CHAPTER 4 | Management and accountability

Corporate governance

Senior executive and responsibilities | Corporate planning and review | Management committees | Corporate governance practices | Commonwealth Disability Strategy | Environmental matters

Senior executive and responsibilities

The Governor-General re-appointed the Commonwealth Ombudsman, Prof. John McMillan, to a second five-year term in March 2008. Mr Ron Brent, Deputy Ombudsman, was also re-appointed to a second five-year term in June 2008. Dr Vivienne Thom was appointed as Deputy Ombudsman in March 2006 for a five-year term.

The remuneration for the Ombudsman and Deputy Ombudsmen is determined in accordance with a ruling by the Remuneration Tribunal. Note 10 in the financial statements details executiveremuneration.

The office’s Executive team comprises the Ombudsman and two Deputy Ombudsmen. The Executive and six Senior Assistant Ombudsmen comprise the senior management team.

At 30June2008, the office’s senior management team and their areas of responsibility are:

Mr RonBrent, Deputy Ombudsman—main areas of responsibility:

• Child Support Agency, International, Postal and State Offices—MrAdam Stankevicius, Senior Assistant Ombudsman
  • specialised advice and complaint handling relating to the Child Support Agency
  • management of the office’s International Program and related AusAID projects
  • specialised advice and complaint handling relating to Australia Post and registered postal operators of the Postal Industry Ombudsman scheme
  • management and oversight of our state offices (Adelaide, Brisbane, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney) which handle complaints and undertake some specialist work.
• Corporate and Chief Finance Officer—MsJill Jepson, Senior Assistant Ombudsman
  • corporate services comprising finance, human resources, records management and governance
  • information technology and communications infrastructure
  • public affairs and outreach, including management of the office’s intranet and internet sites
  • work practices and procedures, and business improvement.
• Indigenous, Legal and Social Support—MsHelen Fleming, Senior Assistant Ombudsman
  • the office’s Indigenous Unit, with staff located in Alice Springs, Canberra and Darwin, specialising in issues involving Indigenous people
  • in-house legal advice and policy service to support staff in performing their functions
  • specialised advice and complaint handling relating to the Department of Human Services (including Centrelink) and relevant policy departments.

DrVivienne Thom, Deputy Ombudsman—main areas of responsibility:

• ACT, Defence and Public Contact—MsAnna Clendinning, Senior Assistant Ombudsman
  • complaint handling relating to the ACT Ombudsman function
  • specialised advice and complaint handling relating to the Australian Defence Force, the Department of Defence, Defence Housing Australia and the Department of Veterans’ Affairs
  • Public Contact Team, which provides a national point of contact for all approaches to the office made by telephone, email or online.
• Immigration—MrGeorge Masri, Senior Assistant Ombudsman
  • specialised advice and complaint handling relating to the Department of Immigration and Citizenship
  • reviewing the cases of detainees who have been held in immigration detention for two years or more.
• Inspections, Law Enforcement and Taxation—Ms Diane Merryfull, Senior Assistant Ombudsman
  • inspecting the records of law enforcement agencies for statutory compliance, adequacy, and comprehensiveness
  • complaint handling and investigating law enforcement activities relating to Australian Government law enforcement agencies
  • specialised advice and complaint handling relating to the Australian Taxation Office.

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Corporate planning and review

During the year, the office’s Strategic Plan was reviewed to build on achievements over the past three years and to reflect priorities for the period 2008 to 2011. Strategic priorities identified for 2008–09 are to:

• target outreach, relevant publications and communication activities to key stakeholders, particularly through intermediaries
• be responsive to areas of changing need in allocating resources
• build on the work practice and system changes to deliver improved timeliness, efficiency and effectiveness in managing complaints
• improve quality assurance and consistency in complaint handling
• improve staff training and development programs.

The office’s Strategic Plan informs its internal business plans, which are prepared on an annual basis. There are clear links between the objectives and the key measures of success of the Strategic Plan and the key result areas set in the business plans for all teams and in individual performance agreements for all staff members. As a result, performance agreements are closely linked to business plans.

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Management committees

Management committees are set up to assist the Executive with decision making inkey areas. The committees make recommendations to the Executive, whichmeets on a weekly basis.

Senior management

The Senior Assistant Ombudsmen, or their representatives, meet fortnightly with the Executive to discuss a broad range of issues relating to the work of the office.

Information Management Committee

In September 2007 the office created an Information Management Committee. The committee has an oversight function to ensure that the development of information technology, work practices and governance strategies align with a whole-of-office approach to information management. The Committee is chaired by a Deputy Ombudsman and has representatives from relevant areas in the office, including the specialist investigation areas.

