tabling and are encouraged to assist in their development to ensure they are practical, achievable and address the issue. Audited agencies are also asked to respond to recommendations, stating whether they accept them, and since 2014, their proposed actions and time lines. As required by the Audit Act 1994, we publish these agency responses in the audit report that we table in Parliament.

We expect that agencies then monitor progress against recommendations to ensure their timely completion. This is required under Standing Direction 2.6 (f) under the Financial Management Act 1994.

This Part provides information on the extent to which agencies report acceptance and completion of actions recommended through 2012–13 performance audits, and our analysis of how directly agency responses address the specific actions recommended.

2.2 Conclusion

Of the 411 recommended actions, agencies fully accepted 386, or 94 per cent, and partially accepted the remainder. No recommended actions were rejected. Agencies also report significant action in addressing 2012–13 performance audit recommendations. As of September 2014, agencies report that they had completed or substantially completed 295, or 71 per cent, of recommended actions. Twelve of the 47 audited agencies report completing all recommended actions. This is encouraging and suggests that performance audit recommendations are driving improvements.

For actions stated as 'complete', agencies reported that they took just over 13 months on average from initial audit report tabling to completion. For those actions still outstanding, the average elapsed time from report tabling to due date is reported as just over 26 months. Agencies also take considerable time to commence action following report tabling, reporting an average of over five months to start work.

We also assessed the extent to which agency responses directly address the recommended action. Of the 386 accepted actions, 85 per cent of agency responses directly address the recommended action, 11 per cent only partially do, and 4 per cent do not address the recommended action at all. Issues with the clarity, completeness and logic of a number of progress reports highlight the need for better management reporting and greater scrutiny by audit committees of management reports against performance audit recommendations.

2.3 Acceptance of recommended actions

There is a significant level of acceptance of our 2012–13 performance audit recommended actions, with 94 per cent accepted and six per cent partially accepted. No recommended actions were rejected.

Portfolio departments were more likely than other agencies to not fully accept a recommended action, with 21 of 227 recommended actions partially accepted.

Where agencies only partially accepted a recommended action, the most common issues and responses were:

the agency implemented a limited version of the recommendation
the agency believed responsibility for the action should lie at least partly with another agency
contextual changes had occurred, e.g. a shift of responsibility for the area to the Commonwealth
the agency chose to take an alternative action to address the issue.

Most of the recommended actions that were partially accepted concerned monitoring and evaluation activities.

In six cases, where the agency partially accepted a recommended action, the agency's descriptions of the action subsequently taken appear to fully align with the recommended action.

We compared agencies' acceptance of recommendations now, with their response at the time the audit reports were tabled in Parliament and found 91 per cent alignment. Acceptance changed for only 28 of the recommended actions, with 21 recommended actions moving to a greater level of acceptance, and seven moving to less acceptance.

2.4 Completion of recommended actions

We asked agencies to provide a status update against each recommended action from the following options:

completed
substantially completed—majority of the work to close off the action, e.g. 75percent, is complete
partially completed—work to address the recommendation is underway but there is still significant work, e.g. 50 per cent, to complete
no action.

Of the 411 recommended actions, agencies reported 248, or 60 per cent, as completed, 47 actions, or 11 per cent, as substantially completed, and 109 actions, or 27 per cent, as partially completed. Only seven recommendations or 2 per cent had 'no action'.

One health service and one council felt current practices met the recommended actions.
Two local councils noted they had not commenced work on a recommended action to 'detail how the effectiveness of their ratepayer engagement and communication activities will be assessed and reported'.

Figure 2A shows the percentage breakdown of status reports against recommended actions.

Figure 2A

Reported status of actions

Source: Victorian Auditor-General's Office.

Twelve of the 47 agencies—six councils, two health services, the Environment Protection Authority, Victoria Police, the Public Record Office Victoria and the National Gallery of Victoria—report completion of all their recommended actions. These agencies had seven or fewer recommended actions each.

2.5 Time to completion

We expect agencies to commence and complete recommended actions in a timely manner. Figure 2B shows reported averages for time to commencement, due date and completion of recommended actions.

Figure 2B

Reported average time from report tabling

Milestone	Average (months)
Action commencement	5.4
Action completion	13.4
Action due date	26.1

Source: Victorian Auditor-General's Office.

Given agencies are often aware of audit issues and recommendations well before report tabling, we would expect the average time to commence work on recommended actions to be less than five months. A quicker response is achievable, as reported by agencies in the emergency services, environment and health service sectors, that report an average commencement time of less than two months.

Only two agencies reported due dates for actions more than three years after initial report tabling—Ambulance Victoria and the Department of Human Services. Ambulance Victoria note budget, resource and industrial issues have delayed completion of the recommended action to review and improve supports for team managers, with this action due to take three years and four months to complete. The Department of Human Services report requiring three years and 10 months to identify and address gaps in the promotion of carer supports, and develop and monitor outcome measures for carer supports. These time frames are too long given the significance of the issues at the time of report tabling.

2.6 Quality of progress reports

We expect agency reports to describe their activity clearly and specifically so the reader, whether it is the agency's audit committee, the Parliament or a member of the public, can understand how the activity addresses the recommended action. We assessed agency responses to determine whether they directly related to and covered all aspects of each recommended action.

Of the 386 recommended actions that agencies fully accepted, 329 responses, 85 per cent, directly address the recommended action. A further 43 responses, 11 per cent, only partially address the recommended action, leaving out key elements. The remaining 14 responses, 4 per cent, did not address the recommended action at all. These 14 responses were made by seven local councils and five portfolio departments.

Agency responses to the audit survey vary significantly in the clarity of information provided about the improvements actioned. Figures 2C and 2D provide examples of agency responses that highlight the difference.

Figure 2C

Clear and meaningful reporting on action against recommendations

Recommended action	Agency response
Monash Health – Consumer Participation in the Health System
That health services involve consumers in the design and review of consumer information	Developed and implemented organisational procedure for Creating Information/Materials for Patients and Consumers. Procedure requires all new or revised patient information/material to undergo consumer testing and review prior to approval. Procedure supported by patient information checklist, Easy English Guide, templates, style guides and toolkits. Health literacy monitored by Patient Centred Care Plan and annual work plan.
That health services make sure consumers receive and understand basic health service information	Rights and Responsibilities brochure revised in an easy English format and available across all sites and wards and pre-admission packages. Brochure translated into 14 community languages. Audit of display and availability of Rights and Responsibilities undertaken and results actioned. Consumer understanding of Rights and Responsibilities information is measured through Point-of-Care (Bedside) Audit. All new and revised health service information must comply with the Creating Information/Materials for Patients and Consumer Procedure. Health literacy and patient rights monitored by Patient Centred Care Plan and annual work plan.

Source: Monash Health responses to the Victorian Auditor-General's Office.

This response succinctly describes activities that directly respond to the recommended actions. Figure 2D provides examples of reports against recommended actions that fail to fully address the recommended actions.

Figure 2D

Limited reporting on action against recommendations

Recommended action	Agency response
Department of Education and Early Childhood Development – Programs for Students with Special Learning Needs
DEECD should monitor the effectiveness and impact of programs to support students with special learning needs including which schools are using them	Data on student needs and support provided is being collected through the Student Online Case System (a data collection and reporting system). Data is also being collected on participation of schools in statewide disability training programs. VAGO comment:This response, while noting data collection activities, does not address how the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development plans to use this information to monitor programs to support students with special learning needs.
Department of Justice – Consumer Protection
Consumer Affairs Victoria should establish robust information management systems, including quality assurance mechanisms that provide it with assurance around data reliability	Consumer Affairs Victoria has developed a data register of relevant performance measures, definitions and data counting rules to improve data reliability. VAGO comment: This response does not outline a 'robust' system including quality assurance around data reliability, given that the only activity stated is data definitions and counting rules. This is despite the Department of Justice reporting the action as complete.
Department of Health – Consumer Participation in the Health System
That the Department of Health review interpreter services in the Victorian health system.	The Department has finalised a review of its Language services policy (2005). As part of the review, the Department considered the barriers and enablers to the engagement of language services by departmental programs and funded organisations. The revised policy provides more comprehensive guidance on implementation to support improved provision of interpreters and translators. The updated policy was released in March 2014. The policy is consistent with Victorian Government guidelines for the use of interpreters. The language services policy provides the framework for the delivery of interpreter services in the Victorian health system and sets the expectations on practice. VAGO comment: This response, for a recommended action that the Department of Health accepts, reports on review of its Language Services 'Policy'. The response does not address how or if the Department of Health reviewed interpreter services in the health system.

Source: Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, Department of Justice and Department of Health responses to the Victorian Auditor-General's Office.

These are examples of common quality issues seen in the agency responses to recommended actions:

Agencies accepting the recommended action and only reporting on activity that partially addresses it.
Agencies accepting recommended actions but stating that processes in place prior to the audit are sufficient to meet the recommended action. Had this been the case, VAGO would not have made the recommendation.
Agencies accepting a recommended action then describing why the agency is not undertaking the recommended action and noting the action as complete.
Agencies noting an action as complete when the agency response refers to ongoing work to address the recommended action.
Agencies providing commencement dates that predate the audit.
Agencies reporting actions as completed within one month, when the description of the action suggests this is unlikely.

Necessary improvements will not occur where agencies' actions address only part of a recommendation or do not address it at all.

These issues highlight gaps in management reporting of actions and progress against performance audit recommendations. Poor reporting limits the ability of audit committees to comply with their oversight responsibilities.

Audit committees and those entrusted with oversight of agency progress against recommendations are also encouraged to apply a higher level of scrutiny and scepticism to progress reports. The issues outlined demonstrate the need for verification as part of the monitoring process. Part 3 discusses this issue further.

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3 Monitoring performance audit recommendations

At a glance

Background

Standing Direction 2.6 (f) of the Financial Management Act 1994 requires audit committees to monitor actions taken to resolve external audit issues and whether actions are adopted and addressed in a timely manner. All public sector entities should therefore report on and monitor actions in response to performance audit recommendations.

Conclusion

We expected to see routine audit committee or board level monitoring of management progress in responding to performance audit recommendations. Most agencies reported achieving this. However, reports from a number of agencies suggest the lack of an organisational approach. In addition, only five of the 47 agencies reported processes to verify management reports. Issues with the quality of many agency responses—discussed in Part 2—suggest a need for greater scrutiny of management progress reports by audit committees and senior management.

Findings

The majority of agencies, 85 per cent, report audit committee and/or board monitoring of progress against performance audit recommendations.
Most agencies, 72 per cent, monitor progress against performance audit recommendations at least quarterly.
Of the nine portfolio departments, only four routinely monitor how their portfolio entities are responding to performance audit recommendations.
The Department of Treasury and Finance reported the least oversight of progress against performance audit recommendations, but reported plans to improve this.

3.1 Introduction

Agencies are required to monitor audit recommendations and enact planned responses under Standing Direction 2.6 (f) of the Financial Management Act 1994. This includes requirements for audit committees to:

monitor actions taken by management to resolve issues raised by external audit
monitor whether accepted recommendations of the external auditors are adopted and addressed by management on a timely basis
review the impact of actions taken by management intended to resolve issues.

This Standing Direction also refers to managements' role in responding to audit recommendations, that management act on and address recommendations in a timely way. Management must also provide sufficient progress reporting and evidence to audit committees to support them to comply with the Standing Direction.

In September 2014, the Parliamentary Accounts and Estimates Committee (PAEC) released its Review of the Auditor-General's Reports 2009–11. In it, PAEC made two recommendations to public entities, consistent with the Standing Direction above. PAEC recommended that:

'Agencies need to implement effective internal processes to monitor and track the complete and timely implementation of the Auditor-General's recommendations. Agency senior management, internal audit and audit committees all have an important role to play in this area. Agencies should develop detailed action plans for the implementation of audit recommendations which ensure that:
responsibilities for implementation are clearly assigned
a time frame for implementation is specified
regular reporting and acquittal of audit recommendations is made to the agency's senior management and audit committee.
Lead agencies strengthen their leadership and governance with regard to their operational and subsidiary agencies to ensure that those entities are fully appraised of the issues and recommendations raised in the Auditor-General's reports and to actively promote the effective implementation of the Auditor‑General's recommendations'.

We asked agencies to report on their processes for monitoring the implementation of performance audit recommendations, particularly whether an audit committee undertakes this work, how frequently agencies review progress, and whether agencies assign responsible officers and due dates to recommended actions. This part reports on our analysis of agency responses to these questions.

3.2 Conclusion

Most of the audited agencies report monitoring processes with sufficient levels and frequency of oversight. We expected agencies to report that the audit committee or board monitors progress against recommendations and this is the case for 85 per cent of the 47 audited agencies. However, reports from the remaining agencies suggest the lack of an organisational approach. Most agencies, 72 per cent, report that they monitor progress at least quarterly. The Department of Treasury and Finance (DTF) is a notable exception, reporting that it only monitors at the business unit level and reviews progress against recommendations less than annually. However, DTF notes that its audit committee will commence monitoring from 2014–15 on a half-yearly basis.

In describing their monitoring of recommendations, only five agencies, the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (DEECD) the Department of Environment and Primary Industries (DEPI) the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Victorian WorkCover Authority (VWA) and the Metropolitan Fire and Emergency Services Board (MFESB) report processes to verify status reports by business units. This represents better practice.

Consistent with the PAEC's recommendation, we also expected portfolio departments to have oversight of how their portfolio entities are progressing against performance audit recommendations. However, only four of the nine departments report doing this.

3.3 Accountability for monitoring

Who monitors progress against performance audit recommendations?

The majority of agencies, 85 per cent, report that either the audit committee and/or board monitor responses to performance audit recommendations. The remaining 15 per cent includes seven agencies. Responses from these agencies suggest that an organisational approach to monitoring performance audit recommendations is not in place. These agencies—four local councils, one regional health service, one emergency service agency and DTF—report assigning monitoring responsibility to particular individuals, business units, and in one case a working group, aligned to the subject matter of the audit recommendations. This approach does not provide organisational oversight of progress in addressing issues identified by audits and does not meet Standing Direction 2.6 (f) of the Financial Management Act 1994. Two of these agencies—DTF and one council—note plans to elevate monitoring responsibility to their audit committees. The remaining five agencies are also encouraged to adopt this approach.

How do agencies monitor progress against performance audit recommendations?

We asked agencies to describe how they monitor progress against performance audit recommendations.

Responses by agencies indicate reporting on recommendations within the governance framework of their organisation. Individuals assigned responsibility for recommended actions report through business units to the audit committee. Five agencies reported using a database tracking system to monitor recommendations.

However, only five agencies—DEECD, DEPI, DOJ, VWA and MFESB—reported having processes to verify management reports about the progress or completion of recommended actions. Figure 3A shows DEECD, DEPI and DOJ reports on their monitoring processes. This represents a better practice approach and is consistent with expectations of Standing Direction 2.6 (f) of the Financial Management Act 1994.

Figure 3A

DEECD, DEPI and DOJ responses to survey question 'How does the group/individual you nominated as responsible for monitoring performance audit recommendations undertake this task?'

DEECD

Action owners provide updates on the progress of all open actions that are due for closure within the quarter. These are included in the quarterly report to the Executive Board and the Portfolio Audit and Risk Committee. VAGO audit recommendations that are reported as completed are verified by the Audit and Risk Branch on a sample basis. From the 30 September 2014 quarter, all VAGO audit recommendations reported as closed will require supporting evidence that will be verified by the Audit and Risk Branch.

DEPI

DEPI uses Interplan as a central system to record and monitor the implementation status of recommendations from VAGO performance audits, internal audit reports and from other independent reports. Quarterly reports produced on the implementation status of recommendations are provided to the DEPI Senior Executive Group and to the Risk and Audit Committee (RAC). Actions marked as 'complete' by Business areas are independently verified for completeness prior to its closure with the approval of the RAC.

DOJ

DOJ's internal auditors conduct an independent follow-up audit on a sample of internal and external audit recommendations annually as part of the Annual Internal Audit Plan. DOJ has a formal attestation process that is completed by all Deputy Secretaries quarterly as part of the update and monitoring process of recommendations and actions.

Source: Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, Department of Environment and Primary Industries and Department of Justice responses to Victorian Auditor‑General's Office survey.

All but two agencies reported that they assign due dates for the completion of actions. The Department of Health (DH) and Yarriambiack Shire Council reported that they do not assign due dates. The lack of due dates inhibits the clear communication of expectations to responsible staff regarding the delivery of agreed actions and limits the ability of audit committees to monitor progress. Yarriambiack Shire Council is also the only agency that reported that it does not assign actions to specific individuals or business units.

In line with the PAEC recommendation, we expected portfolio departments to monitor the progress of their subsidiary agencies in addressing performance audit recommendations. Of the nine portfolio departments, only four—DEECD, DH, DTF and the Department of Premier and Cabinet (DPC)—report routinely monitoring this.

From 2013–14 we commenced asking agencies to submit actions plans against recommendations, stating time lines, for inclusion in performance audits tabled in Parliament. Going forward, these action plans should provide a useful tool for audit committees to use in monitoring management progress against recommendations.

3.4 Frequency of monitoring

Most agencies—72 per cent—report reviewing recommendations at least quarterly. Seven agencies report monitoring half-yearly—DH, DPC, the Department of Human Services, one council, one health service and two collections agencies. Five agencies report only monitoring responses annually—four councils and one health service. DTF reports that it monitors less than annually.

Figure 3B

Frequency of monitoring

Figure 3B shows the frequency of monitoring.

Source: Victorian Auditor-General's Office.

Standing Direction 2.6 (f) of the Financial Management Act 1994 requires audit committees to monitor whether management action against external accepted recommendations is timely. Annual, and arguably half-yearly, progress reports do not sufficiently support audit committees to fulfil this responsibility.

Timeliness of survey responses

Regular, timely monitoring of progress against audit recommendations should support agencies to provide updates to the Victorian Auditor-General's Office, and others that might require this information, such as portfolio departments or PAEC, quickly and easily. We provided agencies with six weeks from receipt of the audit survey to provide their responses. The majority of audited agencies, 38, were able to meet this time frame. The remaining nine agencies took a further one to two and half weeks to submit responses. A number of agencies also required additional time to correct errors in their reports, including incorrect dates and responses that did not align to the recommendations.

Agencies that struggled to provide reports quickly and accurately should review their internal monitoring processes to improve their ability to generate reports going forward.

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Appendix A. 2012–13 Audits and agencies

Figure A1

2012–13 Audits and agencies

Audit	Audited agencies
Flood Relief and Recovery	Department of Premier and Cabinet (DPC), Department of Treasury and Finance (DTF), Department of Environment and Primary Industries (DEPI), Department of Transport, Planning and Local Infrastructure (DTPLI), Department of Human Services (DHS)
Environment and Sustainability Sector: Performance Reporting	DEPI, Environment Protection Authority (EPA), Parks Victoria
Organisational Sustainability of Small Councils	Local Government Victoria (LGV), Buloke Shire Council, Golden Plains Shire Council, Strathbogie Shire Council, Towong Shire Council, Yarriambiack Shire Council
Infection Prevention and Control in Public Hospitals	Department of Health (DH), Peninsula Health, Ballarat Health Service, Eastern Health, Bairnsdale Regional Health Service
Management of Staff Occupational Health and Safety in Schools	Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (DEECD), Victorian Workcover Authority
The State of Victoria's Children: Performance Reporting	DEECD, Children's Services Coordination Board
Planning, Delivery and Benefits Realisation of Major Asset Investment: The Gateway Review Process	DTF
Public Asset Valuation	Valuer-General Victoria, DTF
Consumer Protection	Consumer Affairs Victoria
Managing Traffic Congestion	DTPLI, VicRoads, Public Transport Victoria
Management of Freshwater Fisheries	DEPI
Management of Unplanned Leave in Emergency Services	Ambulance Victoria, Metropolitan Fire and Emergency Services Board, Victoria Police
Rating Practices in Local Government	LGV/DTPLI, Baw Baw Shire Council, Benalla Rural City Council, City of Boroondara, City of Casey, City of Greater Dandenong, City of Greater Geelong, Darebin City Council, Maribrynong City Council, Melton City Council, Murrindindi Shire Council, City of Greater Shepparton Council, Shire of Campaspe
Implementation of School Infrastructure Programs	DEECD
Addressing Homelessness: Partnerships and Plans	DHS, DTF, DPC
Learning Technologies in Government Schools	DEECD
Management of the Provincial Victoria Growth Fund	DTPLI, Department of State Development, Business and Innovation (DSDBI)
Student Completion Rates	DEECD
Prison Capacity Planning	Department of Justice (DOJ)
Port of Melbourne Channel Deepening Project: Achievement of Objectives	Port of Melbourne Corporation
Effectiveness of Compliance Activities: Departments of Primary Industries and Sustainability and Environment	DEPI
Collections Management in Cultural Agencies	Arts Victoria, Museum Victoria, National Gallery of Victoria, Public Record Office Victoria
Managing Major Projects	Major Projects Victoria/DSDBI
Consumer Participation in the Health System	DH, Central Gippsland Health Service, Bendigo Health, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Southern Health
Energy Efficiency in the Health Sector	DH, Austin Health, Eastern Health, St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne
Programs for Students with Special Learning Needs	DEECD
Fare Evasion on Public Transport	Public Transport Victoria/DTPLI
Investment Attraction	DSDBI
Carer Support Programs	DHS, DH

Note: As this audit was undertaken prior to machinery of government changes on 1 January 2015, departments are referred to by their 2014 titles.

Source: Victorian Auditor-General's Office.

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Appendix B. Central agencies

Survey of responses to 2012–13 performance audit recommendations

As this audit was undertaken prior to machinery of government changes on 1 January 2015, departments are referred to by their 2014 titles.

Audits include:

Addressing Homelessness: Partnerships and Plans
Collections Management in Cultural Agencies
Energy Efficiency in the Health Sector
Flood Relief and Recovery
Managing Major Projects
Planning, Delivery and Benefits Realisation of Major Asset Investment: The Gateway Review Process
Public Asset Valuation.

Addressing Homelessness: Partnerships and Plans

Date tabled: 6 February 2013

No.	Recommendation	Acceptance (current)	Action	Status	Date commenced	Date completed/due for completion
Department of Premier and Cabinet
4	That the departments of Treasury and Finance and Premier and Cabinet determine and clearly communicate departmental roles and responsibilities for national partnership agreements.	Accepted	Cabinet recently approved an update to the principles used to guide departments in gaining the best outcomes for Victoria when conducting negotiations. This advice is being provided to departments in order to clearly communicate roles and responsibilities for national partnership agreements. DPC and DTF monitor NPs to identify high risk agreements through a range of processes, including new processes identified under Recommendation 5. DPC and DTF have ongoing discussions with relevant departmental teams to provide guidance on roles in responsibilities when managing intergovernmental agreements.	Completed	August 2014	August 2014
5	That the departments of Treasury and Finance and Premier and Cabinet have an ongoing process to coordinate, monitor and review national partnership agreements that are identified as high risk and which involve multiple agencies.	Partially accepted	While central agencies have a role in monitoring agreements, it is not appropriate that central agencies have a role in coordinating the implementation of agreements, as Victoria's devolved management system allocates responsibility for service delivery, budget and outcomes with agents with the greatest capacity to manage them; portfolio ministers and departments. Central agencies monitor National Partnership (NP) agreements to identify high risk agreements. In addition central agencies review and advise on negotiation of NPs as required. In addition to established processes, departments now report on NPs through additional processes and forums (eg IGR Deputy Secretaries' Sub-Committee meetings, annual reporting on risks including consideration by Cabinet, and development of an Intergovernmental Agreement monitoring data set). Through these mechanisms, departments can identify whole of government risks with NPs.	Completed	February 2013	August 2014
Department of Treasury and Finance
4	That the departments of Treasury and Finance and Premier and Cabinet determine and clearly communicate departmental roles and responsibilities for national partnership agreements.	Accepted	Government recently approved an update to the principles used to guide departments in gaining the best outcomes for Victoria when conducting negotiations. This advice is being provided to departments in order to clearly communicate roles and responsibilities for national partnership (NP) agreements. Departments of Premier and Cabinet (DPC) and Treasury and Finance (DTF) monitor NP agreements to identify high risk agreements through a range of processes, including new processes identified under Recommendation 5. DPC and DTF have ongoing discussions with relevant departmental teams to provide guidance on roles in responsibilities when managing intergovernmental agreements.	Completed	February 2013	August 2014
5	That the departments of Treasury and Finance and Premier and Cabinet have an ongoing process to coordinate, monitor and review national partnership agreements that are identified as high risk and which involve multiple agencies.	Partially accepted	While central agencies have a role in monitoring national partnership (NP) agreements, it is not appropriate that central agencies have a role in coordinating the implementation of agreements, as Victoria's devolved management system allocates responsibility for service delivery, budget and outcomes with agents with greatest capacity to manage them; portfolio ministers and departments. Central agencies monitor NP agreements to identify high risk agreements. In addition, central agencies review and advice on negotiation of NPs as required. In addition to established processes, departments now report on NPs through additional processes and forums (e.g. Intergovernmental Relations Deputy Secretaries' Sub-Committee meetings; annual reporting on risks including consideration by government; and development of an Intergovernmental Agreement Monitoring data set). Through these mechanisms, departments can identify whole of government risks with NPs.	Completed	February 2013	August 2014

Collections Management in Cultural Agencies

Date tabled: 24 October 2012

No.	Recommendation	Acceptance (current)	Action	Status	Date commenced	Date completed/due for completion
Arts Victoria
1	Arts Victoria should more purposefully lead action to address systemic issues with the management of the state collections by:
	more rigorously advocating for the necessary resources to increase collection storage capacity	Accepted	In 2014 Arts Victoria led the Collections Storage Victoria Project Control Group and in collaboration with the major collecting cultural agencies has completed a business case and a refreshed Investment Logic Map as key documents that make the case for investment in an Integrated Collections Storage Victoria Project. The business case has been key to ensuring an aligned approach to meeting the storage needs of all collecting agencies and recognising the interdepencies across agencies. In addition a document has been commissioned by Arts Victoria to provide a succinct overview of the complex business case with options on how best to address the collections challenges across the four major collecting agencies. An AV priority project focussing on strategic collection issues has also been established in 2014 led by the Deputy Director AV. This project will look at portfolio-wide collection principles and issues including acquisition and de-accessioning.	Partially completed	June 2014	December 2014
	more assertively facilitating collaboration between its portfolio agencies	Accepted	In addition to chairing the Collection Storage Victoria Project Control Group, Arts Victoria is a member of the cross portfolio Arts Agency Collection Working group which meets quarterly and provides for the sharing of expertise and discussion of collection issues common to all agencies. Arts Victoria has also established a common repository of key collections data accessible to all agencies via Google sheets. Arts Victoria has also sponsored development of collections expertise through its support for cross-agency presentations by Dr Robert Waller, an international expert on conservation and measurement of condition of collections. The implementation of these processes which will continue to be monitored have addressed the recommendation. This response is now complete.	Completed	August 2014	August 2014
	improving the rigour and scope of performance measurement and benchmarking	Accepted	Arts Victoria has developed a new Budget Paper No. 3 qualitative measure for collection storage based on a significantly more rigorous risk-based assessment of individual storage facilities. Arts Victoria has also established a common repository of key collections data accessible to all agencies via Google sheets. This performance data can be updated continually providing a better live snapshot of agency performance. Arts Victoria has also sponsored development of collections expertise through its support for cross-agency presentations by Dr Robert Waller, an international expert on conservation and measurement of condition of collections, " The agents of deterioration". These actions have addressed the recommendation. This response is now complete.	Completed	August 2014	August 2014
	actively coordinating a plan to address legacy data issues.	Accepted	Arts Victoria attends the Arts Agency Collection Working Group which meets quarterly to discuss strategic and operational aspects of digitisation activity. This group organised a workshop on 5 July 2014 to address legacy data and other digitisation issues. Agencies face very different challenges with legacy data. Some agencies have very large and old collections where data has not been recorded in a consistent and sustainable way, while other agencies have large amounts of material that was "born digital" and is increasingly inaccessible due to format issues. For this reason, strategies to address legacy data issues are unique to each agency and are driven by analysis of risk and resources required. Legacy data continues to be an issue which agencies discuss at Collections Working Group meetings in order to evaluate best practice and guide strategies. These actions have addressed the recommendation. This response is now complete.	Completed	August 2014	August 2014
2	The agencies should: expedite finalisation of strategies to guide digitization activity	Accepted	Public Record Office Victoria, National Gallery of Victoria and Museum Victoria (MV) to report separately. All collecting agencies have current policies and strategies to guide digitisation activity. MV is currently developing a Digital Transformation Strategy and a Collection Digitisation Plan. Progress towards digitisation and plans to support digitisation are monitored through the Arts Victoria Service Level agreements and Overview of State Collections document and the live updates via Google Sheets which monitor performance against digitisation targets and the status of agency digitisation policies and strategies.	Substantially completed	March 2015	March 2015
	track and report the total investment of staff and other resources into digitisation activity and the level of access to online collection material.	Accepted	Public Record Office Victoria, National Gallery of Victoria and Museum Victoria (MV) to report separately. Monitoring of investment over time is facilitated by the Collections Overview data repository which records information on expenditure against 'Collection Development' which includes staffing costs and 'Collection Management and Storage Costs'. This repository also records 'no. of items accessible online' and various digitisation status measures. This augments the data recorded over the last ten years through the Overview of Victorian State Collections document as well as data reported to Arts Victoria through Service Level Agreements. These systems and actions address the recommendation. This response is now complete.	Completed	August 2014	August 2014
4	The agencies should: gather comprehensive condition information to better inform the allocation of conservation resources	Accepted	Public Record Office Victoria, National Gallery of Victoria and Museum Victoria (MV) to report separately. Activity against this recommendation is monitored and supported by Arts Victoria through the Collections Working Group and monitored entries to the Vic State Collections Overview Data repository.	Completed	August 2014	August 2014 see agency responses
	implement active collection stocktake programs	Accepted	Public Record Office Victoria, National Gallery of Victoria and Museum Victoria (MV) to report separately. Activity against this recommendation is monitored and supported by Arts Victoria through the Collections Working Group and monitored entries to the Vic State Collections Overview Data repository.	Completed	August 2014	August 2014 see agency responses
	purposefully review collections for deaccessioning opportunities	Accepted	Public Record Office Victoria, National Gallery of Victoria and Museum Victoria (MV) to report separately. Activity against this recommendation is monitored and supported by Arts Victoria through the Collections Working Group and monitored entries to the Vic State Collections Overview Data repository.	Completed	August 2014	August 2014 see agency responses
	give greater priority to addressing gaps in the policies and procedures guiding collection management activities.	Accepted	Public Record Office Victoria, National Gallery of Victoria and Museum Victoria (MV) to report separately. Activity against this recommendation is monitored and supported by Arts Victoria through the Collections Working Group and monitored entries to the Vic State Collections Overview Data repository.	Completed	August 2014	August 2014 see agency responses
Museum Victoria
2	The agencies should:
	expedite finalisation of strategies to guide digitisation activity	Accepted	Digitisation strategies have been developed in all recent key MV-wide strategies, including the MV Strategic Plan 2013-18 and the Collection Strategy 2014-19. These are, in turn, translated into MV's annual Business Plans. MV is also currently developing a Digital Transformation Strategy and a Collection Digitisation Plan, both of which will provide a further level of focus and detail for strategies to guide digitisation activity. MV has a substantial digitisation program as a result of these strategies.	Substantially completed	July 2013	June 2015
	track and report the total investment of staff and other resources into digitisation activity and the level of access to online collection material.	Accepted	MV tracks and provides regular reports on digitisation activity, including against its Collection Strategy, its annual Business Plans and its Service Level Agreement with Arts Victoria. MV tracks and reports on the level of access to online collection material in a number of ways and against a number of strategies and plans, including those outlined immediately above.	Completed	July 2013	June 2014
3	Museum Victoria and the National Gallery of Victoria should undertake a targeted analysis on the extent to which 'blockbuster exhibitions' of collections from elsewhere in the world lead to sustained increases in visitation to the state collections.	Partially accepted	Visitation to MV's venues has grown over the past decade as a result of a complex program of permanent exhibition development and renewal, major and specialised incoming touring exhibitions and public programming. MV's outwards touring exhibition program also leads to increased visitation to the state collections. Major incoming exhibitions have contributed to MV's revenue, which it has reinvested in caring for the state collections, enabling their ongoing use in exhibitions and other visitor programs. MV has recently completed a major audience research program, which confirmed that major incoming exhibitions significantly increase profile and reputation, vital to sustaining visitation to the state collections. It also confirmed that major incoming exhibitions communicate a strong sense of change, which grows visitation. MV undertakes summative evaluation of each major incoming exhibition it hosts, including capturing 'conversion rates' to general museum and likely repeat visitation.	Completed	July 2013	August 2014
4	The agencies should:
	gather comprehensive condition information to better inform the allocation of conservation resources	Accepted	MV is undertaking the Collection Risk Assessment and Management (CRAM) initiative, incepted September 2011, which gathers and analyses comprehensive data about the conditions for the collections to better inform the allocation of conservation (and other collection care) resources. MV also undertakes a regular program of condition surveys of selected parts of the collection, in order to better inform the allocation of conservation (and other collection care) resources	Substantially completed	September 2011	August 2015
	implement active collection stocktake programs	Accepted	MV implemented an ongoing stocktake (audit) program from October 2012	Completed	October 2012	October 2012
	purposefully review collections for deaccessioning opportunities	Accepted	MV's Collection Plans 2013-18 provide an overview of the strategic approaches to the development of the State Collections, including purposeful review of collections for deaccessioning activities. MV's Collection Strategy 2014-19 also has as a strategy 'Develop and apply five-year collection plans to guide strategic deaccessioning from the collection, and undertake other deaccessioning as relevant situations are identified'. MV has active deaccessioning and repatriation programs as a result of these strategies.	Completed	January 2013	August 2014
	give greater priority to addressing gaps in the policies and procedures guiding collection management activities.	Accepted	MV revised the key collection policies in 2013, resulting in the establishment of four key collection policies, including a new Collection Care and Preservation Policy, which addresses gaps for guiding collection management activities. MV has an ongoing program of developing or reviewing collection procedures in order to continue to address any procedural gaps in collection management activities.	Completed	April 2013	August 2013
National Gallery of Victoria
2	The agencies should: expedite finalisation of strategies to guide digitization activity	Accepted	Under the direction of the Assistant Director, digitisation strategies we have expedited finalisation of strategies to guide the digitisation project. The project is being coordinated by 2 Project Managers in accordance with a Digitisation Project Plan. 2 Cataloguers and 1.6 FTE Photographers have also been appointed to the Project. At 30 June 2014, 48% of the collection have been photographed. 86% of collection records is now accessible online. 19.2% of the records accessible online have images visible to the public, with further images pending copyright clearance as part of the Project. With funding for the Digitisation Project sourced from private benefactors, priority areas for digitisation have been identified over the next 2 years. Progress is monitored by the Project Managers through weekly meetings with the Assistant Director and monthly reports to the Executive Management Team.	Completed	January 2013	May 2014
	track and report the total investment of staff and other resources into digitisation activity and the level of access to online collection material.	Accepted	We have systems in place to track and report investment of staff and other resources into digitisation. As part of the Digitisation Project Plan a Staffing Report has been prepared to identify requirements. The Project Plan, including key activities, milestones and time frames enables monitoring of staff and resource requirements and allocation throughout the Project. Based on analysis of these documents, as outlined in response to the previous recommendation, 3.6 new digitisation contract positions have been created. Staffing and resource allocations are monitored by the Project Managers and reported to the Assistant Director and Executive Management Team, on a weekly and monthly basis respectively. Percentage of collections accessible online is monitored as part of Project reporting. On-line accessibility is monitored across the priority areas, with data compiled to evaluate progress on documentation standards, photography of artworks and clearance of copyright for image publication.	Completed	January 2013	May 2014
3	Museum Victoria and the National Gallery of Victoria should undertake a targeted analysis on the extent to which 'blockbuster exhibitions' of collections from elsewhere in the world lead to sustained increases in visitation to the state collections.	Accepted	Visitation to the NGV has increased substantially over the last two financial years as a result of a more vibrant and relevant exhibitions program, which includes blockbuster exhibitions as a key aspect of programming. Increased public awareness of the NGV through blockbusters has resulted in a flow on of greater visitation levels to the permanent collection. An audience reseach survey of visitations to the blockbuster exhibition, Melbourne Now, for instance, found that "42% of the Melbourne Now audience also visited the NGVI's permanent collection."	Completed	June 2014	August 2014
4	The agencies should: gather comprehensive condition information to better inform the allocation of conservation resources	Accepted	The NGV has reviewed and modified its procedures for the assessment and documentation of the condition of works at the point of acquisition, with condition assessment recorded in the Gallery's Collection Management System (CMS). Details of conservation time and resource requirements for new acquisitions are also compiled at acquisition and documented as part of the Acquisition Submission, which is presented for approval for acquisition by the Council of Trustee. The condition of works requested for loan is also assessed providing an opportunity to assess key items. Currently, this information is not recorded on the CMS and data on resource requirement for loan preparation are not compiled. This will be reviewed in the future as part of the broader review of loan policy and procedures. Data for new acquisitions (and, in the future, for works requested for loan) will be reviewed annually to contribute to planning for the allocation of conservation resources across the collection.	Completed	December 2013	March 2014
	implement active collection stocktake programs	Accepted	The NGV commenced a complete Collection Stocktake of the over 70,000 items in the State Collection in 2004/2005. With initial sighting completed and considerable work required to reconcile findings and address legacy data issues, in February 2014 Trustees approved a staged approach to project review and reconciliation, with the Stocktake scheduled for completion in December 2018. Progress will be reported to Trustees on an annual basis. Following completion of the initial sighting phase, a revised Collection Stocktake Policy was approved by Trustees in February 2014. The Policy uses a sampling approach based on a risk assessment of artworks, evaluating the consequence and likelihood of works not being located. A detailed methodology was developed and approved by external auditors and the NGV's Audit Risk and Compliance Committee.	Completed	July 2004	July 2004
	purposefully review collections for deaccessioning opportunities	Accepted	A strategic approach to deaccessioning has been implemented, with monthly meetings chaired by the Assistant Director to review progress in each curatorial Department. Activities against the key stages of deaccessioning are also monitored. A six monthly report on deaccessioning activities is presented to the Council of Trustees. The Deaccession and Disposal Policy and associated procedures are also currently under review. Works approved by Trustees in June 2014 for deaccessioning (pending approval by Governor in Council) include 5 Fashion and Textiles and 197 Photography items. In August 2014 1 International Painting was deaccessioned. The NGV considers deaccessioning an ongoing collection management responsibility. As a result, the NGV does not identify an 'end date' for the response to this recommendation.	Completed	April 2011	December 2013
	give greater priority to addressing gaps in the policies and procedures guiding collection management activities.	Accepted	In February 2013, a Collection Management Policy Working Group was established. Chaired by the Assistant Director with representatives from Registration, Curatorial and Conservation, the Group has reviewed existing policies as well as conducting a mapping and benchmarking exercise to peer institutions to identify priority areas for policy development and review. Priority has been given to the review of the existing Collections and Loans policy, resulting in a separate Acquisition and Accession policy approved by Trustees in August 2014, with the Deaccession and Disposal Policy scheduled for completion in 2014 - 2015. Further policy areas are being developed or reviewed progressively according to an established and monitored timeframe.	Completed	February 2013	February 2013
Public Record Office Victoria
2	The agencies should:
	expedite finalisation of strategies to guide digitisation activity	Accepted	A 3-year digitisation strategy was finalised and implemented at the start of the 2013-14 financial year. This recommendation has now been completed.	Completed	January 2013	June 2013
	track and report the total investment of staff and other resources into digitisation activity and the level of access to online collection material.	Accepted	Staff and volunteer time spent on digitisation projects is tracked. Access to online material is also tracked. Collated information is available for internal reporting. This activity is now part of normal business activities. This recommendation has now been completed.	Completed	January 2013	March 2013
4	The agencies should:
	gather comprehensive condition information to better inform the allocation of conservation resources	Accepted	In 2013-14, the Centre for Cultural Material Conservation completed a targeted survey of the Public Record Office Victoria (PROV) collection. The survey has given rise to a number of projects for 2014-15, which will result in the collection of more detailed information about the condition of collection items. In addition to this, PROV's new preservation and exhibition policies result in the routine collection of condition information, focusing on items which are of high value, or are contained in frequently requested series. The collection and recording of this data now forms part of our ongoing Collection Management activities. This recommendation is now complete.	Completed	July 2013	August 2014
	implement active collection stocktake programs	Accepted	In July 2012, the Public Record Office Victoria (PROV) commenced an ongoing stocktake program. Collection Management staff have so far delivered around 130 hours to stocktakes, covering around 16% of the Victorian Archives Centre repository (16 linear kilometres of records). The Ballarat Archives Centre repository stocktake is complete (around 1.6 linear kilometres of records). Once complete, the stocktake will be repeated. This stocktake program now forms part of an ongoing cycle of rolling stocking built into our regular Collection Management activities. The implementation of this recommendation is complete.	Completed	July 2012	August 2014
	purposefully review collections for deaccessioning opportunities	Accepted	2013-14 saw the completion of the Disposal Opportunities project. Its final report contained a survey of Public Record Office Victoria, Victorian Archives Centre collection, detailing over 6 linear kilometres of records potentially eligible for disposal. A proportion of these records will ultimately be reappraised as permanent; however, 600 linear metres has already been disposed of, with more to follow in 2014-15. A committee, including senior staff, meets every two months to monitor the progress of analysing, prioritising and progressing further disposal activities. Assessing deaccessioning opportunities is now a component of regular work our Collection Management team undertake. The implementation of the recommendation is now complete.	Completed	July 2013	August 2014
	give greater priority to addressing gaps in the policies and procedures guiding collection management activities.	Accepted	Five broad areas of collection-based activity have identified where policy and procedure documents will need either to be reviewed or created for the first time - storage, use, documentation, access and preservation. Five new policies have been approved. Collection Services staff have been allocated the task of continuing to draft further policies for approval, supported by the Public Record Office Victoria three-year Collection Management Strategy (2012-13 – 2014-15). Regular reviews of policy and procedures are now a part of our yearly section plans. This recommendation is now complete.	Completed	July 2012	August 2014

Energy Efficiency in the Health Sector

Date tabled: 12 September 2012

No.	Recommendation	Acceptance (current)	Action	Status	Date commenced	Date completed/due for completion
Department of Treasury and Finance
4	The Department of Health and the Department of Treasury and Finance should agree on which healthcare facilities are to be included in the Greener Government Buildings program going forward.	Accepted	The Department of Health submitted an updated 'Strategic Implementation Plan' in late 2012 describing a targeted rollout of projects at 27 health services, to be implemented in nine tranches over six years.	Completed	July 2012	October 2012
6	The Department of Treasury and Finance should strengthen its governance arrangements for the Greener Government Buildings program to: better protect its investments through the program	Accepted	The Department of Treasury and Finance updated the program guidelines with a more detailed specification of process requirements, including the need to submit a detailed project plan to the Department prior to the release of any project tender.	Completed	December 2012	February 2013
	influence departments' participation by clarifying roles and responsibilities and its required involvement in delivering and scheduling energy performance contracts	Accepted	The Department of Treasury and Finance has updated the Efficient Government Buildings Guidelines to clarify roles and obligations of all parties, including that the program is no longer mandatory on the basis that there has been broad and active participation across government.	Completed	December 2012	February 2013
	clarify departments' performance reporting obligations	Accepted	Departments have been made aware of communication requirements relating to the measurement and verification of savings delivered under each energy performance contract.	Completed	December 2012	February 2013
	encourage information sharing between departments.	Accepted	The Department of Treasury and Finance established a whole of Victorian Government coordination group which had met several times. The meetings were attended by representatives of most departments and several agencies.	Completed	December 2012	February 2013

Flood Relief and Recovery

Date tabled: 26 June 2013

No.	Recommendation	Acceptance (current)	Action	Status	Date commenced	Date completed/due for completion
Department of Premier and Cabinet
4	The Department of Premier and Cabinet should develop clear guidelines for departments in designing community disaster relief and recovery programs.	Accepted	This recommendation was directed at DPC in the interim while Emergency Management Victoria was established. EMV was established on 1 July 2014. EMV and DHS as the interim State Relief and Recovery Coordinator are now responsible for progressing this recommendation. EMV is developing a Strategic Action Plan 2015-18 to develop and operationalise a new Relief and Recovery Model (incorporating social, economic and environmental outreach) by 1 July 2015. As part of this project, EMV will: Finalise the transition arrangements for relief and recovery coordination moving to EMV; Review the whole of Government State emergency relief and recovery model; and Deliver a community outreach model to ensure consistency of approach in the delivery of community relief and recovery services. DPC will continue to advocate for the consideration of VAGO's recommendations in the development and implementation of the SAP.	Partially completed	July 2014	July 2015
7	The Department of Premier and Cabinet should lead the development of an evaluation framework, based on work undertaken to date by the Department of Human Services, to be used in assessing the impact of relief and recovery programs in the recent floods and in future disaster events	Accepted	Refer to DPC's response to Recommendation No. 4 (above). Furthermore, an independent evaluation of the 2010-2011 and 2012 State Flood Recovery Coordination was presented to the State Crisis and Resilience Council Relief and Recovery Sub-committee meeting on 22 July 2014. The evaluation provided advice on the development of a comprehensive relief and recovery evaluation framework to better enable evaluation of future Victorian Government relief and recovery programs. The Relief and Recovery Sub-committee will consider in further detail the Evaluation's recommendations at its meeting in September 2014.	Substantially completed	August 2014	September 2014
	The Department of Premier and Cabinet should lead an evaluation of the impact of relief and recovery programs in the recent floods, using this framework.	Accepted	See above.	Substantially completed	August 2014	September 2014
Department of Treasury and Finance
5	Rural Finance Corporation (Department of Treasury and Finance) and Regional Development Victoria should coordinate any future disaster relief and recovery programs for businesses.	Accepted	No additional action is required by the Rural Finance Corporation as it already has the systems and processes in place to administer any future disaster relief and recovery programs for businesses. In the conditions of the divestment of the Rural Finance Corporation, the Government has also ensured that Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangement programs will all be maintained on the same terms.	Completed	June 2013	June 2013

Managing Major Projects

Date tabled: 10 October 2012

No.	Recommendation	Acceptance (current)	Action	Status	Date commenced	Date completed/due for completion
Department of Treasury and Finance
11	The Department of Treasury and Finance should clarify the purpose of Standing Direction 2.4(i) and whether it applies in all situations, and take appropriate action to give the requirement the necessary legislative force.	Accepted	The Department of Treasury and Finance advised the Department of Transport, Planning and Local Infrastructure in June 2014 regarding the financial authorisation arrangements of Major Projects Victoria. To clarify the purpose and application of Standing Direction 2.4 Authorisations, the Department issued a key advice update in September 2014 to all departments and agencies, which clarified that contractors and consultants are excluded from holding a financial delegation. This key advice update is available on the Department's website. The Department notes Standing Direction 2.4(i) is intended to apply in all situations and has the necessary legislative force.	Completed	October 2012	September 2014

No.

Recommendation

Acceptance (current)

Action

Status

Date commenced

Date completed/due for completion

Department of Treasury and Finance

11

The Department of Treasury and Finance should clarify the purpose of Standing Direction 2.4(i) and whether it applies in all situations, and take appropriate action to give the requirement the necessary legislative force.

Accepted

The Department of Treasury and Finance advised the Department of Transport, Planning and Local Infrastructure in June 2014 regarding the financial authorisation arrangements of Major Projects Victoria.

To clarify the purpose and application of Standing Direction 2.4 Authorisations, the Department issued a key advice update in September 2014 to all departments and agencies, which clarified that contractors and consultants are excluded from holding a financial delegation. This key advice update is available on the Department's website.

The Department notes Standing Direction 2.4(i) is intended to apply in all situations and has the necessary legislative force.

Completed

October 2012

September 2014

Planning, Delivery and Benefits Realisation of Major Asset Investment: The Gateway Review Process

Date tabled: 8 May 2013

No.	Recommendation	Acceptance (current)	Action	Status	Date commenced	Date completed/due for completion
Department of Treasury and Finance
1	The Department of Treasury and Finance should systematically validate whether projects should be subject to Gateway review, by verifying that robust project risk assessments are completed for new projects.	Accepted	Consistent with its official response to the Auditor-General's audit, the Department of Treasury and Finance supported this recommendation in principle. The Department has enhanced its processes and documentation including establishing a template to validate whether projects should be subject to High Value High Risk and more clearly outline the rationale for the Department's risk assessment of projects. These processes and documentation will be applied to all new projects considered for the upcoming 2015-16 budget.	Partially completed	June 2014	May 2015
2	The Department of Treasury and Finance should re-establish an oversight committee for the Gateway Review Process and report regularly to government on Gateway activity and impacts.	Partially accepted	Consistent with its official response to the Auditor-General's audit, the Department of Treasury and Finance supported this recommendation in principle and has implemented changes to address it. Oversight of the Gateway Review Process has been incorporated within the remit of the Department's High Value High Risk Subcommittee. As part of the Subcommittee's oversight, the Department prepares a six monthly report on the Gateway Review Process. Additionally, the Department reports twice yearly to government via a government sub-committee on Gateway activity and impacts.	Completed	June 2013	June 2013
3	The Department of Treasury and Finance should strengthen Gateway Review Process quality assurance processes.	Accepted	DTF continues to be compliant with the ISO 9001: 2008 requirements. Additional actions to strengthen quality assurance processes include holding the Australasian Review Team Leader Forum in November 2013 which provided a forum for Review Team Leaders to share lessons learned, identify issues and opportunities for improvements to the Gateway Review Process and enhance consistency in the application of existing Gateway Review Process processes.	Completed	November 2013	February 2014
4	The Department of Treasury and Finance should track and report on the impact of the Gateway Review Process on improving the outcomes of completed projects.	Accepted	The Department of Treasury and Finance is investigating options, such as an evaluation framework, to assess the impact of the Gateway Review Process together with the impact of the High Value High Risk Framework on improving the outcomes of completed projects.	Partially completed	September 2014	February 2015
5	The Department of Treasury and Finance should actively monitor agency action in response to Gateway review recommendations.	Partially accepted	Consistent with its official response to the Auditor-General's audit, the Department of Treasury and Finance supported this recommendation in principle and continues to monitor critical ('red') Gateway Review Recommendations through the High Value High Risk Framework and the Department's related involvement in projects (including Steering Committees and project teams). In addition to this, the Department has enhanced its Gateway report template to confirm (in the Gateway report) that the preceding report's recommendations were reviewed by the review team and addressed by the agency. The Department has also updated its central register to monitor this.	Completed	July 2013	September 2014
6	The Department of Treasury and Finance should complete the database for sharing lessons learned from Gateway reviews and build case studies to better demonstrate key lessons.	Partially accepted	Consistent with its official response to the Auditor-General's audit, the Department of Treasury and Finance supported this recommendation in principle and has addressed it. The Lessons Learnt database is complete and accessible to approved departmental and Australasian Gateway users at the website (www.investmentlessons.dtf.vic.gov.au). The database is updated by approved departmental Program Management Offices to ensure accurate and up to date lessons. The Department has ensured that the system platform can provide for the incorporation of case studies into the database and has published an international ICT case study on the website.	Completed	September 2013	July 2014

Public Asset Valuation

Date tabled: 17 April 2013

No.	Recommendation	Acceptance (current)	Action	Status	Date commenced	Date completed/due for completion
Department of Treasury and Finance
7	The Department of Treasury and Finance should lead the process to develop comprehensive guidance for valuing physical non-current assets at fair value and include guidance on discount rates.	Partially accepted	The Valuer-General Victoria (VGV), as the State's independent valuation authority with the relevant valuation expertise, is best placed to lead the development of comprehensive guidance for valuing non-current physical assets. The Department of Treasury and Finance considers it inappropriate for it to lead the process, as this would impinge the VGV's independence and role. The Department has instead, commenced work with the VGV to develop comprehensive guidance for valuing non-current physical assets at fair value, including guidance on the application of discount rates for valuing different types of assets. This is to ensure that the VGV valuations remain consistent with the reporting requirements of the State's Financial Reporting Direction(s) in this area.	Partially completed	August 2014	March 2015
8	The Department of Treasury and Finance should identify possible alternatives for assessing movements in asset values between formal revaluations.	Accepted	The Department of Treasury and Finance has commenced discussions with the Valuer-General Victoria for possible refinements to the approach of assessing movements in asset values between formal valuations, including exploring the following: review of the existing 40 per cent threshold required under the existing Financial Reporting Direction 103E for when a formal revaluation by the Valuer-General Victoria is required; feasibility of possible valuation alternatives; and feedback and experiences of Victorian public sector entities and other jurisdictions in valuing their assets to determine the cost and benefit of alternative approaches.	Partially completed	August 2014	March 2015

No.

Recommendation

Acceptance (current)

Action

Status

Date commenced

Date completed/due for completion

Department of Treasury and Finance

7

The Department of Treasury and Finance should lead the process to develop comprehensive guidance for valuing physical non-current assets at fair value and include guidance on discount rates.

Partially accepted

The Valuer-General Victoria (VGV), as the State's independent valuation authority with the relevant valuation expertise, is best placed to lead the development of comprehensive guidance for valuing non-current physical assets. The Department of Treasury and Finance considers it inappropriate for it to lead the process, as this would impinge the VGV's independence and role.

The Department has instead, commenced work with the VGV to develop comprehensive guidance for valuing non-current physical assets at fair value, including guidance on the application of discount rates for valuing different types of assets. This is to ensure that the VGV valuations remain consistent with the reporting requirements of the State's Financial Reporting Direction(s) in this area.

Partially completed

August 2014

March 2015

8

The Department of Treasury and Finance should identify possible alternatives for assessing movements in asset values between formal revaluations.

Accepted

The Department of Treasury and Finance has commenced discussions with the Valuer-General Victoria for possible refinements to the approach of assessing movements in asset values between formal valuations, including exploring the following:

review of the existing 40 per cent threshold required under the existing Financial Reporting Direction 103E for when a formal revaluation by the Valuer-General Victoria is required;
feasibility of possible valuation alternatives; and
feedback and experiences of Victorian public sector entities and other jurisdictions in valuing their assets to determine the cost and benefit of alternative approaches.

Partially completed

August 2014

March 2015

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Appendix C. Education

Survey of responses to 2012–13 performance audit recommendations

As this audit was undertaken prior to machinery of government changes on 1 January 2015, departments are referred to by their 2014 titles.

Audits include:

Implementation of School Infrastructure Programs
Learning Technologies in Government Schools
Management of Staff Occupational Health and Safety in Schools
Programs for Students with Special Learning Needs
Student Completion Rates
The State of Victoria's Children: Performance Reporting

Implementation of School Infrastructure Programs

Date tabled: 20 February 2013

No.	Recommendation	Acceptance (current)	Action	Status	Date commenced	Date completed/due for completion
Department of Education and Early Childhood Development
1	The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development should develop and document a comprehensive long-term asset strategy, encompassing plans to address surplus buildings at schools.	Accepted	The Department is developing a long-term asset management strategy that seeks to improve its asset management and planning capabilities, and processes. This includes improving the sustainability and utilisation of school land and buildings.	Partially completed	February 2013	October 2014
2	The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development should require schools to adopt a long-term approach to maintaining their assets and hold them to account for doing so.	Accepted	As part of the long-term asset management strategy outlined in the response to Recommendation 1, more effective accountabilities for school asset management are being developed that provide clear understanding and expectations about the responsibilities of schools and the Department. This has been complemented by professional development programs to build the asset management capabilities of principals and school business managers. The condition assessment audit of all Victorian government schools in 2012 has provided information about school facilities that enables greater and more transparent prioritisation of maintenance funding.	Completed	February 2013	May 2014
3	The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development should review its asset maintenance funding model to make sure that schools are adequately supported in maintaining buildings throughout their life cycles.	Accepted	A number of policy issues were identified to support schools to maintain their buildings. including provision of capital funding to enable schools to better plan their maintenance expenditure, the need for ongoing audits of school facilities to assist schools with their long‑term asset planning, and provision of more proactive training in asset management for principals. As part of the evidence‑based asset management strategy (noted in the response to Recommendation 1) the Department will evaluate future funding requirements for ongoing management of school infrastructure.	Completed	February 2013	May 2014
4	The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development should evaluate the efficiency, effectiveness and economy of the public private partnership model for possible use in future school infrastructure programs.	Accepted	Following the successful Partnerships Victoria in Schools project in 2011, further opportunities to implement cost-efficient alternative procurement methodologies are being explored. The proposed long-term asset management strategy will improve asset management and planning practices, including consideration of future public-private partnerships for delivering new, and improving existing, school infrastructure. Schools, from the Partnerships Victoria in Schools program, that opened in 2010 and 2011 will be evaluated once sufficient time has passed to review asset management arrangements, student results and parent satisfaction. This evaluation will also compare facility maintenance, security and cleaning to contractual standards over multiple years. A detailed review and lessons-learned assessment has been conducted and will be used to inform a more formal evaluation.	Completed	February 2013	May 2014
5	The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development should comprehensively evaluate the delivery and impact of the Victorian Schools Plan and the Building the Education Revolution program, as well as all future infrastructure investments.	Partially accepted	A process review of the Building the Education Revolution program has been conducted and key lessons have been incorporated into the new approach to asset management. Consequently, the Department does not intend to conduct a more detailed evaluation of the Victorian Schools Plan and the Building the Education Revolution program. System improvements have been implemented that incorporate lessons learned, including a new program management framework, a whole-of-portfolio program management contract, a dedicated Infrastructure Contract Management and Procurement Unit and a comprehensive business transformation program across the Department's Infrastructure and Sustainability Division. In addition to a comprehensive, long‑term infrastructure and asset management strategy, future investment will be complemented by a whole-of-department evaluation policy that includes measuring the impact of infrastructure investments on asset performance and improvements in student outcomes.	Completed	February 2013	September 2013

Learning Technologies in Government Schools

Date tabled: 12 December 2012

No.	Recommendation	Acceptance (current)	Action	Status	Date commenced	Date completed/due for completion
Department of Education and Early Childhood Development
1	The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development should develop a comprehensive and evidence based strategy or plan of action for use of learning technologies to underpin and guide the significant investment in ICT for government schools.	Accepted	An evidence-based Digital Learning Strategy (2014-2017) that focuses on three interconnected themes and 12 core actions for the discerning and safe use of digital technologies to support learning and teaching has received Ministerial approval. As part of the strategy, the Department will support schools and early childhood settings to maximise return on ICT investment through informed planning and decision making; building capability of educators and leaders; building partnerships with parents and communities; access to quality resources; and supporting improved learning outcomes by personalising learning. The strategy development has included research and evidence-based practice, extensive stakeholder consultations, and work across the early childhood, school and training portfolios.	Completed	December 2012	May 2014
2	The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development should develop performance indicators that measure both VicSmart's ongoing operational performance and its achievement of intended benefits.	Accepted	The Department has developed indicators to measure the benefits of VicSmart and implemented regular monitoring and reporting. The VicSmart Performance Indicators Report, produced on a monthly basis, outlines the performance of VicSmart against key network performance indicators. Service-level reports, produced fortnightly, provide for monitoring and reporting on major systems using the VicSmart network. These reports are reviewed on a regular basis and any required actions are assessed and commissioned.	Completed	December 2012	November 2013
3	The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development should urgently review its investment in the Ultranet, with a particular focus on:
	assessing whether the contractor has delivered all functionality as required by the contract and what action, if any, needs to be taken to enforce the state's rights	Accepted	The Department continually monitored and assessed delivery of the Ultranet functionality and considers this was satisfactorily met. It determined that functionality issues experienced by schools were implementation issues rather than any failure on the part of the contractor to deliver the functions as required under contract.	Completed	December 2012	May 2014
	rigorously assessing its financial management practices and identifying the real, current cost of the Ultranet to determine the extent to which further investment is warranted	Accepted	An investigation into financial management practices was also conducted as outlined in the response to Recommendation 4.	Completed	December 2012	May 2014
	identifying and addressing the underlying causes of low take up rates across the school system by teachers, students and parents	Accepted	A three-stage stakeholder research and consultation strategy to understand the core challenges in relation to Ultranet adoption was undertaken. Six general findings were identified: 1) The concept of the Ultranet was held in high regard; 2) There were significant functionality issues; 3) Schools were unable to articulate the benefits of the Ultranet; 4) Future uncertainty; 5) Adoption varied across schools; 6) Factors contributing to adoption included: Principal commitment to the Ultranet Principal style of leadership Teacher interest in the Ultranet Other systems in place in the school IT infrastructure Functionality, capability and support available.	Completed	December 2012	May 2014
	providing advice to government on the cost-benefit of decommissioning the system now against continuing to fund and rectify the system so that it can be implemented as originally expected.	Accepted	KPMG independently evaluated the Ultranet in August 2012. Their scope of work was then broadened to include a strategic assessment and road map for the future direction of the Ultranet. In May 2013, the final report presented two options: 1) continue with the Ultranet under a revised business model for 18 months or 2) renew/extend the Ultranet contract for six months to allow for transition out activities. Based on cost-benefit and risk assessment analysis, Option 2 was chosen and, in June 2013, a Heads of Agreement was signed with NEC for the continued provision of the Ultranet to 31 December 2013. A joint Department/NEC transition working party was established to oversee the transition-out strategy and ensure minimum disruption to schools.	Completed	December 2012	May 2014
4	The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development should conduct an agency-wide review of its internal tendering, probity and financial management practices in light of the serious issues identified by this audit.	Accepted	Three separate audit projects to investigate financial management practices, tendering and probity associated with the Ultranet have been completed. The annual financial management compliance framework audit and the annual procurement and payment audit cover agency-wide review of tendering, probity and financial management practices and are currently in progress for the 2013-14 financial year.	Completed	December 2012	September 2013
5	The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development should expedite the provision of guidance to schools on the current status of the Ultranet as the department's key learning technology investment, and clarify the policy context of schools' autonomy in purchasing non-Ultranet learning technologies.	Accepted	A communication strategy was developed and, on 28 June 2013, schools were advised of the agreement between the Department and NEC. Schools were informed that: the Ultranet would be available to all schools until 31 December 2013 NEC would assume full responsibility for the Ultranet from 1 January 2014 schools could choose to use the service from 2014 on a user-pays basis. In October 2013, all users were informed about terminating access to the Ultranet and the need to extract data. This circular was reissued in November and December, and guidance was provided on extracting content and data for schools choosing to explore other options. The Digital Learning Strategy will support schools to embed a range of digital technologies into teaching and learning practice to best meet their students' and the community's needs. The Ultranet is no longer promoted as the preferred solution.	Completed	December 2012	September 2013

Management of Staff Occupational Health and Safety in Schools

Date tabled: 29 May 2013

No.	Recommendation	Acceptance (current)	Action	Status	Date commenced	Date completed/due for completion
Department of Education and Early Childhood Development
1	The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development should benchmark its WorkSafe claims performance with other education sectors to better understand the reasons for performance differences and improve its practices	Accepted	With data obtained from the Victorian WorkCover Authority, the Department is reviewing and comparing WorkCover claims data for government and non-government schools. Non-government school organisations were contacted in March 2014 to learn how the Department's performance could be improved.	Completed	May 2013	August 2014
2	The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development should investigate models for WorkSafe premium distribution that provide enhanced incentives for schools to improve occupational health and safety performance	Accepted	The existing model for Victorian WorkCover Authority premium distribution amongst schools is being reviewed. Discussions were held with various professional premium modellers and, following the procurement process, a professional premium modeller was appointed on 13 May 2014. Currently schools contribute about three per cent of the Department's Victorian WorkCover Authority premium. School premium contributions will be reviewed to investigate advantages of schools increasing their share of the premium. This is consistent with schools taking on greater autonomy as set out in the Department's policy document Towards Victoria as a Learning Community and taking greater accountability for workplace injuries.	Completed	May 2013	August 2014
3	The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development should monitor its expenditure on the additional costs associated with injuries in schools, and use this as an indicator of the success of occupational health and safety projects.	Accepted	Opportunities to minimise additional costs associated with injuries in schools, due to improved reporting and payment types on top of WorkCover payments, are being investigated. These include on-costs, replacement of employees whilst in receipt of workers' compensation benefits and top-up payments of weekly benefits. The additional costs will be measured against the success of OHS projects once the costs have been calculated. A framework is being established within which the success of OHS projects will be measured. Further analysis and studies will be undertaken, including a review of absenteeism and the associated costs to the Department. By January 2015, the Department hopes to be able to attribute costs to injury types, which will assist in identifying and targeting strategies for reducing those injury types and the additional costs associated with injuries in schools.	Partially completed	May 2013	February 2015
4	The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development should further analyse its return to work process to identify any specific changes that may be required to be most effective in the government school environment.	Accepted	A review of the Occupational Rehabilitation Provider Panel was completed in August 2013 and a new panel was established. Return-to-work coordinator training was launched across the Department in December 2013. All staff nominated as a return-to-work coordinator are expected to undertake appropriate training. Early intervention strategies are being revised and implemented. Since July 2012, intensive claims reviews have been conducted, resulting in greater scrutiny of the Department's WorkCover agent. A business case has been developed to improve return-to-work rates and outcomes to benefit injured workers and the Department. This includes additional training and support for schools in return-to-work processes and claims management.	Completed	May 2013	August 2014
5	The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development should define and reinforce its expectations of principals in regard to good occupational health and safety management in their schools.	Accepted	The online Occupational Health and Safety Learning Management System was launched in December 2013 and includes an 'Occupational Health and Safety for Managers' eLearning module that all principals in government schools are expected to complete. As at 22 September 2014, 2,798 or 76.6% of principals have completed the module. Further online training - to build capability and to assist principals manage their occupational health and safety responsibilities, including asbestos management and contractor management - have been released in 2014 with similar completion rates achieved.	Partially completed	May 2013	December 2014
6	The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development should identify thresholds for intervention in schools with poor occupational health and safety performance, and act expediently to address performance issues.	Accepted	An audit follow-up process for the Occupational Health and Safety Management System is being developed for: closer monitoring of occupational health and safety performance in schools processes to identify 'poor performing' schools managing schools not implementing their OHS audit recommendations. The OHS Management System was implemented in government schools in June 2012. The audit program for this system will have audited around 1,600 schools by 2016. Schools performing poorly in their OHS audits by not implementing their OHS audit recommendations have been identified and the Department is working with these schools in a targeted support program. In February 2014, the Department appointed a senior occupational health and safety policy adviser who is developing an OHS Accountability Framework. Progress has been made in identifying ways to integrate OHS into school performance criteria including principal performance development processes.	Partially completed	May 2013	August 2015
9	The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development and WorkSafe should jointly investigate ways to improve occupational health and safety compliance in government schools.	Accepted	The Department and the Victorian WorkCover Authority began regular meetings from November 2013. The Joint Working Group meets monthly to discuss data sharing and opportunities to improve occupational health and safety and workers' compensation compliance. The approach for 2014-15 is to develop joint sector approaches to more extensively use information, education and support to improve occupational health and safety performance in schools.	Completed	May 2013	August 2014
Victorian WorkCover Authority
7	WorkSafe should evaluate all injury reduction tools to understand their impact on claims and workplace behaviour.	Accepted	Revised the VWA's strategy and policy documents to ensure periodic evaluation of health and safety programs including the following: 2013 Health and Safety Strategic Framework, VWA research strategy (approved by the VWA Board in June 2014), 2014 - 2017 VWA Corporate Plan which provides for the selection of three evaluations of OHS regulation tools from a number of areas (evaluations will be confirmed with the VWA research institute (ISCRR) as part of the plan finalisation, and Improvement Networks evaluation framework which has been established and adopted.	Partially completed	July 2013	June 2015
8	WorkSafe should provide regular updates to the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development on school occupational health and safety performance, compliance and claims trends based on workplace visits and other available resources.	Accepted	VWA met with Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (DEECD) throughout November and December 2013 to scope and clarify reporting requirements to improve DEECD health and safety performance. Data has been provided to DEECD on 27 December 2013 and 12 February 2014. VWA provided DEECD with reporting on RTW and OHS claims, durations (continuance rates) cut by region, occupation, school type, injury type, duration and compared to non govt schools Reporting has been provided to DEECD regarding OHS claims and issues, at a whole-of-DEECD level and on outcomes of inspector assessments of schools. VWA and DEECD quarterly meetings have been scheduled for the future with the next occuring on 6 November 2014.	Partially completed	November 2013	June 2015
9	The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development and WorkSafe should jointly investigate ways to improve occupational health and safety compliance in government schools.	Accepted	A DEECD working group was established on 9 November 2013 to identify ways to improve DEECD's OHS performance. The VWA has commenced high level engagement with DEECD to determine needs and establish appropriate programs to address identified risks. The VWA CE met with the DEECD Secretary in 2013 and 2014 and has established an engagement program with departmental secretaries. The most recent CE meeting was held on 24 July 2014 and a statistical report on performance provided by the VWA. VWA and DEECD quarterly meetings have been scheduled for the future with the next occuring on 6 November 2014.	Partially completed	November 2013	June 2015

Programs for Students with Special Learning Needs

Date tabled: 29 August 2012

No.	Recommendation	Acceptance (current)	Action	Status	Date commenced	Date completed/due for completion
Department of Education and Early Childhood Development
1	The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development should develop processes to monitor and report on the learning and progress of students with special learning needs, including both funded and non-funded students.	Accepted	The Abilities Based Learning and Education Support Resources now capture the learning achievement of students who have cognitive impairments that prevent their learning being assessed and reported against the Victorian Essential Learning Standards. The new Student Online Case System is increasingly capturing the needs of students with special learning needs. The planned rollout of the national model for the collection of consistent data on students with disabilities (2013 to 2016) will enable schools to identify supports being provided for the broader cohort of students with disabilities and additional learning needs.	Completed	August 2012	September 2013
2	The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development should monitor the effectiveness and impact of programs to support students with special learning needs including which schools are using them.	Accepted	Data on student needs and support provided is being collected through the Student Online Case System (a data collection and reporting system). Data is also being collected on participation of schools in statewide disability training programs.	Partially completed	August 2012	December 2014
3	The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development should provide clearer guidance and training for teachers on how to get the most from Student Support Groups and how to develop and implement meaningful and effective Individual Learning Plans.	Accepted	The guidelines for the Program for Students with Disabilities have been revised. An online professional learning program is also being delivered, statewide, to provide clearer guidance and training for teachers on how to get the most from student support groups and how to develop and implement meaningful and effective individual learning plans. Further work will occur in 2014 in accordance with the Commonwealth response to the recommendations of the Report on the Review of the Disability Standards for Education.	Partially completed	August 2012	December 2014
4	The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development should seek feedback from schools about the clarity and usefulness of critical policy and guidance material and act to address identified deficiencies. In particular it should focus on:
	restraint and seclusion practices	Accepted	The Department consulted with principals' organisations and relevant disability stakeholder groups in 2013. Extended guidance material - including practice guidelines - has been, and continues to be, developed for each area.	Partially completed	August 2012	December 2014
	parents paying for external support delivered in school	Accepted	The Department consulted with principals' organisations and relevant disability stakeholder groups in 2013. Extended guidance material - including practice guidelines - has been, and continues to be, developed for each area.	Partially completed	August 2012	December 2014
	the circumstances in which full time access to school can be restricted.	Accepted	The Department consulted with principals' organisations and relevant disability stakeholder groups in 2013. Extended guidance material - including practice guidelines - has been, and continues to be, developed for each area.	Partially completed	August 2012	December 2014
5	The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development should set and implement measurable performance indicators for the Program for Students with Disabilities.	Accepted	Existing performance indicators have been reviewed for 2014 and a revised set is being developed for 2015.	Partially completed	August 2012	December 2015

Student Completion Rates

Date tabled: 28 November 2012

No.	Recommendation	Acceptance (current)	Action	Status	Date commenced	Date completed/due for completion
Department of Education and Early Childhood Development
1	The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development should develop specific strategies to increase retention and completion rates for non-metropolitan students and students from low socio‑economic status backgrounds.	Accepted	The 2014 School Attendance Guidelines and Student Engagement and Inclusion Guidance provide guidance for schools on developing a student engagement policy, promoting positive student behaviour and responding to challenging behaviour. Strategies to improve attendance, engagement and retention for students at risk of disengagement include: Local Solutions Year 12 Retention Fund - supports rural and regional schools to design and deliver programs that increase Year 12 retention and expand pathway options. Rural and Regional Plan - to use high-quality research and views from a wide range of stakeholders to identify actions for improving outcomes in rural and regional Victoria. Out-of-Home Care Education Commitment – to support students in out-of-home care through educational needs assessments and individual learning plans.	Partially completed	December 2013	December 2015
2	The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development should develop a framework to oversee the provision of support to students at risk of disengaging, or who are disengaged from education, to assist them to complete Year 12 or equivalent.	Accepted	System-wide policy and operating frameworks are being revised to empower schools to deliver quality re-engagement programs. This work will identify a framework for re-engagement programs. Key supports to assist disengaged students or those at risk of disengaging from education include: Student Support Services - providing principals with more control and flexibility to improve support for these students. Primary welfare officers - expanded by more than 150 full-time-equivalent employees over the past four years to support primary students. School Focused Youth Service - reframed to better support these students. School Resource Package Guide - contains improved guidance and accountability arrangements for schools delivering re-engagement programs. Area partnerships with the departments of Human Services, Justice and Health, the Police, local government and the community sector to focus on local solutions to the problems identified in the Vulnerable Children Strategy.	Partially completed	December 2013	January 2016
3	The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development should analyse the impact of programs to determine which strategies have been effective, and why, in order to facilitate schools to use them more effectively.	Accepted	Re-engagement program pilots have been evaluated in order to identify the key factors that enabled success. This evaluation and other research will be used to inform future policy directions for re-engagement programs.	Partially completed	December 2013	June 2014
4	The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development should improve data collection and analysis around how effective the department is in supporting schools to assist disengaged students and those at-risk of disengaging to remain at school and complete Year 12 or equivalent.	Accepted	The Victorian Student Number has been used to identify early school leavers who re-enrol in an education or training setting and those who don't. This information will inform the development of specific strategies to improve student engagement.	Partially completed	December 2013	May 2014
5	The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development should develop fit‑for-purpose outcome measures to recognise and manage risk in relation to Victoria's Year 12 and equivalent completion rates.	Accepted	The 2013-17 Strategic Plan identifies engagement as a key outcome and establishes a four-year priority to ensure secondary schooling is more inclusive, flexible and engaging, and equips young people for further study and work. The Outcomes and Performance Framework being developed will enable system-level measurement of outcomes for Victoria's children, young people and adult learners against the agreed outcomes of achievement, engagement and wellbeing. It will identify indicators that contribute to student engagement and measure the proportion of students who attain Year 12 or equivalent. A measure of Year 9-11 students who disengage from education and who are not in an education or training setting will be included in the School Performance Framework. Year 10-12 apparent retention rates are reported through the Victorian Child and Adolescent Monitoring System Portal.	Partially completed	December 2013	December 2014
6	The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development should use sufficient evidence to analyse the impact of policy changes so that decision-makers are comprehensively informed and advised.	Accepted	One of the priorities in the Strategic Plan 2013-17 is to ensure secondary schooling is more inclusive, flexible and engaging and equips young people for further study and work. The Department continues to monitor and evaluate specific initiatives regarding attendance, engagement and retention to ensure they are meeting their stated objectives and contributing to ongoing policy development. The Outcomes and Performance Framework will identify measures that contribute to student engagement and attainment. This, coupled with program evaluations, will provide evidence to analyse the impact of policy changes.	Partially completed	December 2013	December 2014

The State of Victoria's Children: Performance Reporting

Date tabled: 29 May 2013

No.	Recommendation	Acceptance (current)	Action	Status	Date commenced	Date completed/due for completion
Department of Education and Early Childhood Development
1	The Children's Services Coordination Board should review and clarify the role and purpose of state of Victoria's children reports in consultation with non-government stakeholders.	Accepted	Following release of local-level data through the online portal for the Victorian Child and Adolescent Monitoring System in December 2013, stakeholder consultations were held in 10 locations across Victoria. These consultations familiarised stakeholders with the portal and findings from the State of Victoria's Children 2012 report. Attendees were surveyed to assess the usefulness of these resources and this feedback will inform planning for future reporting.	Completed	May 2013	August 2014
2	The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development should expedite completion of the project to make Victorian Child and Adolescent Monitoring System data publicly available online.	Accepted	In December 2013, the first phase of the online portal project for the Victorian Child and Adolescent Monitoring System saw the release of local government area level data against 33 indicators. The data is available in visualised and spread sheet format. Further data will be released later in 2014.	Completed	May 2013	August 2014
3	The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development should evaluate the Victorian Child and Adolescent Monitoring System to determine its ongoing relevance for state of Victoria's children reports.	Accepted	A review of the usefulness and collectability of the data in the Victorian Child and Adolescent Monitoring System is under way with a view to refining the suite of indicators in the system. This review process includes consultation with key stakeholders across government and community organisations. The final suite of indicators will be endorsed later in 2014.	Partially completed	May 2013	December 2014
4	The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development should establish agreed mechanisms to assure the quality of information being reported in state of Victoria's children reports.	Accepted	Data quality mechanisms are built into the processes for accessing and reporting information through the annual State of Victoria's Children report and the online portal for the Victorian Child and Adolescent Monitoring System. This includes data cleansing, validation and approval from data custodians prior to any publication of data. Data quality mechanisms will continue to be implemented with future updates to the online portal and annual reports.	Completed	May 2013	August 2014

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Appendix D. Environmental and primary industries

Survey of responses to 2012–13 performance audit recommendations

As this audit was undertaken prior to machinery of government changes on 1 January 2015, departments are referred to by their 2014 titles.

Audits include:

Effectiveness of Compliance Activities. Departments of Primary Industries and Sustainability and Environment.
Environment and Sustainability Sector: Performance Reporting
Management of Freshwater Fisheries

Effectiveness of Compliance Activities. Departments of Primary Industries and Sustainability and Environment

Date tabled: 24 October 2012

No.	Recommendation	Acceptance (current)	Action	Status	Date commenced	Date completed/due for completion
Department of Environment and Primary Industries
1	The departments of Primary Industries and Sustainability and Environment should strengthen their whole-of-department compliance frameworks by:
	developing whole-of-department compliance policies and specific regulator policies, as appropriate, that meet better practice criteria—including describing education and enforcement approaches, and making relevant information publicly available	Accepted	Completed: DEPI has developed a new compliance framework and policy that defines the minimum standards for internal business compliance strategies and regional compliance plans. DEPI Senior Executive Group approved these on 11 August 2014 and these are published on the DEPI Intranet. To be completed: 1) DEPI businesses/regions to complete business compliance strategies and regional compliance plans. 2) Publish the new compliance framework, policy and other relevant information on the DEPI external website.	Partially completed	July 2013	June 2015
	improving how they manage delegations—including maintaining current registers of delegations and Acts with compliance responsibilities, communicating expectations for managing delegations, and regularly assessing how well the delegations are used	Accepted	Completed: DEPI has implemented a verification process requiring all authorised officers to check their appointment records and sign a declaration to provide assurance that they are current and correct. DEPI has created a register listing authorisations held by all its authorised officers. The register has been built into the DEPI internal business management system. Data is now live, current and being maintained. DEPI has initiated a review of how the department manages delegated decisions including investigating how other portfolio regulators manage delegations (e.g EPA has demonstrated their system). To be completed: 1) Development and implementation of a fit for purpose, better practice system to improve management of regulatory delegations across the department, including ability to assess how well delegations are used.	Partially completed	July 2013	June 2015
	transparently identifying and monitoring high compliance risks across all Acts and regulations, and reporting these to senior management	Accepted	Completed: DEPI has developed a new compliance framework and policy that defines the minimum standards for internal business compliance strategies and regional compliance plans. DEPI Senior Executive Group approved these on 11 August 2014 and these are published on the DEPI Intranet. The new compliance policy provides guidance to DEPI businesses on implementing a risk-based approach to prioritising compliance activities. It requires, as a minimum standard, DEPI regulatory businesses to identify, monitor and report on high compliance risks. Biosecurity & Fisheries divisions have carried out risk assessments of their compliance activities. To be completed: 1) DEPI regulatory businesses to identify, document & present to senior management their strategic priorities for compliance activities (based on a risk assessment) in their compliance strategies. 2) DEPI regions to prioritise high compliance risks within regional compliance plans.	Partially completed	July 2013	June 2015
	improving oversight and assurance of their compliance functions by better monitoring how they manage their compliance responsibilities—including through regular external review, and, for the Department of Sustainability and Environment, by also assigning clear accountability for its compliance functions and the statewide compliance strategy.	Accepted	Completed: DEPI has implemented major structural changes to consolidate regulatory and compliance functions and improve its ability to monitor and manage compliance activities. DEPI has implemented a new compliance framework that makes internal businesses accountable for developing effective compliance strategies outlining their compliance objectives, obligations and risk-based priorities, including the performance measures to be used to assess the effectiveness of their compliance activities. It makes regions accountable for collaboratively developing compliance plans for the delivery of operational compliance activities. To be completed: 1) DEPI businesses and regions to work collaboratively to ensure the development of comprehensive compliance strategies (by March 2015) and compliance plans by June 2015. 2) DEPI to build a compliance performance management system, to facilitate the regular review of its compliance activities, obligations and accountabilities by June 2015.	Partially completed	July 2013	June 2015
2	The departments of Primary Industries and Sustainability and Environment should establish department-wide compliance performance management systems that identify:
	a core set of compliance outcomes	Accepted	Completed: A compliance outcomes hierarchy, including short and long term outcomes, and principles for the compliance performance management system (CPMS) has been developed and captured in the new DEPI compliance policy (approved by DEPI Senior Executive Group on 11 August 2014). Three workshops have been conducted with evaluation specialists and internal business representatives to scope the DEPI wide CPMS and draft initial requirements. To be completed: 1) Confirm the final elements of the CPMS. 2) Build/set up the elements in an electronic system by June 2015.	Partially completed	July 2013	June 2015
	relevant, appropriate and representative compliance performance measures of effectiveness against the outcomes and compliance objectives	Accepted	Pending: DEPI compliance performance indicators to measure the effectiveness of compliance activities undertaken to be included in business compliance strategies and regional compliance plans. Reporting against indicators to commence from 1 July 2015. To be completed: 1) DEPI to build a compliance performance management system (CPMS), to facilitate the regular review of its compliance activities, obligations and accountabilities by June 2015. The CPMS will assess and report on the appropriateness, effectiveness and efficiency of compliance activities delivered. 2) DEPI businesses to include compliance performance indicators in their compliance strategies (to be finalised by March 2015). It is intended that the performance indicators will provide a relevant, appropriate and fair representation of performance -as guided by principles and minimum standards. 3) DEPI regions to capture the relevant compliance performance indicators in their compliance plans (to be finalised by June 2015)	Partially completed	August 2014	June 2015
	transparent internal reporting and balanced public reporting on compliance	Accepted	Pending: DEPI uses the Interplan system for corporate/business planning and reporting.The system has an output based approach aligned to DEPI's organisational structure and includes DTF BP3 output performance measures. It is intended that the compliance performance management system (CPMS), once finalised, will use Interplan to routinely monitor and report on progress of compliance activities against targeted outcomes, performance, actions and tasks for 2015/16 onwards. To be completed: 1) Confirm the final elements of the CPMS requirements and build them into Interplan. 2) Businesses to finalise their compliance performance indicators for CPMS by March 2015. 3) Regions to capture the compliance performance indicators and develop their compliance plans and actions for the CPMS by June 2015.	Partially completed	August 2014	June 2015
	targeted and reliable compliance data and information sets relevant to the performance measures, based on a data and information gap analysis.	Accepted	Pending: A compliance outcomes hierarchy, including short and long term outcomes, and principles for the compliance performance management system (CPMS) has been approved in the new DEPI compliance policy. This was based on known data and targeted outcomes. DEPI businesses are now required to develop compliance performance indicators in their compliance strategies (by March 2015) to measure the effectiveness in achieving the targeted compliance outcomes. DEPI regions are required to capture these compliance performance indicators in their compliance plans (by June 2015). Business and region actions against the performance indicators and outcomes heirachy will be captured in the CPMS and DEPI will be able to re-test for data and information gaps once CPMS reporting is implemented (after June 2015).	Partially completed	August 2014	June 2015
3	The regulators within the departments of Primary Industries and Sustainability and Environment should:
	rigorously and transparently prioritise and plan their compliance work under all relevant Acts	Accepted	Completed: DEPI has implemented a new compliance framework and policy that outlines the department's commitment to undertake transparent and documented risk assessments in order to determine priorities and effectively channel resources. It requires DEPI businesses to develop risk-based compliance strategies/plans and enforcement decision making frameworks to guide authorised officers taking action against non-compliance To be completed: DEPI regulatory businesses to identify, document and present their strategic priorities for compliance activities based on a risk assessment in their compliance strategies to senior management. DEPI regions to document all regional compliance priorities within regional compliance plans. DEPI businesses to finalise compliance strategies by March 2015. Regions to finalise compliance plans by June 2015.	Partially completed	June 2013	June 2015
	regularly and systematically review how consistently and objectively they conduct all types of enforcement actions.	Accepted	Completed: DEPI has developed a new compliance policy that the DEPI Senior Executive Group endorsed on 11 August 2014 and is published on the DEPI Intranet. The new policy commits regulatory businesses to develop an enforcement decision making framework for their business, distilled within the business compliance strategy and detailed within a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP). To be completed: Businesses to develop enforcement decision making frameworks that focus on providing guidance to staff in dealing with detected non-compliance. Regulatory businesses and regions will work together to regularly and systematically review how consistently and objectively enforcement actions are applied in accordance with the enforcement decision making framework.	Partially completed	July 2013	June 2015
4	The Department of Sustainability and Environment should:
	develop and implement regional compliance plans that are risk-based, soundly targeted, consistent and aligned with corporate priorities and the statewide compliance strategy	Accepted	Note that with the machinery of government changes, the former DPI and DSE were merged in to DEPI effective 1 July 2013. It now has one common Compliance policy and framework. Regional compliance plans reported against recommendations 1 and 3.	Partially completed	August 2014	June 2015
	develop an achievable, detailed plan for delivering its statewide compliance strategy, and implement it.	Accepted	Note that with the machinery of government changes, the former DPI and DSE were merged in to DEPI effective 1 July 2013. It now has one common Compliance policy and framework. Regional compliance plans reported against recommendations 1 and 3.	Partially completed	August 2014	June 2015
5	The Department of Sustainability and Environment should strengthen its management of wildlife and plant licences and permits by:
	upgrading the wildlife and plant licence and permit systems without further delay	Accepted	Wildlife licensing has been the focus of implementation of this action. Internal business rules and procedures are being progressively updated to ensure effective and efficient regulatoryadministration of licensing functions. Scoping of a comprehensive upgrade of the wildlife licensing system has commenced with the development of business requirements for a new wildlife licensing system and a supporting business case. Implementation of the business case recommendations are subject to budget allocation.	Partially completed	November 2013	December 2016
	requiring staff to record all relevant information in the systems, such as licensee inspections and interviews, and periodically reviewing how they use the systems:	Accepted	The recommendation was listed as an agenda item for the May meeting of Compliance operations managers. Instruction given as of May 2013 for all AO's undertaking wildlife inspections to provide comment in the Inspection tab of WLS with regard to licence or permit inspections. Further reminder issued to program managers in 2014 Compliance Support Group investigating the practicalities of a ìPractice noteî type application for compliance and enforcement updates in operational procedure including the use of the Inspection Tab.	Partially completed	July 2014	June 2015
	accurately recording the number of licences, permits and authorisations it issues, and making this information publicly available	Accepted	As a priority, processes and procedures have been reviewed to ensure that the number of wildlife licences, permits and authorisations are accurately recorded. This approach allows the transformation of current reporting from ad hoc unspecified meta data to routine reporting which is both quality assured and cost effective. In the interim, information continues to be supplied to customers upon request.	Partially completed	December 2013	December 2016
	reviewing its policy on using licence conditions and sanctions as a response to noncompliance.	Accepted	Scheduled reviews of wildlife licence and authorisation conditions are in progress. Reviews are informed by compliance activities and will be subject to further review following the finalisation and implementation of the DEPI Compliance Framework and supporting Wildlife Compliance Strategies A risk-based approach is used to ensure that non-compliance informs decision-making in relation to issuing authorisations and the conditions attached to authorisations.	Partially completed	December 2013	December 2016
6	The departments of Primary Industries and Sustainability and Environment should identify and centrally document core processes for managing the work standards, recruitment, training and authorisation of compliance officers and central systems for coordinating and reviewing these activities.	Accepted	Completed: Senior Executive Group endorsed minimum standards for recruitment and training of DEPI Authorised Officers (AOs) on 25 August 2014. Scoping documents for the implementation of the standards have been drafted. The Authorised Officers register was integrated into the DEPI Business Management System in November 2013, ensuring a central record of authorisations held by DEPI AOs is maintained. To be completed: 1) Finalise processes for implementing the minimum standards for recruitment and training of AOs. 2) Develop a process to manage the risk of appointing officers who are not DEPI employees.	Partially completed	July 2013	July 2015
7	The departments of Primary Industries and Sustainability and Environment should each:
	develop and implement a whole-of-department, better practice complaints management policy and training	Accepted	Completed: The DEPI Authorised Officer complaints management policy and associated procedure have been drafted in accordance with this recommendation, the Victorian Ombudsman's Good Practice Guide, and endorsed by a staff reference group. The complaints register has been scoped, requirements determined and progress made with identifying appropriate interim and long-term arrangements. To be completed: 1) Finalise the complaints management policy and procedure. 2) Once approved, publish the policy on a complaints webpage on the DEPI external website, develop a set of responses for frequently asked questions for the DEPI customer service centre and develop a training module on the complaints system for authorised officers.	Partially completed	November 2013	June 2015
	publish the policy on its website	Accepted	Completed: The DEPI Authorised Officer complaints management policy and associated procedure have been drafted. A complaints page for the DEPI website and a public complaints form have also been drafted. To be completed: 1) Publish the complaints management page and policy on the DEPI website following Senior Executive Group approval. 2) Publish an overview of the complaints handling process and an online complaints form on the DEPI website in 2014.	Partially completed	November 2013	June 2015
	record all complaints in a central register(s), monitor complaints data and use this information to improve regulatory policies and processes.	Accepted	Pending: A DEPI authorised officer complaints management policy has been drafted. The draft states that all complaints and responses will be recorded on a central register. Furthermore, aggregated complaint data will be analysed and assessed regularly. Any preventative actions or cost effective business improvements identified during the complaint handling process will be recommended to senior management for implementation. A complaints register has been scoped, requirements determined and progress made with identifying appropriate interim and long-term arrangements. To be completed: 1) Finalise the complaints management policy and procedure. 2) Implement the AO complaints management system and record all complaints in the central register. Review aggregated data quarterly to identify business improvements.	Partially completed	August 2014	June 2015

Environment and Sustainability Sector: Performance Reporting

Date tabled: 26 June 2013

No.	Recommendation	Acceptance (current)	Action	Status	Date commenced	Date completed/due for completion
Department of Environment and Primary Industries
1	The Department of Environment and Primary Industries should critically assess whether there is value in reporting on performance indicators and output measures beyond those in Budget Paper No. 3 in its annual report.	Accepted	Following the merger between DSE and DPI, the new department has developed a consolidated set of performance measures and KPIs for publication in budget papers and the DEPI Corporate Plan. KPIs for departmental objectives were published in BP3 in 2014-15 and the DEPI Annual Report 2013-14 will report on departmental objective indicators for the first time. DEPI will continue to develop additional KPIs as the performance management framework matures. Additional work will commence in 2014 to develop corporate standards for performance data development, management and storage, which will be used to enhance current management practices.	Partially completed	July 2013	March 2015
2	The Department of Environment and Primary Industries, the Environment Protection Authority and Parks Victoria should review their processes for developing, selecting and reviewing publicly-reported performance indicators and output measures, and more effectively collaborate across agencies.	Accepted	Over the 2013-14 period, DEPI has taken considerable steps to enhance ongoing dialogue with portfolio agencies through coordination committees and other relationship management forums. Examples of this are the new Managagement Services Agreement that has been negotiated with Parks Victoria; a Statement of Expectations for Sustainability Victoria has been established; and ongoing dialogue has continued with the EPA. It is expected that these relationships and committees will provide the ongoing forum to manage performance measures and KPIs and ensure an agreed approach is taken to ensure that the portfolio agencies are appropriately engaged in the annual budget cycle. Part of the ongoing engagement is expected to be focused on enhancing collaboration on developing agreed standards for developing, managing and storing performance information.	Partially completed	July 2013	December 2014
3	The Department of Environment and Primary Industries, the Environment Protection Authority and Parks Victoria should improve the documentation of the information and processes used to select performance indicators and output measures.	Accepted	DEPI is currently reviewing all the performance measures and objective indicators that are published in the budget papers. DEPI has developed interim guidance material to assist DEPI groups to evaluate the effectiveness of performance measures as they undertake the review. Prior to finalisation of the DEPI performance management framework later in 2014, DEPI will work with portfolio agencies to ensure that the ongoing management of performance measures and KPIs meets the management requirements of all stakeholders.	Partially completed	August 2014	December 2014
4	The Department of Environment and Primary Industries, the Environment Protection Authority and Parks Victoria should assess annually how performance reporting practices comply with organisational standards, and conduct detailed biennial reviews to evaluate the adequacy of key performance indicators and output measure controls, data systems processes and controls, and development of performance reports.	Accepted	DEPI has commenced work to develop an overarching performance management strategy. The strategy will include a review and evaluation cycle for all published performance measures and KPIs and will be discussed with portfolio agencies to ensure that it meets the objectives of all DEPI stakeholders.	Partially completed	May 2014	March 2015
5	The Department of Environment and Primary Industries and Parks Victoria should improve the documentation of standardised and centrally managed records to include more compete descriptions, definitions, and rationale of data for all publicly reported indicators and output measures.	Accepted	DEPI has commenced development of a corporate data base intended to house appropriate information for the effective ongoing management of performance measures and KPIs. The design of the database is nearing completion. The data base will be used to manage additional information not currently held in Interplan. It is expected to be in place and populated by the end of 2014.	Partially completed	June 2014	March 2015
6	The Department of Environment and Primary Industries and Parks Victoria should develop minimum standards for performance data collection, management, analytical processes and systems, and monitor compliance with these standards.	Accepted	DEPI has commenced work to develop an overarching performance management strategy. The strategy will include a review and evaluation cycle for all published performance measures and KPIs.	Partially completed	May 2014	March 2015
7	The Department of Environment and Primary Industries and Parks Victoria should develop and document detailed quality assurance standards for performance data collection and collation processes, and monitor compliance with these standards.	Accepted	DEPI has commenced work to develop an overarching performance management strategy. The strategy will include evaluation criteria to assess quality standards and ensure appropriate management practices are in place for all published performance measures and KPIs.	Partially completed	May 2014	March 2015
8	The Department of Environment and Primary Industries and Parks Victoria should clarify the specific tasks and responsibilities of staff at all levels responsible for report development roles, and specify the checks and approvals that are required.	Accepted	DEPI has commenced work to develop an overarching performance management strategy. The strategy will include evaluation criteria to assess quality standards and ensure appropriate management practices are in place for all published performance measures and KPIs.	Partially completed	May 2014	March 2015
Environment Protection Authority
2	The Department of Environment and Primary Industries, the Environment Protection Authority and Parks Victoria should:
	review their processes for developing, selecting and reviewing publicly-reported performance indicators and output measures, and more effectively collaborate across agencies	Accepted	EPA has integrated its process for developing, selecting and reviewing publicly reported performance indicators into the annual review process for the performance reporting framework. EPA continues to work with the Department of Environment and Primary Industries to develop publically reported performance indicators.	Completed	August 2013	September 2013
	improve the documentation of the information and processes used to select performance indicators and output measures	Accepted	EPA developed a Standard Operating Procedure for the annual review of output performance indicators against good performance measurement principles ("Specific Measureable Achievable Relevant Timely")	Completed	August 2013	February 2014
	assess annually how performance reporting practices comply with organisational standards, and conduct detailed biennial reviews to evaluate the adequacy of key performance indicators and output measure controls, data systems processes and controls, and development of performance reports.	Accepted	EPA reviews its performance reporting framework annually. For example, the 2014-15 review of performance reporting practices identified a need for increased automation of the development of management reports for organisational metrics and key performance indicators.	Completed	August 2013	September 2013 (and ongoing - annually)
Parks Victoria
2	The Department of Environment and Primary Industries, the Environment Protection Authority and Parks Victoria should: review their processes for developing, selecting and reviewing publicly-reported performance indicators and output measures, and more effectively collaborate across agencies.	Accepted	PV and DEPI signed a new Management Service Agreement in August 2013 which includes provisions to regularly review performance measures.	Completed	July 2013	August 2013
3	The Department of Environment and Primary Industries, the Environment Protection Authority and Parks Victoria should: improve the documentation of the information and processes used to select performance indicators and output measures.	Accepted	In addition to finalising the long-term outcomes/strategy "Shaping Our Future" (as recognised in the report page 13), PV has transformed its approach to planning to be more outcomes based. Work is also being prioritise to implement a "Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting Framework" which will enhance the collection of data reflecting PV's outputs and inform the selection of performance measures which best reflects meaningful outcomes. PV also intend to publicly publish results from the 2010 and 2013 'State of the Parks' findings, which VAGO previously noted (page 13 of report) identified appropriate indicators following extensive consultaiton and engagement with the public and relevant government stakeholders and which adequately cover all of PVs major park management activities. Work will continue to review all documentation available to validate the selection of each key performance indicator.	Partially completed	July 2013	June 2015
4	The Department of Environment and Primary Industries, the Environment Protection Authority and Parks Victoria should: assess annually how performance reporting practices comply with organisational standards, and conduct detailed biennial reviews to evaluate the adequacy of key performance indicators and output measure controls, data systems processes and controls, and development of performance reports.	Accepted	PV is continuing to improve its performance reporting and adminstrative practices (as noted on page 15 of VAGO's report). In December 2013, PV initiated an internal review undertaken by PricewaterhouseCoopers to review the budget and business planning process, including performance reporting processes) PV's Corporate Strategy and Performance Directorate (Business Strategy and Performance Branch) will continue to document the processes and procedures to formally set the organisation standard and processes to evaluate performance reporting practices.	Partially completed	July 2013	June 2015
5	The Department of Environment and Primary Industries and Parks Victoria should improve the documentation of standardised and centrally managed records to include more compete descriptions, definitions, and rationale of data for all publicly reported indicators and output measures.	Accepted	Report (page 19) noted, PV uses a range of data sources to inform the measurement of indicators and outputs, however it has not demonstrated the basis for choosing each dataset and how each is to be collected. At the time of the audit, PV had commenced recording more comprehensive information about performance measures in information sheets. Working is currently underway to review datasets chosen to inform key performance indicators used in 2014-15, to ensure rationale for each datasets are established.	Partially completed	July 2013	June 2015
6	The Department of Environment and Primary Industries and Parks Victoria should develop minimum standards for performance data collection, management, analytical processes and systems, and monitor compliance with these standards.	Accepted	PV has been working to document and where possible systematise the processes, currently undertaken manually to monitor data collection to ensure it is consistently applied and effectively controlled. When implemented, PV's "Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting Framework" will build on the processes used to collect data for the "State of the Parks report", which VAGO noted (on page 21) is more adequately controlled, reflected in a high degree of consistency in the quality of information collected and reported.	Partially completed	July 2013	June 2015
7	The Department of Environment and Primary Industries and Parks Victoria should develop and document detailed quality assurance standards for performance data collection and collation processes, and monitor compliance with these standards.	Accepted	When implemented, Parks Victoria's "Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting Framework" will document consistent standards and processes for the collection, recording and validation of the data used to measure performance.	Partially completed	July 2013	June 2015

8	The Department of Environment and Primary Industries and Parks Victoria should clarify the specific tasks and responsibilities of staff at all levels responsible for report development roles, and specify the checks and approvals that are required.	Accepted	When implemented, Parks Victoria's "Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting Framework" will clarify tasks and quality assurance processes (such as approvals) for reporting of performance measures.	Partially completed	July 2013	June 2015

Management of Freshwater Fisheries

Date tabled: 20 March 2013

No.	Recommendation	Acceptance (current)	Action	Status	Date commenced	Date completed/due for completion
Department of Environment and Primary Industries
1	The Department of Primary Industries should finalise its 2012 draft Fisheries Statement and apply its objectives and principles to the planning and management of recreational freshwater fisheries.	Partially accepted	The statement referred to in the audit report was part of a draft reform package described as the Future Fisheries Strategy. The Minister for Agriculture and Food Security subsequently requested DEPI proceed instead with a staged fishery by fishery improvement approach, to be undertaken with the close involvement of relevant sector participants. Early candidates were the sea urchin and Port Phillip Bay scallop fisheries. This improvement approach will be progressively applied to all Victorian fisheries, based on an assessment of relative risk across fisheries and subject to availability of required resources. A new statutory Fisheries Advisory Council has also been established under the Fisheries Act 1995 to provide strategic advice to the Minister on matters including improving Victoria's fisheries management framework. The Council's initial priority is to review the Fishery Management Plan guidelines.	Partially completed	July 2013	December 2016
2	The Department of Primary Industries should finalise the policy for its draft 2011 Harvest Strategy and implement the principles and guidelines uniformly across all recreational freshwater fisheries.	Partially accepted	The Harvest Strategy Policy was completed to a comprehensive final draft stage consistent with the national approach and will be used to support implementation of new guidelines for developing best-practice Fishery Management Plans. Completion of these guidelines is an action in the Fisheries Division 2014-15 Action Plan. DEPI is collaborating with South Australian and Commonwealth fisheries agencies in a Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC) funded project to develop a harvest management, governance and resource sharing framework for the western snapper stock. South Australia has submitted a project proposal to FRDC to develop example harvest strategies for recreational fisheries. These projects are expected to provide a management model for other fisheries. Harvest strategies for Victoria's freshwater fisheries will be developed in conjunction with the Freshwater Fishery Management Plan, subject to provision of necessary resources.	Partially completed	July 2013	December 2016
3	The Department of Primary Industries should finalise its draft 2011 Stakeholder Engagement Strategy and implement the principles and guidelines across recreational freshwater fishing consultative processes.	Partially accepted	The 2011 Stakeholder Engagement Strategy was a component of the draft Future Fisheries Strategy, which has been replaced by a staged fishery by fishery improvement approach. DEPI has a range of ongoing processes for engaging recreational fishers, including statewide and regional round table forums and fish stocking planning forums. DEPI also engages with the recreational fishing community via its website, Facebook page, the recreational fishing 'app', products such as the annual Recreational Fishing Guide and face to face interaction with uniformed Fisheries Officers. DEPI also engages with recreational fishers through ongoing interaction with their representative body VRFish. The creation of DEPI in 2013 has enhanced collaboration and knowledge sharing between the Fisheries division, freshwater research scientists and land and water managers from agencies including Arthur Rylah Institute, DEPI Water Group and Catchment Management Authorities.	Substantially completed	July 2013	June 2015
4	The Department of Primary Industries should develop a management plan for all recreational freshwater fisheries which includes:
	clear performance outcomes, operational objectives and a suite of robust, balanced and measurable outcome-focused performance indicators, that are clearly linked to the legislative objectives for the management of fisheries	Accepted	The Minister for Agriculture and Food Security has approved a DEPI proposal to develop new guidelines for the preparation of best practice Fishery Management Plans. Completion of these guidelines is a priority action in the 2014-15 DEPI Business Plan. These guidelines set out the components to be included in each fishery management plan, including: Description of fishery and fish stock(s) ESD Risk assessment Objectives Strategies to achieve the objectives Stakeholder relations and governance arrangements Access to sectors Harvest strategy Services required to implement the plan (management, science, compliance and information) Monitoring of performance The guidelines will be initially used to update the Rock Lobster Fishery Management Plan. Fisheries Division is currently seeking additional resources to enable delivery of a new Freshwater Fishery management plan by the end of December 2016, to be followed by implementation of identified priority actions.	Partially completed	March 2014	December 2016
	management actions and targets to mitigate high priority risks identified through a risk assessment process that at least adopts the principles identified in the 2003 Guidelines for the ecologically sustainable management reporting framework for fisheries	Accepted	Refer also to item 4(i) above. Implementation of this action is dependent on the completion of new guidelines for the development of best practice Fishery Management Plans. The guidelines include a specific component that addresses this recommendation. Fisheries Division is in the process of seeking additional resources to implement this approach for Victoria's freshwater fisheries through the completion of a new Freshwater Fisheries Management Plan by the end of December 2016.	Partially completed	March 2014	December 2016
	a harvest strategy which sets catch and take limits and targets	Accepted	The completion of a Harvest Strategy Policy and the outputs of a project developing example harvest strategies for recreational fisheries (see recommendation 2 above) will provide the framework to progress this action for freshwater fisheries. This will be done as part of the development of a Freshwater Fishery Management Plan. Fisheries Division is in the process of seeking additional resources to implement this approach by the end of December 2016.	Partially completed	March 2014	December 2016
	identification of gaps in information and data, and prioritises research, information collection and monitoring activities to address high-risk gaps	Accepted	DEPI completed a project in late 2013, in collaboration with Catchment Management Authorities and recreational fishing stakeholders, to identify and incorporate Fishery Management priorities into new Regional Waterway Strategies. These priorities will guide future investment decisions on projects including habitat improvement, which recreational fishers have identified as a high priority for action. More than half of the available Recreational Fishing Licence grant funding flowed to CMAs for fishery management priorities in the most recent funding round, indicating the success of this approach. This recommendation will also be directly addressed by new Fishery Management Plan Guidelines. Fisheries Division is in the process of seeking resources to undertake additional freshwater fisheries monitoring and population surveying commencing 2015-16. This work would then form part of an ongoing program that would inform future freshwater fisheries management decision-making.	Partially completed	July 2013	December 2016
	a set of regularly monitored predetermined reference points or triggers for high-risk fishery issues, supported by predetermined decision rules if the triggers are reached	Accepted	Refer also to item 4(i) above. Implementation of this action is dependent on the completion of new guidelines for the development of best practice Fishery Management Plans. The guidelines include a specific component that addresses this recommendation. Fisheries Division is in the process of seeking additional resources to implement this approach for Victoria's freshwater fisheries through the completion of a new Freshwater Fisheries Management Plan by the end of December 2016.	Partially completed	March 2014	December 2016
	the identification and allocation of resources and time frames to implement management plan actions	Accepted	Refer also to item 4(i) above. Implementation of this action is dependent on the completion of new guidelines for the development of best practice Fishery Management Plans. The guidelines include a specific component that addresses this recommendation. Fisheries Division is in the process of seeking additional resources to implement this approach for Victoria's freshwater fisheries through the completion of a new Freshwater Fisheries Management Plan by the end of December 2016.	Partially completed	March 2014	December 2016
	a detailed performance monitoring and reporting framework to track the progress and effectiveness of the plan against its objectives.	Accepted	Refer also to item 4(i) above. Implementation of this action is dependent on the completion of new guidelines for the development of best practice Fishery Management Plans. The guidelines include a specific component that addresses this recommendation. A related project is underway to evaluate the contribution that fish stocking makes to native fish populations in several key native inland fisheries (Campaspe River, Gunbower Creek, Kow Swamp, Loddon River, Lake Eildon, Lower Goulburn River, Nagambie Lakes) to inform future stocking decisions. The project report is due to be completed in late 2014 and findings and recommendations will be included in the Improving Recreational Fishing Opportunities in Regional Victoria Lapsing Programs Evaluation Study. The evaluation is also assisting Fisheries Division in framing proposals to seek additional resources for improving the ongoing management of Victoria's freshwater fisheries.	Partially completed	November 2013	December 2016
5	The Department of Primary Industries should review its Fisheries Statement Action Plan to reflect the above actions, to address the poor planning and management of freshwater recreational fisheries.	Accepted	Please also refer to commentary for recommendation one above. Fisheries Division has developed a proposal to deliver a comprehensive and integrated package of measures designed to address the improvement areas identified by VAGO in their audit report. The division is in the process of seeking additional resources to implement this approach for Victoria's freshwater fisheries through the completion of a new Freshwater Fisheries Management Plan by the end of December 2016 and its subsequent ongoing implementation.	Partially completed	July 2014	June 2016
6	The Department of Primary Industries should collate previous and current existing stocking records and research data into a clear evidence-based tool to guide current decision‑making for fish stocking.	Accepted	DEPI has completed a project to review and upgrade the fish stocking database to improve data integrity and accessibility, including multi-user capability. The database is now fully operational. The annual Vic Fish Stock planning and consultation process uses this data to present recommendations on future stocking decisions to anglers, land and water managers and conservation representatives. DEPI is investigating options to publish further fish stocking data on the DEPI external website and via other digital channels such as an interactive app. DEPI recently secured external funding to capture and integrate fish population monitoring data collected by researchers from the Arthur Rylah Institute. DEPI has also completed a comprehensive review of Murray cod fishing regulations based on best practice fish population modelling and public consultation. This ongoing improvement work will continue subject to availability of resources.	Substantially completed	July 2013	June 2016
7	The Department of Primary Industries should prioritise and implement the relevant high‑priority recommendations, from its internal reviews of its stocking processes and programs, to improve its current decision-making framework in relation to:
	the assessment and evaluation of the performance of annual stocking programs in improving fishery sustainability the assessment and information gathering of the potential impact of stocking activities on freshwater fishery ecology, non-target species and supporting fishery habitats.	Accepted	Fisheries sustainability underpins all decisions and drives the regulatory requirement to maintain stocks. DEPI runs annual consultative forums to determine stocking priorities. This process considers information including fishery performance, ecological and habitat issues. Parks Victoria, CMAs and Arthur Rylah Institute are consulted to ensure ecological issues are addressed. DEPI's stocking program is fully compliant with stringent protocols for the translocation of fish in Victorian inland waters. New applications are assessed by an independent expertise-based panel which includes both DEPI and non-government members. DEPI's fish production and stocking program includes a significant component dedicated to re-building stocks of threatened native species such as trout cod and Macquarie perch. Recommendations from DEPI's 2011 review of its fish production and stocking program have been implemented and the Snobs Creek hatchery is now overseen by an independent advisory board.	Substantially completed	July 2013	June 2015
8	The Department of Primary Industries should develop a performance reporting framework for fisheries that includes clear performance outcomes aligned with its core legislative objectives, which has balanced, measurable and outcome-focused performance indicators, underpinned by quality assured performance data.	Accepted	The Fish Stock Status Report, last published by DEPI (DPI) in 2010, is being reviewed and revised to reflect national best practice assessment processes for 23 key Victorian fish stocks (including eels and Murray cod). Revised classifications for eight fish stocks have been completed. Draft web pages have been prepared to present the stock classifications and other stock-related information on the DEPI external website. Work is also underway on classifiying the remaining 15 stocks. DEPI is also developing a process to ensure assessments are periodically updated in future.	Partially completed	January 2014	June 2015
9	The Department of Primary Industries should develop and document performance reporting policies and standards, including those for the collection and verification of performance data.	Accepted	This action is linked to, and dependent on, completion of other actions including development of new guidelines for preparing fishery management plans. Appropriate performance reporting policies and standards for freshwater fisheries will be developed as part of a process to complete a new Freshwater Fisheries Fishery Management Plan by the end of December 2016, subject to securing the necessary resources. The former Department of Primary Industries introduced a comprehensive whole-of-department evaluation and performance monitoring system in early 2013 which included reporting policies, standards, metrics and which was supported by culture and capability mechanisms. The creation of DEPI from the merger of DPI and DSE has resulted in a revision to departmental reporting processes and the former evaluation and performance monitoring system is no longer in operation.	Partially completed	July 2014	December 2016

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Appendix E. Health and human services

Survey of responses to 2012–13 performance audit recommendations

As this audit was undertaken prior to machinery of government changes on 1 January 2015, departments are referred to by their 2014 titles.

Audits include:

Addressing Homelessness: Partnerships and Plans
Carer Support Programs
Consumer Participation in the Health System
Energy Efficiency in the Health Sector
Flood Relief and Recovery
Infection Prevention and Control in Public Hospitals
Management of Unplanned Leave in Emergency Services

Addressing Homelessness: Partnerships and Plans

Date tabled: 6 February 2013

No.	Recommendation	Acceptance (current)	Action	Status	Date commenced	Date completed/due for completion
Department of Human Services
1	That the Department of Human Services evaluate all National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness–Victorian Implementation Plan initiatives to inform the state and Commonwealth of their effectiveness.	Accepted	The final version of the evaluation report was delivered in April 2013.	Completed	January 2013	April 2013
2	That the Department of Human Services ensure efficient systems exist to track revenue and expenditure as needed to meet external reporting requirements.	Accepted	The Performance, Regulation and Reporting branch has been operational since December 2012, and the department continues to meet its reporting requirements in relation to the National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness (NPAH).	Completed	December 2012	August 2014
3	That the Department of Human Services validate a representative proportion of National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness–Victorian Implementation Plan data.	Accepted	Data collection processes have been implemented to monitor agency performance, including for activities funded as part of the NPAH. Random audits which test data integrity are being included as part of this process.	Completed	August 2013	May 2014

Carer Support Programs

Date tabled: 15 August 2012

No.	Recommendation	Acceptance (current)	Action	Status	Date commenced	Date completed/due for completion
Department of Health
1	That the Department of Health and the Department of Human Services identify and address gaps in the promotion of carer supports to improve carer awareness of services.	Accepted	Ageing and Aged Care – Completed. Websites and new publications promote carer supports to providers. Regular meetings with Carers Victoria to share information. Support for Carers Program guidelines reviewed. Health Service Programs - In progress. Palliative care services have completed a service delivery framework self-assessment, including assessment against national standards. Projects to address gaps to be completed by June 2015. Mental Health - The Mental Health, Drugs and Regions Division (MHDR) has identified options to address the promotion of carer supports in relation to the Carer Support Fund. A review of the fund guidelines was undertaken from October 2012 to February 2013. The new Carer Support Fund guidelines were signed by Minister Wooldridge in May 2013.	Substantially completed	September 2012	June 2015
2	That the Department of Health and the Department of Human Services require consistent carer identification and needs assessment.	Accepted	Ageing and Aged Care - Completed. Service Co-ordination Tool Templates include a care relationship screening component and template to assist service providers to understand care relationships. Health Service Programs - Complete Bereavement support standards for specialist palliative care services, have been developed by the Australian Centre for Grief and Bereavement with the Centre for Palliative Care, and provided to specialist palliative care services. Mental Health - Completed July 2014 A carer needs assessment is included as part of Mental Health Community Support Services reform.	Completed	August 2012	July 2014
3	That the Department of Health and the Department of Human Services improve administration and monitoring of carer brokerage funds.	Accepted	Aging and Aged Care - Completed Dec 2013. Support for Carers Program (SCP) guidelines and service agreement activities reviewed to support better administration and monitoring of brokerage funds by December 2013. Health Service Programs - Completed July 2013 - The administration and monitoring of funding for carer brokerage has been included as part of the funding to palliative care providers. This was detailed in the 2013-14 Policy and Funding Guidelines in July 2013. Mental Health - Complete Dec 2013. Implementation of the Carer Support Fund (CSF) Guidelines commenced in May 2013. Program materials, including a monitoring framework were developed in September 2013 and finalised December 2013.	Completed	August 2012	December 2013
4	That the Department of Health and the Department of Human Services monitor and report on timeliness of access to carer supports.	Accepted	Ageing and Aged care - Completed June 2014 Project to be undertaken to identify baseline data, and practicality of setting benchmarks on timeliness of respite delivery to carers. Project brief and timelines have been finalised (September 2013). Project being undertaken to identify baseline data, and practicality of setting benchmarks on timeliness of respite delivery to carers. Commenced January 2014 was completed in June 2014. Health Service Programs - Completed June 2014 Palliative Care Victoria funded to administer the Victorian Palliative Care Satisfaction Survey (VPCSS). Completed in June 2014. Mental Health - Completed June 2014 Carer respite was considered as part of the MHDR division external mental health consumer and carer program review (announced March 2013). The review was under Ageing and Aged Care Completed June 2014 Quarterly data continue to be provided to DTF on departmental performance against output targets. Project brief and timelines were outlined by September 2013. Project under way to work with service providers on an agreed framework of measures for HACC and Support for Carers Program regarding services for carers. Completed June 2014. Health SerCompleted June 2014 Palliative Care Victoria funded to administer the Victorian Palliative Care Satisfaction Survey (VPCSS). Mental Health Completed May 2014 The review of mental health carer and consumer programs (completed in May 2014) included state funded carer support, carer and family participation programs and activities. taken by Deloittes Economics.	Completed	August 2012	July 2014
5	That the Department of Health and the Department of Human Services develop outcome measures for carer supports and monitor outcomes.	Accepted		Completed	August 2012	July 2014
Department of Human Services
1	That the Department of Health and the Department of Human Services identify and address gaps in the promotion of carer supports to improve carer awareness of services.	Partially accepted	Services Connect provides better ways for people to access information about the types of support and services available. Funding has been allocated to community organisations to promote carer awareness and understanding of their rights under the Carers Recognition Act 2012. The Confident Connected Carers project will support people in care relationships as they make the transition to National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) in the Barwon trial site. A three year calendar of information and training sessions to support foster and kinship carers including professional development training sessions for kinship staff commenced in 2012 for completion in June 2015. Kinship Carers Victoria has developed and published the Kinship Carer's Handbook (released in March 2014). It provides information about support services, financial and legal information and cultural advice. Over 3500 copies have been distributed around Victoria. Work to develop a Carer's Action Agenda is underway.	Substantially completed	January 2012	June 2016
2	That the Department of Health and the Department of Human Services require consistent carer identification and needs assessment.	Accepted	The Services Connect reform includes a detailed assessment that looks at the holistic needs of individuals, their carers and family members, including how to best support the family unit and address the support needs of each family member. Kinship care assessment has three parts. The update of Part A is complete: Part B: Comprehensive Kinship Assessment form has been revised to enable kinship carer input, promote discussion between the child protection practitioner and carer and expedite completion of the form and the comprehensive assessment. An audit of compliance is to be undertaken in October 2014. No changes to Part C are anticipated.	Substantially completed	July 2013	June 2016
3	That the Department of Health and the Department of Human Services improve administration and monitoring of carer brokerage funds.	Accepted	The Flexible Support Package (FSP) Guidelines were reviewed and updated to reflect a self-directed approach to support provision. FSPs are a key program containing a brokerage element. A comprehensive review of the caregiver reimbursements guidelines is underway and a revised guide for carers has been prepared. This brings together the various policies, guidelines and fact sheets and provide greater clarity. It also includes information about Commonwealth and State allowances, benefits and funds. The department will implement a new approach to client expenses and placement support funding policy and processes (including Placement Support Grants), referred to collectively as 'supplementary funding'. This will: address divisional inconsistencies in processes and approvals; improve transparency, targeting and responsiveness of funds; and deliver a statewide supplementary funding policy that applies to home-based care (including kinship care) and residential care. The project will commence mid-October 2014. It is anticipated the final policy and processes will be effective 1 July 2015.	Substantially completed	March 2013	July 2015
4	That the Department of Health and the Department of Human Services monitor and report on timeliness of access to carer supports.	Partially accepted	The Handbook - Central Payment of Caregiver Reimbursements (July 2007, modified December 2012) provides caregiver reimbursement forms are submitted to the department within three days of placement commencing and/or ceasing. Community organisations are to adhere to this business rule to ensure timely receipt of reimbursements. A snapshot of compliance will be completed in November 2014. Current caregiver reimbursement policy is being revised but requires further consultation. Changes to the department's financial systems are being scoped to incorporate proposed changes. The supplementary funding component is expected to be completed for implementation in 2015-16. The broader piece of reform to respite will not proceed because of the introduction of the NDIS. The Confident Connected Carers Project is being undertaken in a Services Connect trial site to support carers in the transition to NDIS. On-line information about locally available respite, including respite in emergency situations, to help carers access timely support has been updated.	Substantially completed	December 2012	June 2015
5	That the Department of Health and the Department of Human Services develop outcome measures for carer supports and monitor outcomes.	Partially accepted	A whole of department framework for client engagement has been developed. The framework offers best practice guidance for engaging clients and their supporters at a range of levels including service design, participatory governance, self direction and continuous feedback. Peak carer organisations have been supported to give carers a voice in government policy development and service planning. A quarterly liaison group meeting between the Departments of Health and Human Services and Carers Victoria has been established. Program requirements for home based care have been updated to reflect a stronger focus on outcomes measurement for clients. This includes a focus on outcomes for carers. The redevelopment of the Disabilty Carer Respite Survey will no longer go ahead. However, in its place, the Confident Connected Carers Project is being undertaken in the Barwon NDIS launch site and will provide advice on how to better support carers in the transition to NDIS.	Substantially completed	December 2012	June 2016

Consumer Participation in the Health System

Date tabled: 10 October 2012

No.	Recommendation	Acceptance (current)	Action	Status	Date commenced	Date completed/due for completion
Department of Health
4	That the Department of Health review interpreter services in the Victorian health system.	Accepted	The Department has finalised a review of its Language services policy (2005). As part of the review, the Department considered the barriers and enablers to the engagement of language services by departmental programs and funded organisations. The revised policy provides more comprehensive guidance on implementation to support improved provision of interpreters and translators. The updated policy was released in March 2014. The policy is consistent with Victorian Government guidelines for the use of interpreters. The language services policy provides the framework for the delivery of interpreter services in the Victorian health system and sets the expectations on practice. The department undertook a review of the 2005 policy and considered barriers and enablers and produced a revised policy.	Completed	October 2012	March 2014
7	That the Department of Health integrate consumer participation across the department.	Accepted	The Department believes it does successfully integrated consumer participation across its operations, policy, program and resource development. Further, this activity is connected under the umbrella of Doing it with us not for us. All of the areas cited in figure 4D have referenced the policy in their work and the policy cross references with these areas in the standards and indicators for reporting purposes. The department is committed to leading best practice and identifying new opportunities on how partnering with consumers is actioned and sharing best practice. These will be documented shared on an ongoing basis as part of the evaluation of Doing It With Us Not For Us.	Completed	October 2012	December 2012
8	That the Department of Health provide meaningful feedback to health services on reported consumer participation activities linked to their overall performance assessment.	Accepted	New ways of reporting and providing meaningful feedback on consumer participation, including the national accreditation standards and reporting, will be explored in the development of the new consumer participation policy (Recommendation 9 and 10).Evaluation was conducted from October 2013 to June 2014.The replacement for the VPSM, the Victorian Healthcare Experience Survey,was tendered and commenced in November 2013. Following a six month cognitive testing and piloting phase a new performance target on consumer health experience and consumer participation will be developed using data collected from April to September 2014. Exception reporting on the non-achievement of targets will be considered at this time.Completion of new consumer health experience targets for performance reporting is now expected by December 2014.	Substantially completed	October 2012	December 2014
9	That the Department of Health evaluate the impact of Doing it with us not for us: Strategic direction 2010–13.	Accepted	The impact of the policy had not been evaluated at the time of the VAGO audit as the policy had not reached its sunset date and is still operational. As suggested to VAGO and incorporated by them into Recommendation 9 the Department publically advertised for an independent evaluator. KPMG were the successful tenderers and commenced in October 2013 and completed the evaluation in June 2014. A review of national and international policy in consumer participation has been conducted and focus groups and workshops with the community and health service staff commenced in May 2014. Evaluation was conducted from October 2013 to June 2014. A public discussion paper based on the evaluation findings is expected to be released in August 2014 and a new policy will be developed based on public feedback to the discussion paper. Publication of a new policy is expected to occur in early 2015.	Substantially completed	October 2012	January 2015
10	That the Department of Health update its consumer participation policy and guidelines in the context of new national accreditation standards and the Victorian Health Priorities Framework.	Accepted	The Department suggested to VAGO that the new consumer participation policy will incorporate new monitoring and reporting mechanisms and be guided by key public policy such as the national accreditation standards and the Victorian Health Priorities Framework. This has been written into the specifications for the evaluation of Doing it with us not for us. The Request for Tender (RFT) for the evaluation of Doing it with us not for us specified clear recommendations to be made by the evaluator for a new consumer participation policy and references Recommendation 10 of the VAGO report. Evaluation will now be conducted from October 2013 to June 2014. A public discussion paper based on the evaluation findings was released in August 2014 and a new policy will be developed based on public feedback to the discussion paper. Publication of a new policy is expected to occur in early 2015.	Substantially completed	October 2012	January 2015
Bendigo Health
1	That health services involve consumers in the design and review of consumer information.	Accepted	All BH publications prepared or revised now incorporate consumer and /or carers' feedback BH Consumer Publications Policy endorsed BH Checklist for Assessing Written Consumer Health Information endorsed Checklist for assessing written consumer health information endorsed Masterlist of publications held in Communications & marketing Consumer involvement in the development and production of: Quality of Care report BH Strategic Plan Patient leaflets, brochures and handouts	Completed	January 2012	November 2013
2	That health services make sure consumers receive and understand basic health service information.	Accepted	Review (in consultation with consumers) and production of new of key brochures and accessibility to information ie. patient feedback, interpreter services, pastoral care. Annual production of Quality of Care Report involves all members of the Community Advisory Committee to ensure that information presented is understood by the community. BH Internet redesigned to be user friendly and easy to navigate and find information quickly. Patient Information Packs assembled and distributed to patients on admission to wards etc.	Completed	January 2013	August 2014
3	That health services review and improve service delivery for culturally and linguistically diverse consumers, including the provision of interpreters.	Accepted	A review of interpreter service provision was conducted (including risk assessments) when preparing for NSQHS accreditation in 2013. This included an audit of patient clinical record to evidence distribution/ explanation of informed consent to patients/carers (including episodes where this information was refused). An medical record audit of Consent which idnetifu the need to include provision of interpreters on the form. This has now been added to form. There is easy access to / list of available interpreters or advocates for each Division at BH.	Completed	March 2013	August 2014
5	That health services provide consumer participation training and development for clinical, middle management and executive level staff.	Accepted	Development and delivery of a Great Manager, Great Results module (management development program) for Consumer Participation. Person Centered Care Training is now delivered annualy as part of Graduate Nurse program, Medical Interns, Gerontology students. In 2013 & 2014 all staff (clinical and non -clinical) had the opportunity to attend the "Hear Me" performance from the Australian Institute of Patient and Family Centered Care. The play explores PCC though a story regarding the consequences of medication error and failure to recognise knowledge families hold of their loved ones.	Completed	January 2012	August 2014
6	That health services increase and diversify consumer participation in strategic planning, staff training, and evaluation activities.	Accepted	Two Community Advisory Committee (CAC) members are represented on the BH Strategic Planning and Population Health Committee. They have fully attended and participated in planning retreats, days and annual review meetings with the Board of Directors & Executive team. CAC members receive a comprehensive orientation and induction program and have the full support of the BH Consumer Participation Support Officer. Specialised training and professional development opportunities are supported via attendance at the Health Issues Centre and sponsored attendance at Consumer and Community Leaders conferences. Specialised training is delivered by consumers in Psychiatric Services to improve clinician understanding of patient experience.	Completed	January 2012	August 2014
Central Gippsland Health Service
1	That health services involve consumers in the design and review of consumer information.	Accepted	Feedback from four community networks is always sought when Consumer Information is developed or reviewed. All feedback is provide to the Quality team. This is included as a requirement of the CGHS procedure titled " Written Consumer Information Sheets".	Completed	November 2012	August 2014
2	That health services make sure consumers receive and understand basic health service information.	Accepted	The Community Liaison Group and Chronic Disease and Disability networks are overseeing the Communication Accessible Organisation accreditation process with support from Scope. A key outcome of achieving this accreditation will be ensuring information is accessible and understandable by all members of the community, and that staff are trained in supporting this process. As also mentioned in item 1, there is a written procedure regarding development and approval of consumer health information, which requires consumer input to the process. This routinely occurs at our consumer group meetings and they consistently provide feedback.	Substantially completed	November 2012	August 2014
3	That health services review and improve service delivery for culturally and linguistically diverse consumers, including the provision of interpreters.	Accepted	There is an organisational procedure in relation to accessing interpreters and this occurs as evidenced by an interpreter service usage report annually. There have been interpreter service information sessions provided to staff. All staff are required to complete a competency titled "cultural diversity" on employment and three yearly thereafter. Compliance is monitored at an organisational level. The Consumer group participation is reviewed annually to review the diversity mix of the group and explore opportunities to include new members to reflect the community demographic.	Completed	November 2012	August 2014
5	That health services provide consumer participation training and development for clinical, middle management and executive level staff.	Accepted	New staff during the orientation process are provided with a CGHS document on Consumer Participation which promotes the importance of person centred care. All clinical staff were strongly encouraged to attend the Institute of Family and Patient Centred Care play "Hear Me" which was held at CGHS on Tuesday July 22 2014.The Consumer Advocate attends orientation, meets one on one with new managers and periodically attends team meetings to provide an overview of the Consumer Advocate role and inform on the Consumer Networks. CGHS definition of person centred care developed as part of Care Coordination project. Applying the principles of person centred care is an essential capability requirement for all direct care and intake staff. We still need to confirm our plan in relation to this action, so that we continue to embed consumer participation as a capability across the organisation.	Partially completed	November 2012	August 2014
6	That health services increase and diversify consumer participation in strategic planning, staff training, and evaluation activities.	Accepted	Consumer representative involvement in; safety and quality performance reviews; quality committee; HACC Workforce Redesign Project; Reablement Project; Care Coordination Project which focus on implementing quality improvement objectives. The Productive ward project has produced patient/consumer feedback surveys which our consumer networks have volunteered to facilitate. Results are provided to the network with action plans on how identified issues will be addressed. Consumer representation on working groups: Members of the Chronic Disease and Disability Network, Community Liaison Group and Rosedale Community Health Centre, and Boards of management across CGHS, Heyfield Hospital and Stretton Park were invited to the Strategic Planning Day on 30 November 2013, a significant number actually attended and contributed to the process. Consumers participate in weekly simulated training to our medical students to reflect real life complex patients which is overseen by a clinical educator.	Completed	November 2012	August 2014
Monash Health
1	That health services involve consumers in the design and review of consumer information.	Accepted	Developed and implemented organisational procedure for Creating Information/Materials for Patients and Consumers. Procedure requires all new or revised patient information/material to undergo consumer testing and review prior to approval. Procedure supported by patient information checklist, Easy English Guide, templates, style guides and toolkits. Health literacy monitored by Patient Cented Care Plan and annual work plan.	Completed	November 2012	June 2013
2	That health services make sure consumers receive and understand basic health service information.	Accepted	Rights and Responsibilities brochure revised in an easy English format and available across all sites and wards and pre-admission packages. Brochure translated into 14 community languages. Audit of display and availability of Rights and Responsibilities undertaken and results actioned. Consumer understanding of Rights and Responsibilities information is measured through Point-of-Care (Bedside) Audit. All new and revised health service information must comply with the Creating Information/Materials for Patients and Consumer Procedure. Health literacy and patient rights monitored by Patient Cented Care Plan and annual work plan.	Completed	October 2013	April 2014
3	That health services review and improve service delivery for culturally and linguistically diverse consumers, including the provision of interpreters.	Accepted	Review of interpreting services to ensure service delivery is meeting the needs of both consumers and staff. Training is provided to clinical staff on use of interpreters and practice is supported by organisational policy and procedure. Ongoing cultural diversity training is available for managers and staff. Service delivery and improvement monitored through the Monash Health Cultural Diversity Plan and annual workplan.	Substantially completed	January 2013	July 2015
5	That health services provide consumer participation training and development for clinical, middle management and executive level staff.	Accepted	Formal training module Consumer Participation at Monash Health developed and implemented. Available to workforce through the Learning Management System (LMS) Patient Centred Care (PCC) training developed and implemented as required training for all workforce. Currently over 50% of staff have completed the training. PCC training monitored by Patient Cented Care Steering Committee. Consumer participation training monitored by the Community Advisory Committee (CAC) and Community Participation Plan.	Completed	June 2013	August 2014
6	That health services increase and diversify consumer participation in strategic planning, staff training, and evaluation activities.	Accepted	Monash Health Consumer Participation Framework developed and implemented. The aim of the Framework is to ensure that consumers are involved in the planning, design, implementation, measurement and evaluation of Monash Health services. The Consumer Participation Framework provides the structure to embed participation and involvement of consumers into all aspects of the organisation including governance, quality and safety and improvement processes and takes into account the needs of vulnerable or disadvantaged groups, and those with particular needs. The Framework promotes consumer partnerships that reflect the diversity of the community we serve through the active participation of consumer advisors that are representative of our diverse community. Monitored by the Community Advisory Committee (CAC) and Community Participation Plan and annual workplan.	Completed	January 2014	June 2014
Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
1	That health services involve consumers in the design and review of consumer information.	Accepted	Procedure in place for (re)development of patient information that includes: - Inclusion of consumers as participatory stakeholders to gain approval to publish tabled at Policy Procedure Review Committee (PPRC). The PPRC maintains consumer member(s) who engage in the (re)work. - (Re)developments are overseen by respective discipline committee(s). These committees maintain consumer members and are instrumental in participating in these (re)works. - PPRC requests developers engage, if viable, target patient population to review and feedback on their respective consumer information. - All (re)works evaluated by two consumers from the Patient Information Review Register and scores/findings related back to developers for consideration with required response back to the evaluators.	Substantially completed	August 2012	August 2016
2	That health services make sure consumers receive and understand basic health service information.	Accepted	Consumers receive health information throughout their journey. The distribution of information is aligned to their needs at their respective journey points. Auditing of the receipt and understanding of health information to be included and implemented via the revised Bedside Audit Tool and Patient Experience survey. The Bedside Audit Tool and Patient Experience survey is currently under review and improvement, is scheduled for quarterly administration across the organisation.	Partially completed	August 2014	August 2015
3	That health services review and improve service delivery for culturally and linguistically diverse consumers, including the provision of interpreters.	Accepted	1) A position of Aboriginal health Services Officer has been established to ensure there is a link between the community and the health service. 2) Patient charter information has been translated into five languages. 3) A house interpreter has been employed for high usage Mandarin, Cantonese and Vietnamese 4) Patients have access on internet to relevant cancer translations using the publications of the Cancer Council. Patient information translated into multiple languages from subject specialists e.g. Blood Matters and available to patients and carers. 5) Interpreter meal menus in 3 languages; Greek, Vietnamese and Mandarin 6) Clinical trials enable access to trials for CALD patients 6) Languages 20% Mandarin, 16% Vietnamese, 14% Cantonese and 13% Greek. 7% Italian down to 3% for Spanish, Arabic & Turkish 56 languages t	Substantially completed	August 2012	August 2016
5	That health services provide consumer participation training and development for clinical, middle management and executive level staff.	Accepted	Clinical leaders, senior managers and the workforce are trained in patient centred care and in engaging patients, carers and consumers in their care. Staffing resources include sections on providing patient care from the consumer perspective. Patient and consumer feedback is collected and analysed and presented at Executive and Board Committees and is used to inform training and development opportunities. The principles of patient centred care are included in new staff orientation, and ongoing education is provided to clinical leaders and local area managers regarding patient and carer feedback processes, including highlighting key opportunities for improvement. Other mechanisms to promote consumer participation include: Grand Round presentations, patient story videos, newsletters, and presentation of the play ìHear Meî. Future opportunities include developing e-learning packages, and refining patient centred care training modules based on consumer feedback.	Substantially completed	August 2012	August 2016
6	That health services increase and diversify consumer participation in strategic planning, staff training, and evaluation activities.	Accepted	Peter Mac is developing an enhanced Consumer Engagement and Experience Framework which will outline the principal requirements and methods for consumer participation in strategic and operational planning across all levels of the organisation. This Framework is supported by a number of organisational support plans, including the Community Participation Plan, Cultural Responsiveness Plan and Aboriginal Health Action Plan. Engaging consumers and/or carers in strategic and operational planning is achieved by their involvement in: the planning, improvement and evaluation of services and programs; facilitating feedback with respect to patient information materials, and service care and delivery; using complaint, compliment and suggestion feedback to inform quality improvement activities; ensuring consumers are represented on steering committees and/or working groups; and involving consumers in staff orientation and ongoing education and training programs.	Substantially completed	August 2012	August 2016

Energy Efficiency in the Health Sector

Date tabled: 12 September 2012

No.	Recommendation	Acceptance (current)	Action	Status	Date commenced	Date completed/due for completion
Department of Health
1	The Department of Health, in consultation with health services, should improve the measures it uses to assess health service energy efficiency performance.	Accepted	Improved measures to assess energy efficiency performance by reporting on energy use per metre squared of floor space, bed-days (including public sector residential aged care beds) and separations in the 2011-12 Annual Report (7 September 2012). Published Environmental Reporting Guidelines 2012-13 to health services identifying the measures which should be used for measuring and reporting energy performance (26 November 2012). Completed evaluation of environmental data needs and systems and received in-principle endorsement for adoption of a new environmental data management system that will allow a more granular analysis of energy data and development of more targeted energy performance measures (18 February 2013). Improved measures to assess individual health service energy efficiency performance by analysing energy performance for each health service by floor space and bed-days and comparing energy and cost performance against similar health services and hospitals. Provided reports	Completed	September 2012	March 2013
2	The Department of Health should adopt a more focused and strategic approach to planning for energy efficiency in the health sector to: support consistent planning at a health service level align with statewide goals for health services.	Accepted	Committed to a whole-of-system plan for implementing the Greener Government Buildings (GGB) program (the health system's primary energy efficiency program) across the health portfolio and communicated timing of individual projects to health service CEOs to allow health services to align existing and planned energy projects with the system-wide roll-out of the GGB program (21 December 2012). Supported consistent planning at the health service and system-wide levels by clarifying statewide goals for energy management and communicating roles and responsibilities for energy management, including those for the department, to health service CEOs through its guide on 'Energy management in the public health care system' (15 March 2013).	Completed	September 2012	March 2013
3	The Department of Health, in consultation with the Department of Treasury and Finance and health services, should update its strategic implementation plan for the Greener Government Buildings program to incorporate: the approved program rollout to 20 health services learnings from the energy performance contract delivered at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.	Accepted	Endorsement of a program for rolling-out of EPCs within the health portfolio by the GGB Program Steering Committee, which includes senior representatives from DH, DTF and health services (5 December 2012). The program addressed: the roll-out of the GGB program to 27 health services, and how the department would meet the 30 June 2018 GGB program target. Submission of a Strategic Implementation Plan 2013-18, covering 27 health services and the learnings from the EPC at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, to the Secretary DTF (21 December 2012). Department wrote to health service CEOs involved in the GGB program informing them of the timing of individual projects within their health service (21 December 2012).	Completed	September 2012	December 2012
4	The Department of Health and the Department of Treasury and Finance should agree on which healthcare facilities are to be included in the Greener Government Buildings program going forward.	Accepted	Endorsement of a program for rolling-out of EPCs within the health portfolio by the GGB Program Steering Committee, which includes senior representatives from DH, DTF and health services (5 December 2012). The program addressed: the roll-out of the GGB program to 27 health services, and how the department would meet the 30 June 2018 GGB program target. Submission of a Strategic Implementation Plan 2013-18, covering 27 health services and the learnings from the EPC at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, to the Secretary DTF (21 December 2012). Department wrote to health service CEOs involved in the GGB program informing them of the timing of individual projects within their health service (21 December 2012).	Completed	September 2012	December 2012
5	The Department of Health, after consulting the Department of Treasury and Finance and approved energy service companies, should assess the risks associated with:
	the Department of Health's modified approach to delivering energy performance contracts in health services	Accepted	Received feedback from approved energy service companies on the department's proposed approach to delivering energy performance contracts in health services and the broad commercial principles. DTF collaborated with the process (27 September 2012). Endorsement of 'Guidelines for Energy Performance Contracting in health services' based on the feedback from Energy Service Companies (ESCOs) and DTF by the GGB Steering Committee, which includes senior DTF representation. Publication of the guidelines (18 February 2013).	Completed	September 2012	February 2013
	the industry's capacity to deliver energy performance contracts in line with the Department of Health's planned rollout under the Greener Government Buildings program.	Accepted	Published first biannual update on the Department of Health GGB program and released the program for implementing EPCs within the health portfolio over the period 2013 to 2018 to the market (4 March 2013). Presented to Energy Efficiency Council (ESCO industry organisation) on the Department of Health GGB program (22 March 2013).	Completed	September 2012	March 2013

Flood Relief and Recovery

Date tabled: 26 June 2013

No.	Recommendation	Acceptance (current)	Action	Status	Date commenced	Date completed/due for completion
Department of Human Services
3	The Department of Human Services should develop an improved model for communication for future disasters that provides a single point of information and contact for disaster affected communities.	Accepted	The Emergency Relief and Recovery Victoria website (www.recovery.vic.gov.au) and the 24/7 Victorian Emergency Recovery Information line (1300 799 232) were launched in September 2013 to provide a single point of information and contact for disaster affected communities. The website is available in 12 different community languages. It supports viewing on mobile devices. These services are promoted through government departments and agencies. The website and information line provided real-time information about relief and recovery during the summer 2013-14 bushfires and the Latrobe Valley coal mine fire.	Completed	June 2013	September 2013

No.

Recommendation

Acceptance (current)

Action

Status

Date commenced

Date completed/due for completion

Department of Human Services

3

The Department of Human Services should develop an improved model for communication for future disasters that provides a single point of information and contact for disaster affected communities.

Accepted

The Emergency Relief and Recovery Victoria website (www.recovery.vic.gov.au) and the 24/7 Victorian Emergency Recovery Information line (1300 799 232) were launched in September 2013 to provide a single point of information and contact for disaster affected communities. The website is available in 12 different community languages. It supports viewing on mobile devices. These services are promoted through government departments and agencies.

The website and information line provided real-time information about relief and recovery during the summer 2013-14 bushfires and the Latrobe Valley coal mine fire.

Completed

June 2013

September 2013

Infection Prevention and Control in Public Hospitals

Date tabled: 12 June 2013

No.	Recommendation	Acceptance (current)	Action	Status	Date commenced	Date completed/due for completion
Department of Health
1	That the Department of Health uses the infection control data it collects to inform future strategy on infection control.	Accepted	Complete Victorian public hospital healthcare associated infection (HAI) and surveillance data is incorporated in the Victorian health service performance monitoring framework. The department has finalised the consolidation of Victoria's HAI data collection in order to provide a comprehensive state-wide and service level HAI profile. This activity was due to be completed in December 2013 however additional campus level HAI surveillance has been requested to complete this work. This consolidation was completed in April 2014. This trended data will inform department policy and future directions, in particular refinement of PMF (Performance Monitoring Framework) measures.	Completed	June 2013	May 2014
2	That the Department of Health identifies and appropriately manages health services with persistent or recurring poor infection control performance.	Accepted	Completed The department continues to manage outlier agencies through the performance process as outlined in the department response to this recommendation. A risk register has been established to track outlier and HAI performance issues.	Completed	June 2013	March 2014
4	That the Department of Health accesses required expert advice and uses it to inform future strategy on infection control	Accepted	HAI advisory committee is being established - we delayed this to ensure the committee would be established as a formal sub-committee of the Ministerial Patient Safety Advisory Committee. Sub-committee status and Chair was endorsed on 25 June 2014, membership is currently being completed, planning meeting with Chair completed 20 August 2014, first committee meeting early November 2014.	Substantially completed	June 2013	November 2014
5	That the Department of Health includes targeted initiatives to all known areas of underperformance in infection control in its future infection control strategy	Accepted	Completed The department has finalised the consolidation of Victoria's HAI (Hospital Acquired Infections) data collection in order to provide a comprehensive state-wide and service level HAI profile. DH has included priority areas for HAI in the Victorian Health Service Performance Monitoring Framework (VHSPMF) for some years. Since audit, DH has included HCW influenza rates, SAB rates and hand hygiene compliance in the VHSPMF with targets in the Performance Assessment score. In 2014/15 DH has included incentives for services to achieve zero rates for CLABSI (Central Line Associated Blood Stream Infection) in ICU and refined surgical site infection reporting, allowing health services flexibility to address known or suspected problem areas.	Completed	June 2013	May 2014
6	That the Department of Health evaluates the effectiveness of the rural infection control consultant models.	Accepted	In Progress Finalisation of the Review Regional Infection Control Consultant Models project brief has been delayed. Additional information on comparative funding models was requested prior to completing the brief. DH have finalised the project brief and RFQ (Request for Quote) for the comprehensive statewide review of rural infection control models. The RFQ will be advertised shortly.	Partially completed	June 2013	March 2015
Bairnsdale Regional Health Service
3	That health services develop and implement targeted strategies to address persistent underperformance in hand hygiene compliance among relevant healthcare worker groups.	Accepted	Overt monitoring of under-performing staff with intervention to remind of the need to use hand hygiene appropriately. Change of hand hygiene product to one using an automated dispenser to improve usage. Display hand hygiene audit results for health care workers to review. Discussion of hand hygiene results with managers of areas as data accumulated to improve targeting of non-compliance e.g. students. Consumer information has been posted around the facility inviting consumers to be part of the hand hygiene improvement campaign Additional staff trained in gold standard hand hygiene auditing	Substantially completed	August 2013	August 2014
7	That health services factor in infection control risks when prioritising maintenance and asset replacement.	Accepted	Infection control requirements are assessed by the officer responsible for infection prevention when undertaking asset replacement to ensure compliance with organisational requirements this occurs through the 'New Clinical Products and Procedures Evaluation and Review' committee of which the IP&CC is an integral member. For replacement equipment the IP&CC is regularly consulted by staff regarding asset replacement and potential changes Infection Prevention Consultant sits on all working groups for building works which includes the purchasing or upgrading of plant and equipment	Completed	July 2013	November 2013
Ballarat health Service
3	That health services develop and implement targeted strategies to address persistent underperformance in hand hygiene compliance among relevant healthcare worker groups.	Accepted	BHS continues to participate in the NHH program. In September 2013 52 HH auditors were trained to enable them to conduct local HH audits at any time. In October, 2014 a further 21 staff will undertake HH training to become auditors. Underperformance with HH is not persistent but when recognised is actioned. In audit 1 2014 medical staff were noted to have poor compliance with HH moments 1 and 2 . The EDMS sent out a memo to all med staff and the rate of compliance has significantly improved from 57% to 75.6% in audit 2. HH education on e3 learning is annual compliance for all clinical staff. A review of the HH program at BHS was undertaken by HHA in April, 2014. They made 3 commendations: - Overt commitment to HH program from Infection Control team - Hospital wide culture of expectation that hand hygiene will be performed - Ongoing education and feedback to staff from both Infection Prevention & Control team and the Clinical Teachers	Completed	August 2012	August 2014
7	That health services factor in infection control risks when prioritising maintenance and asset replacement.	Accepted	BHS Infection control are members of the product evaluaton committee. This committee meets monthly and infection control is considered for asset replacement. IC risks are considered when priortising maintenance. A risk matrix is used to assist in the appropriate measures that need to be taken to minimise risks to the surrounding patients/staff/visitors when undertaking any maintence. Significant numbers of construction/renovation is being undertaken at BHS at present. IC play an active role in asessment of risks. IC are currenlty completing air sampling and monitoring of various sites three times per week to ensure that engineering/IC controls are being effective. This also includes the adherence of contractors to their IC respsonsibilities on a daily basis.	No action	August 2012	August 2014
Eastern Health
3	That health services develop and implement targeted strategies to address persistent underperformance in hand hygiene compliance among relevant healthcare worker groups.	Accepted	A management strategy to address low hand hygiene compliance in Health Care Workers (HCW) groups has been developed including the following actions: Mandatory Hand Hygiene education for all staff across EH including education packages on iLearn, the EH learning platform Hand Hygiene auditing in the ambulatory, community and mental health settings using a specific community audit tool Moment 1 audit developed to allow local auditing of HCW groups using audit angels Reporting of hand hygiene compliance by HCW to Executive, Program and Unit level Program Director level driven improvement initiatives to reach DoH target for HH compliance in target areas Provision of 1 day Hand Hygiene Australia auditor course to train front line level staff to undertake detailed local audits Undertake trial of alternative HH products to ensure staff satisfaction with EH preferred product Implement visual aids to promote Hand Hygiene HH is an item on the EH Board scorecard	Substantially completed	August 2013	December 2014
7	That health services factor in infection control risks when prioritising maintenance and asset replacement.	Accepted	Management Strategy to address infection control risks when prioritising maintenance and asset replacement includes: 1. Senior Infection Prevention and Control (IPAC) representative is a member of the Product Evaluation Committee. 2. Capital expenditure for all patient / clinical equipment requires IPAC review and approval before purchase 3. IPAC representative to be engaged in refurbishment/ redevelopment activities 4. Develop a reporting schedule for maintenance and auditing of infrastructure in high risk areas for IPAC Expert Advisory Committee (EAC)	Completed	August 2013	December 2013
Peninsula Health
3	That health services develop and implement targeted strategies to address persistent underperformance in hand hygiene compliance among relevant healthcare worker groups.	Accepted	A Hand Hygiene strategy was developed in March 2013 to address underperformance in hand hygiene compliance at Peninsula Health. The five key components of the improvement strategy included system change, training/education, evaluation and feedback, reminders in the workplace and creating a patient safety climate. The strategy was launched at 'Department Heads' and received Board and Executive endorsement. The strategy also involved engaging Public Relations in a revitalised campaign to highlight the importance of Hand Hygiene. Minutes from the Infection and Prevention Committee meetings form part of the Quality and Clinical Governance Committee Agenda and Hand Hygiene results form part of the Board Quality KPIs to ensure performance monitoring is continually met. Subsequent to this strategy, selected acute and sub-acute wards have adopted Hand Hygiene benchmarking into their ongoing goals and objectives.	Completed	March 2013	June 2013
7	That health services factor in infection control risks when prioritising maintenance and asset replacement.	Accepted	It is mandatory for all capital expenditure requests to determine if the equipment will be used in the assessment, investigation or treatment of patients. Where necessary, the Executive Director responsible for Capital Works and Infrastructure invites the Infection Prevention and Control Unit to attend meetings and comment on the appropriateness of Capital Requests and Maintenance plans in an infection control context. Infection prevention and control is inherent in engineering, construction and maintenance policies. Environmental audits carried out by the Infection Prevention and Control unit factor in asset condition and associated infection control risk.	Completed	June 2013	June 2013

Management of Unplanned Leave in Emergency Services

Date tabled: 6 March 2013

No.	Recommendation	Acceptance (current)	Action	Status	Date commenced	Date completed/due for completion
Ambulance Victoria
1	Ambulance Victoria should review support for team managers who also perform paramedic duties and implement improvements to maximise team managers' ability to perform their roles.	Accepted	In June 2013, AV commenced the implementation a new Frontline model for AV's operational Team Managers to be rolled out progressively to all 200+ AV Team Managers over a 3 year period. The new model aims to provide consistent infield support to paramedics and create increased management time/capacity within the operational Team Manager roles. Whilst stage one of the model has been implemented, a delay in the continued implementation has occurred. This is due to hearings at Fair Work Commission. A full hearing has been set for August and pending the outcome of this hearing, the continued model implementation will be reviewed. The Operational Team Manager development program involves delivery of a three year management training program to all Operational Team Managers to build capability and increase role effectiveness. Intake 1 of this program has concluded. Intake 2 is 60% complete and will conclude in October 2014. Intake 3 will commence delivery in FY14/15.	Partially completed	June 2013	July 2016
2	Ambulance Victoria should review processes for managing personal unplanned leave evidence to reduce the risk that personal unplanned leave is incorrectly recorded.	Accepted	AV leave is now processed electronically. Operational staff are logged via the Duty Team Manager or Rosters which then flows through to the Electronic Time Card System (ETCS) & Payroll for processing. Non-Operational staff apply for leave via Employee Kiosk which via workflow goes to the Manager for approval and once approved flows through to the payroll system for processing. Employees are required to scan and attach evidence electronically which is then stored in the HR System. With Non-operational staff, Management are expected to monitor staff within their area of responsibility to ensure that leave is applied for in a timely manner.	Completed	June 2013	June 2014
3	Ambulance Victoria should closely monitor in rural regions the outcomes of its strategy to strengthen team management and adjust the strategy to address gaps or underperformance.	Accepted	As per recommendation 1, the new Frontline model is AV's key strategy for building Team Manager capability. The model establishes consistent expectations for Team Managers across the state, and therefore involves the baselining of expectations for Team Managers in rural regions as well as metropolitan areas. The Frontline Model is supported by an AV Performance and Development Process (PADP) which is compulsory for all Managers (including Operational Team Managers). Performance KPIs for Operational Managers include metrics regarding unplanned leave management which are frequently reviewed and actioned. The impact of the new Frontline model (in all areas of the state, including rural regions) will be monitored through assessment of individual performance (PADP process) but also through a formal evaluation of the program itself. A new, consistent statewide personal leave measure has also been implemented which is measured and reported to executives and managers monthly.	Completed	June 2013	June 2014

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Appendix F. Justice

Survey of responses to 2012–13 performance audit recommendations

As this audit was undertaken prior to machinery of government changes on 1 January 2015, departments are referred to by their 2014 titles.

Audits include:

Consumer Protection.
Flood Relief and Recovery
Management of Unplanned Leave in Emergency Services
Prison Capacity Planning

Consumer Protection

Date tabled: 17 April 2013

No.	Recommendation	Acceptance (current)	Action	Status	Date commenced	Date completed/due for completion
Department of Justice
1	Consumer Affairs Victoria should assess the status and currency of its compliance and enforcement policy and procedures, and update as required.	Accepted	Consumer Affairs Victoria has completed the assessment of compliance and enforcement policies and procedures and has updated as required.	Completed	April 2013	December 2013
2	Consumer Affairs Victoria should establish processes to routinely provide compliance and enforcement officers with information about its policies and procedures, including testing their awareness.	Accepted	Consumer Affairs Victoria has developed a repository for policies and procedures and informed all staff how to access this information.	Completed	April 2013	December 2013
3	Consumer Affairs Victoria should document the process of translating compliance risks into priorities, including the allocation of resources.	Accepted	Consumer Affairs Victoria has documented its planning and priority setting processes and approach to resource allocation.	Completed	April 2013	March 2014
4	Consumer Affairs Victoria should develop output and outcome measures that are relevant, appropriate and provide a fair representation of performance.	Accepted	Consumer Affairs Victoria has established specific activity definitions and reviewed and improved its output measures.	Completed	April 2013	December 2013
5	Consumer Affairs Victoria should improve the performance reporting in its annual report so that actual performance is reported against predetermined targets, and comparisons can be made over time.	Accepted	Performance information, using the Budget Paper No. 3 output measures, was included in the 2012-13 Consumer Affairs Victoria Annual Report.	Completed	April 2013	October 2013
6	Consumer Affairs Victoria should strengthen controls around the use of data to inform performance reporting, to avoid the incorrect use of data.	Accepted	New controls have been established for data to inform performance reporting including a confirmed data set and activity definitions.	Completed	April 2013	December 2013
7	Consumer Affairs Victoria should provide additional information in Budget Paper No. 3 for customer satisfaction to make the method and sample size transparent.	Accepted	Budget Paper No. 3 guidelines issued by the Department of Treasury and Finance are not consistent with this recommendation. Consumer Affairs Victoria has included the additional information relating to this measure in its Annual Report 2013-14 to make the method and sample size transparent.	Completed	April 2013	September 2014
8	Consumer Affairs Victoria should establish robust information management systems, including quality assurance mechanisms that provide it with assurance around data reliability.	Accepted	Consumer Affairs Victoria has developed a data register of relevant performance measures, definitions and data counting rules to improve data reliability.	Completed	April 2013	April 2014
9	Consumer Affairs Victoria should inform all Consumer Affairs Victoria and regional office compliance and enforcement officers of its business rules for counting activities.	Accepted	Consumer Affairs Victoria has documented definitions and business rules for counting activities and clearly defined data entry requirements for all staff including regional staff.	Completed	April 2013	December 2013
10	Consumer Affairs Victoria should re-evaluate its current case progression process for investigations to identify and implement areas to improve efficiency.	Accepted	Consumer Affairs Victoria has reviewed its case progression process for investigations. A streamlined assessment tool for staff has been completed and implemented.	Completed	April 2013	March 2014
11	Consumer Affairs Victoria should establish guidelines and a quality control process about maintaining inspection and investigation files on Resolve.	Accepted	A Resolve User Space has been created on the Consumer Affairs Victoria intranet with all information relevant to Resolve available to all staff.	Completed	April 2013	December 2013
12	Consumer Affairs Victoria should establish data collection processes to measure time frames for investigations, and utilise that data to formulate investigation targets.	Accepted	Consumer Affairs Victoria has prepared standard investigation plans with benchmark time frames for each investigaive step.	Completed	April 2013	March 2014
13	Consumer Affairs Victoria should formalise ongoing vocational staff training for its compliance and enforcement officers.	Accepted	Consumer Affairs Victoria develops a training program each year covering vocational and operational training requirements for all staff. Consumer Affairs Victoria has developed and implemented a training program for compliance and enforcement officers focused on skills for on the job.	Completed	April 2013	December 2013
14	Consumer Affairs Victoria should establish a set of outcome measures for its education program and implement a performance measurement strategy.	Accepted	Consumer Affairs Victoria has implemented outcome measures for its education program and a strategy to measure performance.	Completed	April 2013	December 2013

Flood Relief and Recovery

Date tabled: 26 June 2013

No.	Recommendation	Acceptance (current)	Action	Status	Date commenced	Date completed/due for completion
Department of Justice
1	The Department of Justice should review the current model for rapid impact assessment to improve the quality of the information collected.	Accepted	Rapid Impact Assessment has now been renamed as Initial Impact Assessment (IIA) to better reflect the process. The State Incident Controller requests the assistance of an Impact Assessment Coordinator through the Victoria Police State Emergency Response Coordinator. The Impact Assessment Coordinator will then manage the assessment process on behalf of the State Incident Controller. A multi-agency IIA Working Group has been established to ensure the agencies involved in IIA are working to the same common operating procedures, an interim minimum data set and information flow and single source of truth agreement is in place, coordination personnel have exercised and agencies have a better shared understanding of each other's capability and capacity.	Partially completed	January 2014	October 2014

No.

Recommendation

Acceptance (current)

Action

Status

Date commenced

Date completed/due for completion

Department of Justice

1

The Department of Justice should review the current model for rapid impact assessment to improve the quality of the information collected.

Accepted

Rapid Impact Assessment has now been renamed as Initial Impact Assessment (IIA) to better reflect the process. The State Incident Controller requests the assistance of an Impact Assessment Coordinator through the Victoria Police State Emergency Response Coordinator. The Impact

Assessment Coordinator will then manage the assessment process on behalf of the State Incident Controller. A multi-agency IIA Working Group has been established to ensure the agencies involved in IIA are working to the same common operating procedures, an interim minimum data set and information flow and single source of truth agreement is in place, coordination personnel have exercised and agencies have a better shared understanding of each other's capability and capacity.

Partially completed

January 2014

October 2014

Management of Unplanned Leave in Emergency Services

Date tabled: 6 March 2013

No.	Recommendation	Acceptance (current)	Action	Status	Date commenced	Date completed/due for completion
Metropolitan Fire and Emergency Services Board
4	The Metropolitan Fire and Emergency Services Board should review the impact of its enterprise agreements on the efficiency of frontline management, and on the implementation of audit recommendations, in preparation for enterprise agreement discussions in 2013.	Accepted	Review undertaken and includedin Enterprise agreement strategy and draft Enterprise Agreements provided to UFU and Workforce in April 2013.	Completed	December 2013	June 2013
5	The Metropolitan Fire and Emergency Services Board should strengthen performance management of firefighter managers and reduce the financial disincentive to more effectively manage personal unplanned leave.	Accepted	The proposed enterprise agreements enable performance management.	Partially completed	March 2013	Bargaining completion
6	The Metropolitan Fire and Emergency Services Board should provide operational commanders, senior station officers and station officers with regularly updated information on the personal unplanned leave of firefighters in their teams.	Accepted	Major effort has been undertaken in improved reporting and required union consultation. First individual leave reports distributed to staff 15 Sept.	Substantially completed	March 2013	December 2013
7	The Metropolitan Fire and Emergency Services Board should improve specialised human resources support to frontline managers.	Accepted	Recruitment of 3 additional resources completed.	Completed	March 2013	December 2013
8	The Metropolitan Fire and Emergency Services Board should provide one comprehensive source of information on policies and procedures for managing personal unplanned leave.	Accepted	Policies developed and published.	Completed	March 2013	December 2013
9	The Metropolitan Fire and Emergency Services Board should review and strengthen controls over staff fulfilling their responsibilities for providing evidence to support personal unplanned leave.	Accepted	New process of certificate scanning and folow-up implemented.	Completed	March 2013	June 2013
10	The Metropolitan Fire and Emergency Services Board should continue to strengthen human resource management processes and controls to reduce avoidable overtime costs.	Accepted	Policies and Commander support materials developed. Station level accountability pending dependent on new enterprise agreeement.	Substantially completed	March 2013	End of enterprise agreement.
Victoria Police
11	Victoria Police should improve the management of police members undergoing performance and discipline procedures.	Accepted	A range of performance management training packages are delivered as part of police promotion courses as well as upgraded documented guides for managers.	Completed	June 2013	June 2014
12	Victoria Police should monitor the use of online tools for accessing unplanned leave data, to make sure that the tools are accessible and meet the needs of police managers.	Accepted	A range of unplanned leave reports are available in Victoria Police's human resources tool (HR Assist) and Human Resource Department (HRD) has been providing communications to senior managers to highlight existence of these reports. HRD have also recently distributed to Assistant Commissioners benchmark data on the level of staff absence due to unplanned leave.	Completed	June 2013	June 2014
13	Victoria Police should adequately train all frontline police managers to handle complex personal matters involving staff.	Accepted	A range of training programs are now available for managers who supervise staff. Training programs are delivered at promotional courses as well as through the Divisional Training Officer (DTO) and Regional Training Officer (RTO) network.	Completed	June 2013	May 2014

Prison Capacity Planning

Date tabled: 28 November 2012

No.	Recommendation	Acceptance (current)	Action	Status	Date commenced	Date completed/due for completion
Department of Justice
1	Corrections Victoria should determine whether its targeted offending behaviour programs have sufficient places to meet demand and, if necessary, incorporate this assessment in future funding submissions.	Accepted	The second and final phase of the CV Intervention Management System (CVIMS) was successfully launched on 3 December 2013. CV has now developed a resource allocation model, which facilitates an estimation of the resources required to deliver on the demand for offending behaviour programs across the prison system. Funding for offending behaviour programs is usually included as part of in the per bed cost for new prison beds. Increased funding for offending behaviour programs was also provided in recent budget outcomes to support changing expectations and eligibility regarding the delivery of offending behaviour programs across the prison system. CV can now determine whether it has sufficient program places to meet demand.	Completed	January 2013	February 2014
2	Corrections Victoria should update and improve the primary model in areas such as the use of demographic data, and the way in which stakeholder-provided information is quantified.	Accepted	Corrections Victoria is ensuring that it uses the most recently available population data (either ABS or Victoria in Future, which ever was most recently released). CV engaged the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) to review the current forecasting model in the context of contemporary practice in other jurisdictions. This review found that the workshop process in Victoria is among the most comprehensive in Australia, however it also noted that further consideration could be given to the quantification of policy scenario information. Corrections Victoria is working closely with justice portfolio agencies to enhance the quantification of these inputs.	Partially completed	January 2013	December 2014
3	Corrections Victoria should conduct regular external reviews of the primary forecasting model.	Accepted	The primary forecasting model was independently reviewed by the AIC in 2014. Corrections Victoria will work closely with other jurisdictions to monitor correctional forecasting developments and opportunities, and will seek an independent external review of its primary model every five years, or one to two years after any substantive changes are made to the model or process for generating projections.	Partially completed	January 2013	December 2014
4	Corrections Victoria should use the secondary model in a limited capacity only, due to shortcomings in the model.	Accepted	Recent planning exercises and budget submissions have been based on projections using the primary forecasting model only. The secondary model is not used as the basis for decisions on future budget submissions or prison capacity planning.	Completed	January 2013	January 2013
5	Corrections Victoria should develop a new forecasting model based on contemporary practice, and then establish a consolidated multi-forecast system that incorporates the outputs from all the models.	Accepted	The AIC review found that an international best practice approach does not exist and that newer and more complex forecasting methods do not result in improved accuracy. As a result, the AIC review recommended that Corrections Victoria continue to use the Walker model as its primary forecasting model. The review did recommend a number of actions to support the continued use of the Walker model and Corrections Victoria will undertake these as recommended.	Partially completed	January 2013	December 2014
6	Corrections Victoria should publish its forecasts pending the completion of Recommendation 2.	Accepted	As with recommendations two and three, the AIC report did not recommend that CV change its forecasting model concluding that the Walker Model is "reasonable for forecasting trends in male prisoner bed numbers up to five years ahead". For this reason the AIC report assessed the Walker Model as being "an appropriate tool for government decision making". In light of the VAGO report, CV prepared the Publishing Prison Forecasting Data paper. The paper reviewed prisoner forecasting models used in four international jurisdictions (England and Wales, Scotland, New Zealand, and California) that publish capacity planning was undertaken. Further analysis of Australian jurisdictions was also undertaken however, this confirmed that no Australian jurisdiction publishes prisoner forecasting data. It recommended that CV maintain its current approach of not publishing prisoner forecasting data; and, that CV continues to use the Walker Model in the short to medium-term while other models are explored.	Completed	January 2013	August 2014

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Appendix G. State development, business and innovation

Survey of responses to 2012–13 performance audit recommendations

As this audit was undertaken prior to machinery of government changes on 1 January 2015, departments are referred to by their 2014 titles.

Audits include:

Flood Relief and Recovery
Investment Attraction
Management of the Provincial Victoria Growth Fund
Managing Major Projects

Flood Relief and Recovery

Date tabled: 26 June 2013

No.	Recommendation	Acceptance (current)	Action	Status	Date commenced	Date completed/due for completion
Department of State Development, Business and Innovation
5	Rural Finance Corporation (Department of Treasury and Finance) and Regional Development Victoria should coordinate any future disaster relief and recovery programs for businesses.	Accepted	Rural Finance generally administers specific assistance defined under Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements; low-interest loans (3.3.1b) and recovery grants (3.4.1b & c). Regional Development Victoria (RDV) administers a variety of assistance to support broad economic and community recovery. The nature of RDV assistance may vary depending on the consequences of the natural disaster. Rural Finance (or its successor) and RDV will continue to ensure recovery efforts are coordinated where required or appropriate. As has occurred in the past, this may include via establishment of direct program delivery partnerships, joint promotion of recovery activity, direct referrals, engagement of small business mentors to assist businesses access available support and/or sharing of general impact and consequence information.	Completed	August 2013	September 2013
6	Regional Development Victoria should implement the recommendations from the Department of Planning and Community Development's review of the Community Recovery Fund to improve the delivery of relief and recovery programs in the future.	Accepted	The former Department of Planning and Community Development (DPCD) completed a review of its implementation of the Flood Community Recovery Fund (CRF). A CRF is a specific program defined under Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements (NDRRA). RDV has considered the recommendations in the DPCD review as well as guidance provided under NDRRA for CRFs, identifying that some of the DPCD recommendations are less relevant to RDV due to differing processes and capabilities. Nonetheless, RDV is currently finalising an initiative to more clearly define its role in respect to a potential CRF and, to the extent possible, plan for the future delivery of a CRF.	Substantially completed	August 2013	November 2014

Investment Attraction

Date tabled: 15 August 2012

No.	Recommendation	Acceptance (current)	Action	Status	Date commenced	Date completed/due for completion
Department of State Development, Business and Innovation
1	The Department of Business and Innovation should:
	develop an overarching investment attraction strategy for its investment attraction activities with clearly defined objectives	Accepted	An investment attraction strategy was developed by the Office of State Development and individual overseas Victorian Government Business Offices. The strategy is documented and has been noted by the Minister for State Development. It incorporates an overarching approach to investment attraction and the individual strategies of overseas offices. This strategy for investment attraction and facilitation guides the department to better coordinate its investment activities to complement its Business Engagement Model and International Engagement Strategy.	Completed	August 2012	February 2014
	review its internal and external reporting, including the need for greater public disclosure of investment attraction activities	Partially accepted	DSDBI rejected the recommendation that external reporting is required to facilitate greater public disclosure of investment attraction activities on the grounds that it would reduce the State's competiveness and serve to set unwanted benchmarks around expected level of grants. The Department undertakes regular reporting of its investment attraction activities. It reports on the aggregate capital invested and additional jobs created which are attributable to facilitation and support programs and these results are disclosed against targets in Budget Papers each year. Additionally, all grants, including those classified as Commercial in Confidence, are disclosed in DSDBI's annual report; however no dollar figures are disclosed.	Completed	August 2012	June 2014
	undertake regular evaluations of its investment attraction activities.	Partially Accepted	DSDBI undertakes regular evaluations of its investment attraction activities and has a governing committee (Investment Committee) which has departmental oversight of these activities. The Investment Committee was in place at the time of the VAGO review. However, a restructure of the Investment Committee in April 2013 saw the membership of the Committee change to improve objectivity. This has resulted in greater oversight of investment activities. The Investment Committee assess and scrutinise and in doing so provide an extra level of quality assurance over the process, prior to the investment project being recommended to Ministers for approval.	Completed	August 2012	June 2014
2	The Department of Business and Innovation should:
	evaluate the impact of its investment attraction activities on Victoria's business environment	Partially Accepted	The objective of investment attraction and facilitation and its policy is clear – to attract investment to Victoria where there is net benefit to the State. Given the projects that the Department successfully attract represent a small percentage of overall business investment activity into Victoria, it can be assumed that the impact on the macroeconomic environment would be small and difficult to measure. The Investment Committee meets weekly to assess each proposed investment activity on its merits and how it will represent value for money. The Investment Committee has taken a broader view to assess investment programs, not just investment projects. In doing so, they take into account Victoria's business environment. Post Pay Out Program Evaluation reviews have been commissioned and performed by Sweeney Research around the Industry Transition Fund. Additionally, PwC provided a report which quantified benefits of the facilitation services provided.	Completed	August 2012	April 2013
	document its advocacy procedures and develop a plan to coordinate actions proposed to improve the state's business environment.	Accepted	DSDBI has established the Office of State Development to coordinate investment activities to improve the State's business environment. OSD was specifically tasked to drive investment in Victoria by identifying, capturing and facilitating significant investment opportunities from both within Australia and internationally. It was also tasked to promote Victoria as an investment destination, and progressing and marketing significant State backed development projects to an international audience.	Completed	August 2012	July 2013
3	The Department of Business and Innovation should:
	limit financial assistance to those projects that meet eligibility criteria, and place greater emphasis on productivity and innovation	Partially accepted	This recommendation was not supported by DSDBI on the basis that it does not represent the intent of investment attraction. However, work has been undertaken to develop eligibility criteria for each investment program, in an effort to streamline the process throughout the Department. The Framework for the Development, Management and Delivery of Public Sector Grant Programs has been endorsed and will act as a guide to increase rigour around financial assistance. Additionally, work has been undertaken to develop an Investment Manual to outline consistent processes for project selection and provision of financial assistance.	Completed	August 2012	December 2014
	adequately justify, support and document assessment decisions	Accepted	The Department through its Investment Committee provides a robust governance structure for project advocates to justify and debate financial assistance in support of investment projects. The Committee is supported by a Secretariat that documents all decisions made by the Committee as per its Terms of Reference.	Completed	August 2012	June 2014
	formalise its selection and assessment process for facilitation services.	Partially accepted	A review of the effectiveness of the service was undertaken by PriceWaterhouseCoopers in 2013 which found that direct benefits of the service over 2011 and 2012 equalled almost $99 million, which represented a direct benefit to cost ratio of almost 50 to one. Facilitation services continue to be available to all projects requesting assistance (i.e. an open access service), with the extent of servicing determined by criteria including project size, location, strategic importance, readiness of the proponent to commence the site identification and regulatory approvals processes and the importance of the client relationship. DSDBI has included eligibility for facilitation in its Investment Facilitation Services documentation.	Completed	August 2012	October 2014

Management of the Provincial Victoria Growth Fund

Date tabled: 12 December 2012

No.	Recommendation	Acceptance (current)	Action	Status	Date commenced	Date completed/due for completion
Department of State Development, Business and Innovation Regional Development Victoria
1	When developing future programs and initiatives, the Department of Planning and Community Development should:
	develop robust business cases and processes to assess proposals to inform funding decisions, in line with Department of Treasury and Finance guidance; and	Accepted	As part of the implementation of the Regional Growth Fund, an overall business case for the Fund was developed as well as six additional business cases for significant elements of the Fund. This was supported by a developed policy context and operational model. Clear and measurable outcomes supported by relevant and appropriate performance measures and targets were also established.	Completed	July 2013	NA – also applies to future initiatives
	develop clear and measurable outcomes that are supported by relevant and appropriate performance measures and targets.	Accepted	Regional Development Victoria will continue to apply this approach to programs and initiatives going forward.
2	The departments of Planning and Community Development, and Business and Innovation, should act to assure compliance with the requirements of the Public Records Act 1973 and associated standards and policies, and implement changes as appropriate.	Accepted	Regional Development Victoria (RDV) became part of the Department of State Development, Business and Innovation (DSDBI) on 1 July 2013. RDV complies with DSDBI's record management policies, which are consistent with the Public Records Act 1973 and associated standards and policies. All staff are aware that TRIM is the Department's document management system and training in the use of TRIM has been provided to staff as appropriate. Further RDV funding programs and individual grants are managed using DSDBI's business engagement and grants management system (GEMS) that provides direct links to TRIM.	Completed	July 2013	December 2013
3	The departments of Planning and Community Development, and Business and Innovation, should make sure key records relating to the Provincial Victoria Growth Fund, including key project documentation, are complete.	Accepted	Regional Development Victoria (RDV) became part of the Department of State Development, Business and Innovation (DSDBI) on 1 July 2013. All documentation held by RDV was transferred to DSDBI at that time. RDV complies with DSDBI's record management policies, which are consistent with the Public Records Act 1973 and associated standards and policies. Documentation relating to all current programs administered by RDV, including those funded under the Region Growth Fund, is managed in accordance with these policies.	Completed	July 2013	December 2013
4	The Department of Planning and Community Development should apply the lessons learnt from the Provincial Victoria Growth Fund in implementing the Regional Growth Fund to:		Implementation of the Regional Growth Fund has ensured:
	provide assurance that the fund and its major components are soundly based	Accepted	the fund and its major components are soundly based as per developed policy context and business case;	Completed	July 2013	December 2013
	develop a comprehensive evaluation framework supported by relevant and appropriate performance measures and targets	Accepted	a comprehensive evaluation framework supported by relevant and appropriate performance measures and targets is in place;	Completed	July 2013	December 2013
	implement robust monitoring and reporting systems and processes	Accepted	robust monitoring and reporting systems and processes are implemented utilising departmental grant management systems;	Completed	July 2013	December 2013
	undertake mid- and end-term evaluations with a focus on demonstrating the achievement of objectives and outcomes	Accepted	mid- and end-term evaluations with a focus on demonstrating the achievement of objectives and outcomes have been planned for and commenced;	Completed	July 2013	December 2013
	develop and apply a sound risk management framework	Accepted	a sound risk management framework is being applied; and	Completed	July 2013	December 2013
	implement appropriate record keeping and document management systems.	Accepted	appropriate record keeping and document management systems are in use.	Completed	July 2013	December 2013

Managing Major Projects

Date tabled: 10 October 2012

No.	Recommendation	Acceptance (current)	Action	Status	Date commenced	Date completed/due for completion
Department of State Development, Business and Innovation Major Projects Victoria
1	Major Projects Victoria should: obtain legal advice as to the employment status of its contractors and the provision of financial authorisations to them	Accepted	The Department of State Development, Business and Innovation (DSDBI) has developed a new standard contract for engaging contractors that minimises risks regarding the employment status of contractors. Major Projects Victoria (MPV) has obtained legal advice confirming the non‑employee status of contractors under the new standard contract. No contractor employed by MPV now has financial delegations.	Completed	October 2012	January 2013
2	Major Projects Victoria should: review the skills and capabilities required to carry out its functions and, if necessary, obtain advice from the Department of Premier and Cabinet about the ability for it to create additional public sector executive officer positions within Major Projects Victoria	Accepted	DSDBI independently reviewed the skills and capabilities required within MPV to carry out its functions and consider the use of contractors and public sector executive officer (EO) positions within MPV. The review considered the rationale behind utilising contractors and EO positions for senior roles within MPV and incorporated a salary benchmarking for group Director and Project Director roles. As a result of the review, MPV has engaged a mix of public sector EOs and contractors. An Executive Officer has been assigned to provide a strengthened focus on governance and compliance with government and legislative processes within the Major Projects division.	Completed	October 2012	February 2013
3	Major Projects Victoria should: review its contract management practices and implement practices that are consistent, at a minimum, with the processes and policies that the Victorian Government Purchasing Board has established	Accepted	MPV has reviewed its contract management practices and developed a Guideline for recruiting VPS Staff and engaging and managing Contractors. This guideline provides for improved contract management documentation, performance monitoring, and payments and disclosure in line with VGPB requirements.	Completed	October 2012	April 2013
4	Major Projects Victoria should: establish and implement a performance management framework for internal contractors so that payments and variations are linked to acceptable performance	Accepted	DSDBI has developed a new standard contract for engaging contractors that includes performance indicators that contractors must achieve as a condition of their contract. There is scope in this standard contract to tailor performance indicators. A performance management framework has been established to implement the requirements of contracts.	Completed	October 2012	January 2013
5	Major Projects Victoria should: undertake an independent fraud risk assessment, particularly around contract management and payment systems, given the weaknesses in controls	Accepted	DSDBI has completed an independent risk assessment of MPV. Their conclusion was that nothing came to the consultant's attention that would lead them to believe that the risk mitigation strategies over procurement/purchasing policy/public tenders and recruitment policies are not adequate.	Completed	October 2012	February 2013
6	Major Projects Victoria should: review its recruitment practices involving ex-employees so that, as a minimum, perceived and potential conflicts of interest are managed, and value-for-money obtained	Accepted	MPV has reviewed its recruitment practices involving ex-employees and developed a 'Guideline for recruiting VPS Staff and engaging and managing Contractors'. The guideline provides for improved transparency and accountability of MPV's recruitment processes, including recruitment involving ex‑employees.	Completed	October 2012	April 2013
7	Major Projects Victoria should: establish a conflict of interest register and processes, in line with the Department of Business and Innovation's conflict of interest policy, to enable it to identify and manage perceived, potential and actual conflicts of interest	Accepted	DSDBI has revised its Conflict of Interest Policy and MPV has established a Conflict of Interest register in accordance with this policy. MPV staff attend probity workshops to ensure knowledge and understanding of probity in the context of commercial engagements	Completed	October 2012	February 2013
8	Major Projects Victoria should: review its records management processes and practices against the requirements of the Public Records Act 1973 and associated standards and policies, and implement changes as appropriate	Accepted	A review of MPV's records management processes and practices against the requirements of the Public Records Act 1973 and associated standards and policies was conducted. In order to implement the required changes an organisation-wide records management protocol has been implemented to ensure MPV meets its PROV obligations. The protocol was complemented by tailored training mandated for all MPV staff.	Completed	October 2012	December 2013
9	Major Projects Victoria should: review the completeness of its key records, including contracts and project documentation	Accepted	Following advice from the MPV's Probity Auditor, a standard set of documents that, at a minimum, are identified and stored in TRIM for every project has been agreed. MPV has reviewed the completeness of MPV's key records against this list of documents on a project by project basis, including contracts and project documentation. MPV has also put in place measures to ensure these key records are appropriately maintained in future.	Completed	October 2012	December 2013
10	Major Projects Victoria should: review its business planning to provide better clarity around its role, the actions it will implement to fulfil its role and the processes it will use to assess achievement of its role.	Accepted	The development of the 2013‑14 MPV Business Plan incorporated a review of MPV's business planning. A new process has been established to develop and review the Business Plan, including every 2-3 years a Client Conference.	Completed	October 2012	July 2013
12	Major Projects Victoria should: develop a process to routinely capture and assess industry and other information, and update its Project Management Framework as appropriate	Accepted	MPV has developed a number of processes to routinely capture and assess industry and other information. Initiatives implemented include: Benchmarking - MPV against a range of public and private sector enterprises. Quarterly Building Excellence forums – themes include lessons learned and other identified capability/knowledge gaps. Learning and development improvements – support for professional memberships. Skills matrix - mapping the skills and experience of staff. The information can be used for workforce planning purposes to assess appropriate resources for projects, evaluate skills gaps at an individual and an organisational level and identify and communicate subject matter experts within MPV.	Completed	October 2012	June 2013
13	Major Projects Victoria should: develop robust oversight processes so that the Project Management Framework is appropriately applied and key stages approved and reviewed, and there is compliance with required project standards, policies and procedures	Accepted	MPV has updated the Project Management Framework so that it is more accessible for users and is aligned with project standards, policies and procedures.	Completed	October 2012	September 2014
14	Major Projects Victoria should: establish a project review mechanism so that lessons from each project are identified, assessed, incorporated into practices as appropriate, and communicated	Accepted	MPV has established a series of quarterly lessons learned forums that focus on themes, such as procurement, governance, project initiation, probity etc., rather than specific projects. This will capture lessons learned during the project lifecycle, rather than only at the end of a project. MPV has also developed a lessons learned database which is reviewed on a quarterly basis.	Completed	October 2012	December 2013
15	Major Projects Victoria should: define and document governance arrangements for projects without external clients or end users so that there is an appropriate level of accountability, direction and oversight of project implementation	Accepted	MPV has in place a defined and documented governance arrangement for every project in delivery. These arrangements are consistent with DTF's Governance Guideline, released as part of the revised Lifecycle Guidance. MPV has also established a Governance Guideline for construction projects when there is no external client or end users.	Completed	October 2012	February 2013
16	Major Projects Victoria should: develop management information that provides a reliable, documented overview of project performance across all project.	Accepted	MPV has developed management information and a reporting framework that provides a documented overview of all projects. This has been rolled out across all current MPV projects and is monitored on a monthly basis. Definitions and business rules have been developed to ensure consistency across projects.	Completed	October 2012	June 2013
17	Major Projects Victoria should: define what an original approved budget is and consistently apply it to all projects	Accepted	MPV has defined the following for every project: Original approved budget Amended approved budget (where applicable) These definitions have been incorporated into the reporting framework developed in response to recommendation 16. This has been rolled out across all MPV projects. Where applicable, the reporting framework incorporates an auditable trail of budget or scope changes over each project's life.	Completed	October 2012	June 2013
18	Major Projects Victoria should: strengthen financial management system controls so that original budgets cannot be altered, and so there is a clear audit trail of changes	Accepted	Controls within the financial management system have been strengthened so that original budgets cannot be altered. Additionally, MPV has developed and documented a suite of management information for all projects that records the original project budget (as defined), including changes / variations to the project budget in an auditable manner. This framework has been rolled out across all MPV projects.	Completed	October 2012	June 2013
19	Major Projects Victoria should: review and address data quality and reliability issues, including assessing how it defines key data, and how it collects, collates and manages the data.	Accepted	In response to recommendation 16, MPV has developed a reporting framework that provides a documented overview of all projects. Definitions and business rules have been developed to accompany this framework to address data quality and reliability issues, including assessing how key data is defined, collected, collated and managed.	Completed	October 2012	June 2013

20	The Department of Business and Innovation should undertake a thorough and robust review of its external and internal indicators related to Major Projects Victoria with the aim of:
	developing new Budget Paper 3 measures that better represent actual performance.	Accepted	DSDBI conducted an independent review of MPV's performance measures. This review informed the development of three new measures in Budget Paper 3, including: The number of Major Projects Victoria projects complying with contracted scope The number of Major Projects Victoria projects complying with contracted cost The number of Major Projects Victoria projects complying with contracted time.	Completed	October 2012	May 2013
	developing new internal indicators that provide Major Projects Victoria and the Department of Business and Innovation with a robust and reliable assessment of Major Projects Victoria's performance	Accepted	Data definition and business rules have been established for the new performance measures, which provide quality assurance around the process. An Executive Officer has been assigned to provide a strengthened focus on governance and compliance within the Major Projects division. This role will oversee the performance assessment process to provide assurance about the process.	Completed	October 2012	May 2013
	developing, documenting and using robust systems and processes to assess performance using Major Projects Victoria's external and internal indicators	Accepted		Completed	October 2012	May 2013
	re-allocating responsibility for assessing performance, given failings with the current functions and responsibilities	Accepted		Completed	October 2012	May 2013
	establishing quality assurance mechanisms to oversee the performance assessment process to provide assurance about the process.	Accepted		Completed	October 2012	May 2013
21	The Department of Business and Innovation should, in light of the weaknesses identified with its internal and external performance indicators, review the major projects indicator in its Corporate Plan 2009–12.	Accepted	DSDBI conducted an independent review of MPV's performance measures. This review will inform the major projects indicators in future DSDBI Corporate Plans (or equivalent).	Completed	October 2012	May 2013
22	The Department of Business and Innovation should establish quality assurance mechanisms over Major Projects Victoria to provide it with appropriate assurance around Major Projects Victoria's processes to assess performance.	Accepted	New Budget Paper 3 measures, with associated data definition and business rules, have been established. An Executive Officer has been assigned to provide a strengthened focus on governance and compliance within the Major Projects division. This role will oversee the performance assessment process to provide assurance around MPV's processes to assess performance.	Completed	October 2012	May 2013

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Appendix H. Transport, planning and local infrastructure

Survey of responses to 2012–13 performance audit recommendations

As this audit was undertaken prior to machinery of government changes on 1 January 2015, departments are referred to by their 2014 titles.

Audits include:

Fare Evasion on Public Transport
Flood Relief and Recovery
Managing Traffic Congestion
Organisational Sustainability of Small Councils
Port of Melbourne Channel Deepening Project: Achievement of Objectives
Public Asset Valuation
Rating Practices in Local Government

Fare Evasion on Public Transport

Date tabled: 29 August 2012

No.	Recommendation	Acceptance (current)	Action	Status	Date commenced	Date completed/due for completion
Public Transport Victoria
1	Public Transport Victoria should develop survey-based estimates of fare evasion across regional public transport.	Accepted	V/Line train commuter services (those using myki) have been included in the bi-annual fare evasion and valid concession percentage surveys since October 2012. The survey is to be expanded from October 2014 to include myki-enabled regional bus services. This covers the majority of regional transport passengers and revenue.	Partially completed	July 2013	October 2014
2	Public Transport Victoria should review the cost-effectiveness of ticketing enforcement on Melbourne's trains, trams and buses and on regional public transport.	Accepted	Public Transport Victoria (PTV) reviewed the cost-effectiveness of ticketing enforcement across the public transport network and concluded that there were opportunities to expand enforcement and deliver positive revenue returns. This resulted in a successful business case for 70 additional Authorised Officers (AOs) to work multi-modally across the metropolitan area. Recruitment of the additional AOs has commenced and they are being deployed in phases.	Substantially completed	July 2014	December 2014
3	Public Transport Victoria should consider the economic case for allocating additional resources to this task.	Accepted	Refer comments above	Substantially completed	July 2014	December 2014
4	Public Transport Victoria should develop and deliver a plan to:
	complete the full rollout of myki without increasing fare evasion	Accepted	PTV prepares an annual Network Revenue Protection Plan (NRPP) in consultation with public transport operators. This plan has guided the full rollout of myki and the continued focus on reducing fare evasion. The October 2013 survey recorded the lowest level of fare evasion on the metropolitan network since May 2008.	Completed	July 2014	December 2014
	reduce fare evasion to match, or better, the lowest fare evasion rates achieved between 2007 and 2009.	Accepted	Refer comments under recommendation 2.	Substantially completed	July 2014	December 2014
5	Public Transport Victoria should publish the fare evasion survey results and provide the detailed data to the public transport operators when the results have been confirmed.	Accepted	PTV conducts a fare evasion survey twice each year, providing detailed survey results to public transport operators when they are confirmed and releasing the results publicly.	Completed	July 2013	December 2014

Flood Relief and Recovery

Date tabled: 26 June 2013

No.	Recommendation	Acceptance (current)	Action	Status	Date commenced	Date completed/due for completion
Department of Transport, Planning and Local Infrastructure (including Local Government Victoria)
2	Local Government Victoria should lead the design and implementation of strategies to support councils to further develop social capital needed for recovery.	Accepted	LGV has established an emergency management role to develop capability through the Municipal Emergency Resourcing Program (MERP) emergency management officers. A framework and work plan is being developed. The work will include developing formal and informal networks between emergency management officers and developing a resource base that LGV can work closely with during the response and recovery phases of future emergencies. In addition, a knowledge management system within these networks will be implemented to share knowledge between councils. EMV has responsibility for emergency management strategy development.	Partially completed	August 2014	October 2015

Managing Traffic Congestion

Date tabled: 17 April 2013

No.	Recommendation	Acceptance (current)	Action	Status	Date commenced	Date completed/due for completion
Department of Transport, Planning and Local Infrastructure (including Local Government Victoria)
1	That the Department of Transport reconsiders its initial proposal for the Network and Service Strategy as a stand-alone dedicated transport plan.	Accepted	The former DOT accepted this recommendation in principle noting this is ultimately a matter for Government. Through 2012, integrated network planning was conducted under the title of the Network and Service Strategy to support the development of the transport chapter of the Metropolitan Planning Strategy, Plan Melbourne, and ensure its integration with the development of Victoria: the Freight State. The products of this planning are now represented in these two detailed strategies. This is the first fully integrated land use and transport plan that meets the requirements of the Transport Integration Act 2010 to integrate transport and land use.	Completed	January 2012	May 2014
2	That the Department of Transport and Department of Planning and Community Development establish arrangements that assure comprehensive public consultation on transport issues, preferably in a stand-alone transport plan, but otherwise in the context of the Metropolitan Planning Strategy.	Accepted	During the development of Plan Melbourne dialogue occurred with a wide range of stakeholders in issues, including transport. Strategic Principles were the subject of roundtable discussions with representative stakeholder groups and included in the Discussion Paper: Melbourne, let's talk about the future. In October 2012 an intense program of consultation occurred with transport and other stakeholders, and the wider community, including: focus groups with traditionally hard-to-reach segments of the community; vox pop intercept interviews; newspaper and online survey; community forum, community groups and residents' associations; and Plan Melbourne website and social media. The Ministerial Advisory Committee, engaged directly with organisations, business groups, and local government to inform discussion about the development of the transport aspects of Plan Melbourne. . Over 1000 submissions were received during the two-phase consultation process	Completed	October 2012	April 2014
3	That the Department of Transport, in collaboration with other transport agencies, develops a congestion management plan within the context of broader transport and land use strategies which sets out statewide objectives, priorities, targets and agency responsibilities.	Partially accepted	The former DOT accepted this recommendation in principle, noting this is ultimately a matter for Government. Congestion clearly inhibits the Transport portfolio's general aim of moving more people more efficiently. As such, any work will incorporate consideration of VAGO's recommendations. Plan Melbourne sets out the Victorian Government's vision that will guide the city's growth to 2050. It has a strong focus on public and active transport as well as land use strategies to better align Employment Clusters and Activity Centres closer to where people live. The Plan also supports development in defined areas nearer to services and infrastructure The Government has also launched eight Regional Growth Plans and Victoria: The Freight State which provide further direction for integrated transport, land use and development in Victoria .	Completed	January 2012	May 2014
5	That the Department of Transport, in consultation with stakeholders, reviews its governance arrangements and establishes mechanisms for systematic monitoring and reporting by agencies on the progress and outcomes of statewide congestion management initiatives.	Accepted	Congestion clearly inhibits the Transport portfolio's general aim of moving more people more efficiently. As such any work will incorporate consideration of VAGO's recommendation. The governance arrangements for the newly formed Transport Group within DTPLI are being reviewed and adjusted in line with delivering the government's objectives. DTPLI is considering the need for an overarching framework to govern the relationship between the key State plans (Regional Growth Plans, Plan Melbourne and Victoria: The Freight State) and agency level network plans.	Substantially completed	June 2013	March 2015
6	That the Department of Transport, in consultation with transport agencies, develops and systematically implements a portfolio-wide decision-making framework for congestion related infrastructure expansion projects that: includes clear standards and procedures for assessing both the congestion benefits and disbenefits of proposed initiatives, including induced demand, relative to defined statewide congestion management priorities. assures the nature and scope of proposals is adequately informed by sufficient consideration of statewide demand management options and initiatives.	Accepted	The Victorian Government uses the National Guidelines for Transport System Management to assess congestion impacts of infrastructure proposals. There are a range of values set through the guidelines (for example the value of travel time, the value of travel reliability) to assess the consequences of increases or decreases in congestion under different project scenarios. The Victorian Government is currently supporting the review of these guidelines. The review will provide further guidance on the assessment of induced demand.	Completed	April 2013	March 2015
7	That the Department of Transport, in consultation with other stakeholders, develops and regularly updates a statewide travel demand management strategy that:
	includes initiatives and targets for moderating the use of private vehicles and the associated demand for road travel across the network during congested periods	Partially accepted	The former DOT accepted this recommendation in principle, noting this it ultimately a matter for Government. The Government has a number of actions underway that will help manage demand on the transport network. These include giving trams greater priority on the road network and preparing a road use strategy to ensure trams and buses can operate efficiently alongside other vehicles (Plan Melbourne). This will provide a network-wide focus for the ongoing implementation of a range of initiatives to better manage congestion such as: Station Precinct Enhancement Program Implementing Cycling into the Future 2013-23 Developing 20-minute neighbourhoods that support walking, cycling and public transport use Expanding the use of managed motorways technology to the M1 freeway, the M80 Ring Road and other freeways These initiatives are part of a strategic approach to managing the growth of Victoria and the demand for freight movements, with clear responsibilities for implementation.	Completed	April 2013	May 2014
	is informed by a review of the likely cost-effectiveness and feasibility of road pricing options and regimes	Accepted	Refer above	Completed	April 2013	August 2014
	includes targeted initiatives offering practical, sustainable transport alternatives to car use during peak periods, particularly for trips originating in car dependent areas	Accepted	Refer above	Completed	April 2013	August 2014
	is informed by a review of the lessons learned from previous statewide demand management initiatives, and leverages the opportunities identified by the Department of Transport in 2011.	Accepted	Refer above	Completed	April 2013	August 2014
Public Transport Victoria
4	That Public Transport Victoria develops explicit mode shift strategies and targets that are demonstrably aligned with defined statewide congestion management priorities.	Partially accepted	PTV recognises its role in reducing congestion by attracting car uses to public transport. PTV's Corporate Plan includes a range of strategies designed to increase public transport patronage.	Substantially completed	August 2014	December 2015
VicRoads
8	That VicRoads improves the frequency and targeting of its traffic signal reviews by leveraging available congestion data from SCATS (Sydney Coordinated Adaptive Traffic System).	Accepted	The frequency of the traffic signal reviews has been improved. In 2013/14, the funding for route reviews allowed 14 reviews to be undertaken. In 2014/15, funding has been increased and it is currently expected that a minimum of 25 reviews will be undertaken. The criteria used for determining traffic signal route now includes the use of probe vehicle data and SCATS degree of saturation data. This is in addition to routes that have had significant network changes, observed to be performing poorly or the subject of a specific request. The expansion of these selection criteria has resulted in improved targeting of reviews but not in their frequency. As more reliable traffic data becomes available, the selection criteria will be further expanded. The selection process will include greater consultation with key stakeholders to assist with the identification of routes and the use of alternative data.	Completed	May 2013	April 2014
9	That VicRoads develops a strategy, including time frames, for implementing Network Operating Plans and activating SmartRoads priorities across the metropolitan road network.	Accepted	The intention to develop a Road Use Strategy, which will cover the strategies recommended by VAGO, is a Plan Melbourne action with a forecast completion date of December 2014. VicRoads has commenced this and is working with DTPLI and PTV regarding options for improved performance of the arterial road network and to better manage congestion. Performance outcomes for the arterial road network have been set out in a long-term, global sense, as part of VicRoads' arterial network planning. Desired outcomes for individual routes, within this broader context, are articulated by levels of service sought in SmartRoads. The Road Use Strategy will help to articulate VicRoads' approach to activating SmartRoads priorities, which will also draw on market research and allow engagement with local councils and other stakeholders. VicRoads has commenced a Benefit Management Framework for operations, network efficiency and measurement similar to the existing framework for improvement works.	Partially completed	May 2013	December 2015
10	That VicRoads develops a strategy, in consultation with local councils, to better leverage the potential of clearways for managing congestion along the arterial road network.	Accepted	VicRoads, in collaboration with DTPLI, is reviewing options to engage key stakeholders in the development of a parking strategy that assists in managing congestion. It is likely that a Ministerial Advisory Council (MAC) will be appointed, and be serviced by DTPLI, which will inform the direction to be undertaken to better manage congestion. Discussions to progress this matter are continuing with DTPLI.	Partially completed	May 2013	December 2015
11	That VicRoads systematically reviews the efficiency and effectiveness of its operational management of the road system.	Accepted	VicRoads will shortly develop a benefit management framework for operations / network efficiency / congestion, similar to the framework for improvement works. From this framework, performance will be measured for desired outcomes	Partially completed	May 2013	December 2015
12	That VicRoads develops measures and targets for network efficiency and congestion management initiatives in consultation with stakeholders.	Accepted	To date, 1) The intention to prepare a Road Use Strategy is in Plan Melbourne which will state our desired outcomes for the road network. 2). High level market research has started which will help us determine what is important to the end user. 3) A Principal Traffic Flow Network is being defined, which will have performance outcomes set and help us to differentiate between different parts of the network in terms of how we want to manage them, with recognition that movement of people and goods will be prioritised over access for the PTFN routes, and will be built into the state planning policy framework 4) Agreement to long term network planning performance outcomes.Using indicators such as job accessibility for employees, employer access to employee pools, key freight route reliability, overall variability of travel time, etc as indicators to help assess different investment level scenarios.	Partially completed	May 2013	December 2015

Organisational Sustainability of Small Councils

Date tabled: 12 June 2013

No.	Recommendation	Acceptance (current)	Action	Status	Date commenced	Date completed/due for completion
Department of Transport, Planning and Local Infrastructure (including Local Government Victoria)
4	The Department of Planning and Community Development should review and update its asset management guidance.	Accepted	Asset Management Guidelines are being updated. The initial review of the guidelines have now been completed. IPWEA have been engaged to facilitate the alignment with all ISO/IPWEA standards.	Substantially completed	February 2014	October 2014
5	The Department of Planning and Community Development should consider making the development of a long-term financial plan mandatory and provide support and guidance in the development of these.	Accepted	The updated Asset Management Guidance will emphasise the need to link strategic asset management with longer term financial planning. The Local Government Amendment (Performance Reporting and Accountability) 2013 Act requires that Strategic Resource Plans need to take account of the resources required in all other plans (including asset maangement plans) a council adopts.	Substantially completed	February 2014	October 2014
6	The Department of Planning and Community Development should routinely review the guidance and support it provides so that it is aligned with areas of highest need and addresses gaps in councils' capability and capacity.	Accepted	Local Government Victoria continues to provide guidance when a need in the sector is identified. LGV has established the Local Government Reform Strategy Reference Group comprising a select group of local government CEOs to advise on capability and capacity issues and assist with the development of guidance to address such issues. The updating of the asset management guidance and annual revision of the Local Government Model Financial Report are examples of LGV efforts to keep guidance current and relevant.	Substantially completed	February 2014	October 2014
7	The Department of Planning and Community Development should expedite implementation of the planned local government performance reporting framework and make sure it includes appropriate sustainability indicators.	Accepted	The Performance Reporting Framework has been established.	Completed	October 2012	June 2014

Port of Melbourne Channel Deepening Project: Achievement of Objectives

Date tabled: 14 November 2012

No.	Recommendation	Acceptance (current)	Action	Status	Date commenced	Date completed/due for completion
Port of Melbourne Corporation
1	The Port of Melbourne Corporation, in consultation with the Department of Transport, should review the impact of the global financial crisis on the expected timing and quantum of future economic benefits from the Channel Deepening Project.	Accepted	VAGO acknowledged (as outlined in its report entitled "Port of Melbourne Channel Deepening Project: Achievement of Objectives" November 2012 - page 25) that a benefits review of the Channel Deepening Project is planned by PoMC for late 2014 (i.e. five years post project completion), following discussions with the Department of Treasury and Finance. This review is expected to be completed by 31 March 2015 and will incorporate the impact of the global financial crisis (GFC). PoMC continues to monitor the Port's trade throughput and changes in ship visits (particularly those resulting from the post GFC rationalisation of shipping line arrangements and services).	Partially completed	September 2014	March 2015
2	The Port of Melbourne Corporation, in consultation with the Department of Transport, should review existing Channel Deepening Project critical success factors/metrics and expedite development of a benefits management plan and related strategies for optimising the achievement of Channel Deepening Project objectives and future benefits.	Accepted	As part of the development of the Benefits Management Plan, a review is being undertaken of the critical success factors included in the Channel Deepening Project Business Case approved by the Cabinet Expendture and Review Committee and the Treasurer of Victoria in December 2007.	Partially completed	September 2014	March 2015
3	The Port of Melbourne Corporation, in consultation with the Department of Transport, should commencing from 2014, implement regular and timely benefits reviews/reporting to the corporation's board, executive management and the Department of Transport, against the benefits management plan.	Accepted	The Benefits Management Plan will include the development of formal reporting mechanisms (and the timing of such reports) to PoMC's Board and the Department of Transport, Planning and Local Infrastructure (DTPLI). The Benefits Management Plan is expected to be completed by 31 March 2015.	Partially completed	September 2014	March 2015

Public Asset Valuation

Date tabled: 17 April 2013

No.	Recommendation	Acceptance (current)	Action	Status	Date commenced	Date completed/due for completion
Department of Transport, Planning and Local Infrastructure (including Local Government Victoria)
6	The Department of Sustainability and Environment should engage a suitably qualified, independent body to review Valuer-General Victoria's operations and practices on a triennial basis. [Note: Land Victoria now part of DTPLI).	Accepted	Initially DSE were the department concerned and the Audit result suggested that a suitably qualified independent body be engaged after three years to review operations and practices. The Department is now DTPLI and the review will be scheduled in for May 2016.Triple click to add text	Partially completed	August 2014	May 2016
Valuer-General Victoria
1	Valuer-General Victoria should develop appropriate management, performance measurement, and reporting systems to improve quality and timeliness of valuations.	Accepted	VGV have introduced a traffic light system that keeps Management informed of status of valuation requests. This is presented to the VGV Executive meetings each fortnight and any necessary actions are instigated.	Completed	August 2014	August 2014
2	Valuer-General Victoria should increase the number of client agencies surveyed annually, record issues raised by agencies and act on the feedback received.	Accepted	VGV has allowed the independent survey provider greater time to be able to contact more customer agencies. Last survey in early 2014 received input from 85% of customers selected (51/60). This is almost double the number of responses received in 2012. Overall approval rating for VGV was 80%. VGV has acted on the feedback received in these surveys.Triple click to add text	Completed	April 2013	June 2013
3	Valuer-General Victoria should review the implementation of its quality management system to:
	develop a risk-based selection process for each type of review	Accepted	VGV have written a Risk Management Strategy (RMS) to complement its Quality Management System. The RMS was developed following an all-staff workshop to ensure broad coverage of VGV risk issues. The RMS is being rolled out within VGV.	Completed	December 2013	September 2014
	increase the number of audits (or reviews) undertaken	Accepted	VGV has increased the number of audits undertaken of outsourced valuations with a view to VGV maintaining confidence in the quality of valuations undertaken.	Completed	December 2013	September 2014
	subject larger and more complex valuations to further scrutiny by the second reviewer	Accepted	The increased audit process outlined above also applies to larger and more complex valuations.	Completed	December 2013	September 2014
	improve the quality of feedback to valuers following these audits and reviews.	Accepted	VGV are providing feedback to valuers on a regular basis about their service. Biannual reports on quality of valuation services are provided to all Valuation Services Panel members.	Completed	December 2013	September 2014
4	Valuer-General Victoria should develop a comprehensive risk management system.	Accepted	VGV have written a Risk Management Strategy to complement its Quality Management System.	Completed	December 2013	September 2014
5	Valuer-General Victoria should develop an overarching client engagement strategy for communicating with public agencies about the methods and assumptions used in valuations.	Accepted	VGV have written a Stakeholder Engagement Strategy (SES) to complement its Quality Management System (QMS) This is being incorporated into the VGV's Quality Management System.	Completed	December 2013	September 2014

Rating Practices in Local Government

Date tabled: 20 February 2013

No.	Recommendation	Acceptance (current)	Action	Status	Date commenced	Date completed/due for completion
Department of Transport, Planning and Local Infrastructure (including Local Government Victoria)
1	The Department of Planning and Community Development should clarify and standardise key data reporting requirements relating to rates and charges for councils.	Accepted	The Local Government Performance Reporting Framework has been established and will standardise key reporting requirements relating to rates and charges. Local Government Victoria has also completed the Rating Strategy Guidelines.	Completed	October 2012	June 2014
2	The Department of Planning and Community Development should in consultation with the Municipal Association of Victoria, review the adequacy of the Local Government Cost Index and encourage the use of an agreed benchmark by councils in the annual reporting of their rates and charges.	Accepted	Establishment of the Performance Reporting Framework will facilitate benchmarking by councils.	Completed	October 2012	June 2014
3	The Department of Planning and Community Development should consider how best to achieve the objectives of the Local Government Act 1989 with regard to council rates and charges, including reviewing the adequacy of the Local Government Act 1989 and existing sector guidance material.	Accepted	Establishment of the Performance Reporting Framework and release of the Rating Strategy Guidelines provides councils with support that will better enable them to meet their Local Government Act 1989 obligations.	Completed	October 2012	September 2014
4	The Department of Planning and Community Development should establish a framework to monitor and report on council compliance with the Local Government Act 1989 with regard to rates and charges, which is supported by relevant and appropriate performance measures and targets, and public reporting against key performance measures.	Accepted	The Local Government Performance Reporting Framework has been established and will standardise key reporting requirements relating to rates and charges. Information will be more readily available to the public.	Completed	October 2012	June 2014
5	The Department of Planning and Community Development should communicate to councils Local Government Victoria's role in the provision of guidance and support to them in rating practices, and clarify Local Government Victoria's expectations of council rating practices and activities.	Accepted	Rating Strategy Guidelines have been developed and published.	Completed	December 2013	September 2014
6	The Department of Planning and Community Development should consider making rating strategies mandatory and providing updated guidance regarding their content, frequency of review, and how ratepayers should be engaged.	Accepted	Rating Strategy Guidelines have been developed and published.	Completed	December 2013	September 2014

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Appendix I. Local Government

Survey of responses to 2012–13 performance audit recommendations

As this audit was undertaken prior to machinery of government changes on 1 January 2015, departments are referred to by their 2014 titles.

Audits include:

Organisational Sustainability of Small Councils
Rating Practices in Local Government

Organisational Sustainability of Small Councils

Date tabled: 12 June 2013

No.	Recommendation	Acceptance (current)	Action	Status	Date commenced	Date completed/due for completion
Buloke Shire Council
1	Councils should clearly identify and publicly report their sustainability challenges and associated strategies and actions, including how they will monitor, report and evaluate their effectiveness, using relevant and appropriate performance indicators.	Accepted	Council developed a new suite of monthly performance reports which are included as a standard agenda report at every monthly Council Meeting. Council has publicly communicated and addressed their sustainability challenges by including a clear action plan in their adopted 2014-15 Budget. This plan clearly outlines a range of initiatives to be implemented along with measurable timeframes and defined targeted savings, in order to achieve financial viability and long term financial sustainability. Council is updated monthly on the status of achieving each initiative. Council has been a trial participant in the new Local Government Performance Reporting Framework (LGPRF) and will publicly report appropriate performance indicators via this new reporting regime.	Completed	January 2014	July 2014
2	…all councils should update their existing [long-term financial] plans in accordance with better practice.	Accepted	Council has purchased and implemented CT Management's Long Term Financial Planning (LTFP) software which facilitates better practice in the production of an LTFP. Council adopted and included its LTFP in its adopted 2014‑15 Budget.	Completed	March 2014	June 2014
3	Councils should review service planning and delivery in accordance with Best Value Principles as a priority, including:
	assessing overall service delivery levels to determine appropriate levels and provide the rationale for their decision	Accepted	In early 2014, Council undertook a series of workshops in conjunction with senior management to assess overall service delivery levels and determine appropriate levels. As an outcome, the Council's adopted 2014_15 Budget reflects significant service level reductions across 24 service areas, designed to achieve long term financial sustainability. All these items were publicly communicated.	Completed	February 2014	June 2014
	consulting with their communities on their ability and willingness to pay for desired services in the development of the council plan	Accepted	Council undertook a range of community consultations to gain feedback on the communities willingness to pay for desired services in the development of the Council Plan and Budget. Ten (10) Public forums were conducted across the towns within the Shire. In addition, feedback was sought via public advertising and also directly at Council meetings and Councillor briefings. Councillors and staff also regularly attend community organised forums and local community group and organisation meetings, to consult and gain feedback.	Completed	April 2014	July 2014
	developing a plan to regularly review all services over time.	Accepted	Council has a publicly demonstrated plan to review all services over time. Council's 2014-15 adopted Budget clearly shows financial savings targets and associated timelines, that can only be achieved through a review of all services.	Substantially completed	May 2014	June 2014
Golden Plains Shire Council
1	Councils should clearly identify and publicly report their sustainability challenges and associated strategies and actions, including how they will monitor, report and evaluate their effectiveness, using relevant and appropriate performance indicators.	Accepted	Council reports its sustainability challenges in a number of ways including: The budget document and community consultation process, Strategic Resource Plan, Annual report, Rating Startegy documentation, Community Satisfaction Survey results and its many Community Plans and Town Place Plans.. Council also reports in its other strategies, the liklehood of each strategic item being achieved an dthe budget implications. Other challenges around infrastructure are reported to the community in the 4yearly infrastructure condition report and service level review. The new LG Performance Indicators will greatly enhance the monitoring and reporting of these challenges.	Partially completed	July 2013	Ongoing
2	…all councils should update their existing [long-term financial] plans in accordance with better practice.	Accepted	SRP and 10YR Plans updated Dec 13. Annual update of both scheduled for Dec 14. Presentation to meet new standards. Council workshops and community consultation to commence in October 14	Partially completed	October 2013	January 2015
3	Councils should review service planning and delivery in accordance with Best Value Principles as a priority, including:
	assessing overall service delivery levels to determine appropriate levels and provide the rationale for their decision	Accepted	Prepared a template for service standards and collected information. Prepared guidance templates for Best Value reviews on services. Developed a priority list of services to be reviewed. Commenced review process.	Partially completed	November 2013	June 2015
	consulting with their communities on their ability and willingness to pay for desired services in the development of the council plan	Accepted	Community consultation during budget process. Regular meetings with two Ratepayer Groups. Consultation of service levels via Community Coordinators. Attend public meetings on topic. On-line surveys, newsletters, website. Further consultation during SRP review next 2 months.	Partially completed	March 2014	June 2015
	developing a plan to regularly review all services over time.	Accepted	Selection criteria established. Procedure manual developed. Priority list established. Time table for review prepared. reviews commenced but limited by budget constraints. Assisted by shared procurement services offered by third parties and other service reviews undertaken by the MAV and others.	Partially completed	August 2014	June 2016
Strathbogie Shire Council
1	Councils should clearly identify and publicly report their sustainability challenges and associated strategies and actions, including how they will monitor, report and evaluate their effectiveness, using relevant and appropriate performance indicators.	Partially accepted	Council regularly reviews its ability to undertake the work required by the community. This includes regular reviews of the long term plans, staff structures, service reviews and community expectations. The 2009-2013 Council Plan contained specific measures that referred to Council's sustainability challenges – these are reported 1/4ly to Council and in the Annual Report. The 2013-2017 Council Plan also contains specific sustainability challenges that will be reported on 1/4ly to Council and in the Annual Report. Annual budgets are based on updated Strategic Resource Plans that are in turn based on Long Term Financial Plans – both of these are reported on annually when (a) Annual Reports are prepared and (b) when budgets are developed so that the community are aware of how well Council is achieving , in comparison to the Long Term Plan.	Completed	August 2014	August 2014
2	…all councils should update their existing [long-term financial] plans in accordance with better practice.	Accepted	Council regularly updates the long term financial plan. The current long term financial plan has been updated and Council is currently considering this in relation to the 2015/2016 budget.	Completed	August 2014	August 2014
3	Councils should review service planning and delivery in accordance with Best Value Principles as a priority, including:
	assessing overall service delivery levels to determine appropriate levels and provide the rationale for their decision	Accepted	Tenders haver closed for a complete review of all of Council's services to determine sustainable levels that include community expectations. A HACC service review is currently underway	Partially completed	May 2014	August 2015
	consulting with their communities on their ability and willingness to pay for desired services in the development of the council plan	Accepted	Project plans are yet to be developed for community consultation	No action	August 2014	December 2015
	developing a plan to regularly review all services over time.	Accepted	Council has called for a joint tender to review all services. This will commence in late 2014	Partially completed	August 2014	December 2014
Towong Shire Council
1	Councils should clearly identify and publicly report their sustainability challenges and associated strategies and actions, including how they will monitor, report and evaluate their effectiveness, using relevant and appropriate performance indicators.	Accepted	Council's Council Plan communicates Council's sustainability challenges and associated strategies. Organisational sustainability is a key component of the Council Plan Strategic Objectives and underpins many of the strategies to be implemented over the four year plan. These include implementing business improvements in specified areas, improving service delivery and reducing costs through process improvement and shared services, investigating additional funding streams and continuing to improve Council's Long Term Financial Plan. The Council Plan also recognises that growing the Towong Shire community will improve organisational sustainability, and Council is supporting this by facilitating improved services (including the introduction of child care services), delivering on community priority projects from town master planning and expanding master planning to other areas of the Shire. These measures are monitored and reported on in Council's Annual Report.	Completed	July 2013	December 2013
2	…all councils should update their existing [long-term financial] plans in accordance with better practice.	Accepted	Council maintains that its dynamic approach to its Long Term Financial Plan provides a fit for purpose solution for a small council.	Completed	July 2013	July 2014
3	Councils should review service planning and delivery in accordance with Best Value Principles as a priority, including:
	assessing overall service delivery levels to determine appropriate levels and provide the rationale for their decision	Accepted	Council agrees that assessing overall service delivery levels to determine appropriate levels and provide rationale for decisions is a priority for Council. Council reviewed a number of service areas through 2013/14 and identified a range of services to be evaluated over the 2014/15 and 2015/16 financial years.	Partially completed	June 2013	June 2016
	consulting with their communities on their ability and willingness to pay for desired services in the development of the council plan	Accepted	Council is in the early stages of a community consultation process regarding future services and service levels based on the above reviews.	Partially completed	May 2014	June 2016
	developing a plan to regularly review all services over time.	Accepted	Council has developed an interim plan to review all services.	Partially completed	July 2013	June 2016
Yarriambiak Shire Council
1	Councils should clearly identify and publicly report their sustainability challenges and associated strategies and actions, including how they will monitor, report and evaluate their effectiveness, using relevant and appropriate performance indicators.	Accepted	Council reviewed the 2013-2017 Council Plan and have developed 4 goals which highlight our desired outcomes, our commitments and our key performance indicators which will be measured and reported on in the 2013/14 Annual Report. The Annual Report will be adopted in November.	Substantially completed	June 2013	November 2014
2	Yarriambiack Shire Council should develop a long-term financial plan and all councils should update their existing plans in accordance with better practice.	Accepted	Yarriambiack Shire Council has a draft Long Term Financial Plan. This has been developed with the assistance of CT Management. We will aim to have this presented and adopted by Council by December 2014.	Substantially completed	December 2013	December 2014
3	Councils should review service planning and delivery in accordance with Best Value Principles as a priority, including:
	assessing overall service delivery levels to determine appropriate levels and provide the rationale for their decision	Accepted	Council is currently developing Service Plans with over half completed. These plans will then be presented to Council for adoption and then updated and reviewed on a yearly basis and reported to Council. Council has annual community consultation meetings with the local communities in the Shire. These meetings give the councillors and staff the opportunity to provide information to residents about the various services that Council provides. Residents also have the opportunity to make enquiries and provide feedback. It is proposed that these documents will presented and adopted by Council by June 2015.	Substantially completed	June 2013	June 2015
	consulting with their communities on their ability and willingness to pay for desired services in the development of the council plan	Accepted	As Above	No action	August 2014	August 2014
	developing a plan to regularly review all services over time.	Accepted	As above	No action	August 2014	August 2014

Rating Practices in Local Government

Date tabled: 20 February 2013

No.	Recommendation	Acceptance (current)	Action	Status	Date commenced	Date completed/due for completion
Baw Baw Shire Council
7	Councils should periodically conduct a comprehensive review of their rating strategies.	Accepted	Council reviews and adopts its Rating Strategy on an annual basis. The 2014/15 Rating Strategy was adopted by Council on 25 June 2014 following a public consultation process as part of the S223 statutory budget process.	Completed	April 2014	June 2014
8	Councils should comply with the requirements of the Local Government Act 1989 relating to responding to submissions on the rate proposals in their budgets.	Accepted	Council at its Special Meeting of 19 June 2014 heard submissions, and considered those submissions inclusive of rate submission proposals. Such consideration related to the S223 process for community consulation regarding the annual Budget, Rating Strategy, Long Term Financial Strategy and Long Term Infrastructure Plan.	Completed	April 2014	June 2014
9	Councils should develop and implement comprehensive ratepayer communication and engagement strategies that include:
	information and reporting on how rating decisions are made, their implications for ratepayers, and the expected outcomes	Accepted	Application of the Budget Allocator Tool (Bang the Table website) that invited community participation and local understanding regardin rating decisions for the 2014/15 Budget. During the community consultation phase ratepayers could, online, change the funding mix of the draft 2014/15 Budget and receive immediate feedback to the impact to the rate increase and the total annual rate revenue.	Completed	May 2014	June 2014
	the use of a range of communication tools appropriate to the local community	Accepted	Completion of the Baw Baw Engagement Planning Template that comprises media releases, advertisments, website, weekly magazine and the web based Budget Allocator tool.	Completed	April 2014	June 2014
	details of how the effectiveness of their ratepayer engagement and communication activities will be assessed and reported.	Accepted	Results of engagement strategies received and reported to executive and Council. Budget Allocator tool provided statistical analysis of extent of community engagement. In addition the Baw Baw Engagement Plan managed and reported by Council's Communications Department.	Completed	April 2014	June 2014
Benalla Rural City Council
7	Councils should periodically conduct a comprehensive review of their rating strategies.	Accepted	Council has committed to undertake a review of its Rating Strategy during 2014/15. Strategy will be updated in the 2015/16 Budget.	Partially completed	September 2014	March 2015
8	Councils should comply with the requirements of the Local Government Act 1989 relating to responding to submissions on the rate proposals in their budgets.	Accepted	Council complies with the Local Government Act 1989 and considers all submissions lodged during the annual budget process. Since the 2012-13 performance audit, Council has not received any formal rate-related submissions during the annual budget process. Outside of the annual budget process Council has received two written requests for changes to the rating system. These ratepayers were advised that their requests would be considered during the next review of the rating strategy.	Completed	Not provided	Not provided
9	Councils should develop and implement comprehensive ratepayer communication and engagement strategies that include:
	information and reporting on how rating decisions are made, their implications for ratepayers, and the expected outcomes	Accepted	Council has committed to undertake a review of its Rating Strategy during 2014/15. Strategy will be updated in the 2015/16 Budget. In September 2014, Council agreed to follow the steps for developing a revenue and rating strategy as documented in the Local Government Better Practice Guide 2014, Revenue and Rating Strategy. Council has also agreed to implement the recommendations from the 2012/13 VAGO performance audit.	Partially completed	September 2014	March 2015
	the use of a range of communication tools appropriate to the local community	Accepted	During Council's Rating Strategy review Council has agreed to develop a Rating Strategy Review discussion paper, form a Rating Strategy Review focus group to provide feedback on the discussion paper and to undertake a community engagement program to obtain public feedback on the final discussion paper. Other communication tools used by Council include: Updating rating information included in the annual budget document and providing the opportunity for the public to lodge submissions. Council Website: Information on the rating system is updated annually.	Partially completed	September 2014	March 2015
	details of how the effectiveness of their ratepayer engagement and communication activities will be assessed and reported.	Accepted	During Council's Rating Strategy review Council has agreed to develop a Rating Strategy Review discussion paper, form a Rating Strategy Review focus group to provide feedback on the discussion paper and to undertake a community engagement program to obtain public feedback on the final discussion paper.	Partially completed	September 2014	March 2015
City of Boroondara
7	Councils should periodically conduct a comprehensive review of their rating strategies.	Accepted	Rating strategy review conducted in line Ministerial Guidelines and legislation. A revised Rating Strategy to be considered by Council in October 2014.	Partially completed	September 2013	October 2014
8	Councils should comply with the requirements of the Local Government Act 1989 relating to responding to submissions on the rate proposals in their budgets.	Accepted	Council complies with S223 submissions under the Local Government Act. During 2014-15 Budget development 14 submissions were received with 2 submitters addressing Council in support of their written submissions.	No action
9	Councils should develop and implement comprehensive ratepayer communication and engagement strategies that include:
	information and reporting on how rating decisions are made, their implications for ratepayers, and the expected outcomes	Accepted	Council undertakes this action to inform ratepayers and includes such information as calculation of rates based on CIV; effect in changes in property values; ways to minimise waste charges through bin downsizing; Fire Services Levy information; financial hardship contacts and how rates are spent. This occurred as part of the Budget 2014-15 communication action plan.	No action
	the use of a range of communication tools appropriate to the local community	Accepted	Council has adopted the use of a range of communication tools which include the Boroondara website; local press; The Age and where applicable mail to individual ratepayers.	No action
	details of how the effectiveness of their ratepayer engagement and communication activities will be assessed and reported.	Accepted	Council assesses the effectiveness of the communication by the level of questioning by ratepayers. The number of concerns/complaints received by residents is recorded and monitored via our document management system, which in turn is reported to our Executive Management Group.	No action
City of Casey
7	Councils should periodically conduct a comprehensive review of their rating strategies.	Accepted	As part of the Councillors 2013 Induction Program, councillors were taken through the rating Strategy in a confidential briefing in April 2013. Councillors confirmed the existing strategy, in particular, the use of a uniform rate for the reasons given in the Strategy. Council will review the rating Strategy as part of its Council Plan review with the next elected Council.	Completed	April 2013	April 2013
8	Councils should comply with the requirements of the Local Government Act 1989 relating to responding to submissions on the rate proposals in their budgets.	Accepted	All budget submissions are presented to Council, and included in the Council Report when submissions on the draft Budget are considered, prior to adoption of the Budget. Submitters are provided with the opportunity to present on their submission to the Council. A written response is prepared and provided to all Budget submitters (which has always been Casey's practice)	Completed	May 2014	August 2014
9	Councils should develop and implement comprehensive ratepayer communication and engagement strategies that include:
	information and reporting on how rating decisions are made, their implications for ratepayers, and the expected outcomes	Accepted	Prior to the adoption of the draft budget in May, a communications strategy is prepared, which is implemented from May through to the issue of rates notices in September, which focuses on Council's budget imposts, rates increase, capital works program and revaluation, and promotes the opportunities for community consultation.	Completed	May 2014	September 2014
	the use of a range of communication tools appropriate to the local community	Accepted	The communications strategy includes a variety of communications tools including the Citynews magazine, newspaper advertorial, media releases, social media posts and Casey Conversations website.	Completed	May 2014	September 2014
	details of how the effectiveness of their ratepayer engagement and communication activities will be assessed and reported.	Accepted	The communications strategy is informally evaluated through monitoring the general awareness and acceptance within the community of the budget, enquiries/complaints lodged with Customer Service, media reports generated, website and Casey Conversations hits and social media 'likes' and shares	Completed	May 2014	September 2014
City of Greater Dandenong
7	Councils should periodically conduct a comprehensive review of their rating strategies.	Accepted	The City of Greater Dandenong conducts a comprehensive review of its rating strategy every two years. This action was undertaken in May 2014.	Completed	March 2014	May 2014
8	Councils should comply with the requirements of the Local Government Act 1989 relating to responding to submissions on the rate proposals in their budgets.	Accepted	The City of Greater Dandenong has in the past and again placed the Rating Strategy on public exhibition and allowed for submissions to be lodged and heard under Section 223 of the Local Government Act 1989	Completed	May 2014	May 2014
9	Councils should develop and implement comprehensive ratepayer communication and engagement strategies that include:
	information and reporting on how rating decisions are made, their implications for ratepayers, and the expected outcomes	Partially accepted	The City of Greater Dandenong distributed information attached to the 2014/15 rate notice that provided a high level overview of the rates and how they will be applied. Council further advertised its draft rating strategy and placed it on public exhibition and made the strategy available via Councils web site and in hard copy at several locations. Council believes this level of information and engagement is entirely appropriate but has concerns about how much further this recommendation would be taken	Partially completed	August 2014	August 2014
	the use of a range of communication tools appropriate to the local community	Partially accepted	The City of Greater Dandenong has noted the outlets and communication methods used in the draft Rating Strategy above. In addition to these approaches, Council is about to commence an on-line collaboration tool which will develop an on-line community. Councils sees this as an important addition to traditional communication techniques for matters such as this.	Partially completed	August 2014	December 2014
	details of how the effectiveness of their ratepayer engagement and communication activities will be assessed and reported.	Accepted	Council notes its agreement to this recommendation but has at this point not developed any performance framework that would assess the effectiveness of communication activities and how these will be reported. The City of Greater Dandenong believes a standardised framework should be developed that applies equally to all Councils.	No action
City of Greater Geelong
7	Councils should periodically conduct a comprehensive review of their rating strategies.	Accepted	Council review the Rating Strategy on an annual basis as part of the Budget process. The Rating Strategy is adopted by Council annually.	Completed	March 2014	June 2014
8	Councils should comply with the requirements of the Local Government Act 1989 relating to responding to submissions on the rate proposals in their budgets.	Accepted	The Budget and Rating Strategy are open for submissions from the public for 28 days. Each submission is replied to.	Completed	May 2014	June 2014
9	Councils should develop and implement comprehensive ratepayer communication and engagement strategies that include:
	information and reporting on how rating decisions are made, their implications for ratepayers, and the expected outcomes	Accepted	The Budget and Rating Strategy are open to public comment. Further information is provided on the annual rate brochure. Objections can be lodged with Council.	Completed	March 2014	August 2014
	the use of a range of communication tools appropriate to the local community	Accepted	Information is provided in the Budget document and the Rating Strategy. A rates brochure and budget brochure is provided with the annual rate notice issue. Information is provided on Council's website.	Completed	March 2014	August 2014
	details of how the effectiveness of their ratepayer engagement and communication activities will be assessed and reported.	Accepted	The submission panels hears all ratepayer concerns. All written submissions are addressed individually. A marketing and communication strategy is in place.	Completed	May 2014	June 2014
Darebin City Council
7	Councils should periodically conduct a comprehensive review of their rating strategies.	Accepted	As part of the annual budget process, Council considers the draft Rating Strategy and seeks community comment on the Rating Strategy prior to the adoption of the budget.	Completed	December 2013	June 2014
8	Councils should comply with the requirements of the Local Government Act 1989 relating to responding to submissions on the rate proposals in their budgets.	Accepted	Community submissions on the rating strategy are sought along with the budget. To date, no submissions have been received on the Rate Strategy. If submissions were received, then they would be formally presented to Council for consideration and all submitters notified of the Council decision.	Completed	May 2014	June 2014
9	Councils should develop and implement comprehensive ratepayer communication and engagement strategies that include:
	information and reporting on how rating decisions are made, their implications for ratepayers, and the expected outcomes	Accepted	A comprehensive Rating Strategy is provided to the community each year seeking community comment prior to the adoption of the rating strategy.	Completed	April 2014	June 2014
	the use of a range of communication tools appropriate to the local community	Accepted	The Rating Strategy is available in hard copy at Council's Customer Service centres and on the Internet. Two Community information sessions are held in May. These information sessions provide information to the community on the proposed budget and rating strategy for the next year. If a new differential rate is to be introduced or an existing differential rate revised, a letter is sent to ratepayers effected advising them of the opportunity to comment on the proposed differential rate before the new/revised rate is approved by Council Information on the rating strategy is also provided in Darebin Community News (council quarterly newsletter circulated to all properties in Darebin) and in the Leader newspaper in the Mayor's column.	Completed	May 2014	June 2014
	details of how the effectiveness of their ratepayer engagement and communication activities will be assessed and reported.	Accepted	The effectiveness of the ratepayer engagement is measured by the number of calls received at the time ratepayers receive their rate notices. Details are maintained to assess the acceptance of the rates by ratepayers and identify opportunities for improving communication on the how the rates are levied.	Completed	August 2014	September 2014
Greater Shepparton City Council
7	Councils should periodically conduct a comprehensive review of their rating strategies.	Accepted	Greater Shepparton City Council (GSCC) aims to comprehensively review its Rating Strategy at least every 4 years. In August 2013, Council completed a comprehensive review (including the use of a Rating Strategy Reference Group) and adopted a 4 year Rating Strategy 2013-2017. Council's rating strategy is also to be reviewed annually as part of the Budget process.	Completed	July 2012	August 2013

8	Councils should comply with the requirements of the Local Government Act 1989 relating to responding to submissions on the rate proposals in their budgets.	Accepted	As part of its annual budget setting process, GSCC ensures compliance with the Local Government Act in particular the requirement (as per S129(2)) a person has a right to make a submission under S233 on any proposal contained in the budget. Each submitter is given an opportunity to speak to their submission and are provided with a response from Council. Details of and responses to each submission are summarised and included in the Council Meeting minutes which are made available to the public. Note GSCC also conducted a separate public submission process on its 'Rating Strategy 2013-2017 - Discussion Paper' in Mar/Apr 13 inviting the public to make comment. 18 written submissions were received, 4 of those wishing to be heard by Council.	Completed	March 2013	August 2013
9	Councils should develop and implement comprehensive ratepayer communication and engagement strategies that include:
	information and reporting on how rating decisions are made, their implications for ratepayers, and the expected outcomes	Accepted	The GSCC Rating Strategy 2013-2017 provides detailed information on the decisions made, their implications for ratepayers and the expected outcomes. For example, Section 7 of the Rating Strategy 2013-2017 covers Rate Modelling which detailed the changes to differential rates, the implications for ratepayers (including tables showing CIV ranges in each rating differential and the forecast $ and % change). Note also during the public submission process for the Rating Strategy Reference Group Discussion Paper, Council's website contained a 'ready reckoner' so that ratepayers could see the potential impacts of the recommendations. Furthermore, each year GSCC includes in its budget document information that show the expected outcomes for ratepayers through calculations of the impact based on median Capital Improved Values.	Completed	March 2013	August 2013
	the use of a range of communication tools appropriate to the local community	Accepted	GSCC implements a range of communciation tools including budget information sessions, use of website and social media, detailed rates brochures, and letters to ratepayers (eg. Shepparton Show Me contribution). The VAGO report noted that the GSCC website was an example of best practice (along with Dandenong) and also the rates brochure to be the most comprehensive.	Completed	March 2013	August 2013
	details of how the effectiveness of their ratepayer engagement and communication activities will be assessed and reported.	Accepted	During the second half of the 2013/2014 financial year, GSCC experienced turnover in the three key roles of Director Business, Manager Finance and Rates and Rates and Revenue Manager. This had implications for GSCC's ability to investigate and action this recommendation. This item is ties into Recommendation 18 of the Rating Strategy 2013-2017 (currently reported as not completed) "That the Council considers methods and opportunities for the community to better understand the rating system".	No action	January 2015	June 2015
Maribyrnong City Council
7	Councils should periodically conduct a comprehensive review of their rating strategies.	Accepted	Council has conducted three rate system reviews in 2001, 2005 and 2011. Each of these reviews was made up solely of members of the community, they were chaired independently and the data analysis was also conducted independently. At the end of the analysis the group made a presentation to Council On each occasion NAV was recommended as the rating system which best suited Maribyrnong.	Completed	2001	August 2014
8	Councils should comply with the requirements of the Local Government Act 1989 relating to responding to submissions on the rate proposals in their budgets.	Accepted	Council complies with all areas of the Local Government Act. All submissions made by the community are acknowledged and submitters are invited to attend Council and speak in support of their submission at a section 223 meeting. Following the final adoption of the budget submitters are advised of the Council decision and any change as a result of their budget submission. Submissions relating to rates and rating systems rarely occur.	Completed	April 1994	June 2014
9	Councils should develop and implement comprehensive ratepayer communication and engagement strategies that include:
	information and reporting on how rating decisions are made, their implications for ratepayers, and the expected outcomes	Accepted	Council's Annual Budget contain a complete section on rates, including our rating strategy the effect of revaluation and the basis of rating methodology. Information is supplied to Council and Community as a result of the work of the Rate System Review Groups. On each occasion these groups has recommended that the NAV system is the system best suited to the property mix in Maribyrnong.	Completed	June 2011	June 2014
	the use of a range of communication tools appropriate to the local community	Accepted	Council runs community information sessions to coincide with the council plan and annual budget time frames, while these sessions are not specific to rates they do provide an outline as to how rate systems are decided on and how subsequent decisions are made.	Completed	May 2014	June 2014
	details of how the effectiveness of their ratepayer engagement and communication activities will be assessed and reported.	Accepted	These community information sessions in spite of being widely publicised and promoted are in the main poorly attended. This is in spite of Council attempting different approaches. Each year our corporate planning section looks at ways to increase the level of community interaction with these sessions. The assessment is completed by the corporate planning staff.	Completed	August 2014	June 2014
Melton City Council
7	Councils should periodically conduct a comprehensive review of their rating strategies.	Accepted	Rating stratgy reference group created August 2013 made up of ratepayers to review current rating structure.	Completed	August 2013	April 2014
8	Councils should comply with the requirements of the Local Government Act 1989 relating to responding to submissions on the rate proposals in their budgets.	Accepted	All submissions were responded to	Completed	May 2014	June 2014

9	Councils should develop and implement comprehensive ratepayer communication and engagement strategies that include:
	information and reporting on how rating decisions are made, their implications for ratepayers, and the expected outcomes	Accepted	Rating information included in the draft budget	Completed	May 2014	June 2014
	the use of a range of communication tools appropriate to the local community	Accepted	Draft budget communicated through local papers, website and newslettler delivered to residents	Completed	May 2014	June 2014
	details of how the effectiveness of their ratepayer engagement and communication activities will be assessed and reported.	Accepted	Ratepayer feedback is reviewed but not reported on	Completed	June 2014	August 2014
Murrindindi Shire Council
7	Councils should periodically conduct a comprehensive review of their rating strategies.	Accepted	Murrindindi Shire Council undertook a rating strategy review in 2012. An external consultant was engaged by Council to assist in the development of this review. Community consultation was also undertaken to measure community response to some of the options put forward by Council as potential rating strategies. Council is now aiming to finalise this review by the end of 2014.	Partially completed	February 2013	December 2014
8	Councils should comply with the requirements of the Local Government Act 1989 relating to responding to submissions on the rate proposals in their budgets.	Accepted	All budget submissions, whether they relate to rate proposals or not, are responded to in accordance with the Local Government Act 1989.	Completed	February 2013	August 2014
9	Councils should develop and implement comprehensive ratepayer communication and engagement strategies that include:
	information and reporting on how rating decisions are made, their implications for ratepayers, and the expected outcomes	Accepted	Council has undertaken a comprehensive media campaign in 2014 to inform the community of a number of important decisions that need to be made by Council that will effect future rating decisions. This has been through traditional media, social media, direct mail and Council's website. Council acknowledges that this is an ongoing area that requires continual discussion with the community.	Completed	July 2013	August 2014
	the use of a range of communication tools appropriate to the local community	Accepted	As detailed above, Council has utilised print media, radio, social media, direct mail, Council's website and received submissions at Council meetings regarding community engagement relative to rating information and decisions.	Completed	July 2013	August 2014
	details of how the effectiveness of their ratepayer engagement and communication activities will be assessed and reported.	Accepted	The effectiveness of this engagement and future engagement will need to be continually monitored and reported. With the expected completion of Council's rating strategy in December 2014, a broader understanding of community engagement will be reached through the conclusion of this process.	Substantially completed	July 2013	December 2014
Shire of Campaspe
7	Councils should periodically conduct a comprehensive review of their rating strategies.	Accepted	Rating Strategy reviewed through development of 14/15 budget with fuller review having commenced and will be reported to Council in Feb 2015	Substantially completed	August 2014	February 2015
8	Councils should comply with the requirements of the Local Government Act 1989 relating to responding to submissions on the rate proposals in their budgets.	Accepted	Council responded to all budget submissions received	Completed	August 2014	August 2014

9	Councils should develop and implement comprehensive ratepayer communication and engagement strategies that include:
	information and reporting on how rating decisions are made, their implications for ratepayers, and the expected outcomes	Accepted	Council held a budget expo night to engage the community on budget issues. Council is always communicating with community via local papers, website and facebook to engage residents on current issues, budget decisions etc	Completed	March 2014	August 2014
	the use of a range of communication tools appropriate to the local community	Accepted	As above	Completed	February 2014	August 2014
	details of how the effectiveness of their ratepayer engagement and communication activities will be assessed and reported.	Accepted	Council briefings held to review communication strategy in relation to budget which identified opportunites for improvement going forward.	Partially completed	August 2014	December 2014

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Appendix J. Audit Act 1994 section 16—submissions and comments

Introduction

In accordance with section 16(3) of the Audit Act 1994, a copy of this report, or part of this report, was provided to all agencies and departments—see Appendix A for the list.

The submissions and comments provided are not subject to audit nor the evidentiary standards required to reach an audit conclusion. Responsibility for the accuracy, fairness and balance of those comments rests solely with the agency head.

Responses were received as follows:

Department of Health & Human Services
Greater Shepparton City Council
Department of Justice & Regulation.

RESPONSE provided by the Secretary, Department of Health & Human Services

Response provided by the Secretary, Department of Health & Human Services.

RESPONSE provided by the Chief Executive Officer, Greater Shepparton City Council

Response provided by the Chief Executive Officer, Greater Shepparton City Council.

RESPONSE provided by the Secretary, Department of Justice & Regulation

Response provided by the Secretary, Department of Justice & Regulation.

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