The committee has been active in guiding the coordination of a range of activities to support current and future office needs. The primary focus of the committee is to build on our existing information management framework to deliver more effective and efficient complaint handling, to improve service delivery over the internet, and to improve electronic records management. The committee met seven times during theyear.

The office’s Work Practices Steering Committee and Information Technology Steering Committee have been subsumedinto the Information ManagementCommittee.

Internal Audit Committee

As required by the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997 (Cth), the office has an Internal Audit Committee. The committee met four times during the year. The committee’s role is to review, monitor and where necessary recommend improvements to internal control, financial reporting, internal audit functions, external audit processes, and the office process for monitoring compliance with legislation and government policy directives.

At 30June 2008 the membership of the committee comprised DrVivienne Thom, Deputy Ombudsman (Chair), MsHelen Fleming, Senior Assistant Ombudsman, MsAnna Clendinning, Senior Assistant Ombudsman, and MrJoe D’Angelo, ChiefFinance and Information Officer, Department of the Senate (independent external member). Representatives from theAustralian National Audit Office (ANAO) attend committee meetings as observers, and the office’s internal auditors, WalterTurnbull, and the Chief Finance Officer,attend meetings to report on particular matters.

During 2007–08 three internal audits were conducted by WalterTurnbull—information technology service delivery, contract management and records management. We are implementing the recommendations from the audits.

Occupational Health and SafetyCommittee

The office’s Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S) Committee is made up of elected representatives from each state office and chaired by the Human Resources Manager who represents management. The committee met twice during the year. Moredetail on OH&S is provided later in thischapter.

Workplace Relations Committee

A Deputy Ombudsman chairs the Workplace Relations Committee. It consists of employee, management and union representatives, and is the main consultative body on workplace conditions within the office. The committee met eight times during the year, and considered matters such as staff survey action items, recruitment and selection guidelines, learning and development, collective agreement negotiations, accommodation and environmental management.

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Corporate governance practices

Risk management

The office’s risk management activities are oversighted by the Internal Audit Committee, and have been incorporated into the Ombudsman’s planning and operations and the management of contractors. During the year the office updated its risk management framework and engaged WalterTurnbull to prepare a strategic risk management plan.

The office’s risk management strategies include:

• applying risk management strategies across the office in a systematic, consistent and effective manner
• identifying and managing all high and significant risk exposures
• integrating risk management practices with other existing processes such as business improvement.

The office participated in the annual Comcover Risk Management Benchmarking Survey and we are identifying areas for improvement.

Business continuity planning

We finalised our Business Continuity Plan during the year. The plan utilises the strengths of a national office structure to respond to a potential outage in one or more of the office’s nine sites.

The plan was tested in February 2008. The test highlighted the need for further work, after which we developed an implementation strategy. The plan documents a roll out of the communication strategy to all staff and a ‘real time’ test of the plan.

Fraud prevention and control

We regularly review our fraud control plan and fraud risk assessment. The office has prepared fraud risk assessments and fraud control plans, and has in place appropriate fraud prevention, detection, investigation, reporting and data collection procedures and processes that meet the specific needs of the office and comply with the Commonwealth Fraud Control Guidelines issued in May 2002. The risk of fraud remains low for the office.

The Audit Committee oversees the implementation of the fraud control plan.

Ethical standards

The Commonwealth Ombudsman Certified Agreement 2005–2008 includes the Australian Public Service Values, as specifiedin s10 of the Public Service Act 1999 (Cth) (Public Service Act), and the values adopted by the Commonwealth Ombudsman’s office in its Strategic Plan 2008–2011. These standards will also underpin the collective agreement currently being negotiated with staff and the Community and Public Sector Union.

The importance of the values is outlined in induction documentation and training for staff, and in internal documents including the Workplace Diversity Framework and Plan, the Harassment Prevention Policy and the Work Practice Manual. It is reinforced on a continuous basis through mechanisms such as quality assurance processes and dealing with complaints about service delivery. We also gauge external perceptions of our ethicalstandards through major surveys, such as the agency survey and client survey described in Chapter 5.

The key values of the Commonwealth Ombudsman’s office are independence, impartiality, integrity, accessibility, professionalism and teamwork.

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Commonwealth Disability Strategy

The office is committed to the Commonwealth Disability Strategy to ensure equality of access to the services of the Commonwealth Ombudsman for people with disabilities and to eliminate discriminatory practices by staff. We endeavour to meet our obligations under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth) through implementation of the Commonwealth Disability Strategy, the Ombudsman’s Disability Action Plan 2005–2008 and the Workplace Diversity Framework and Plan 2007–2009.

The office’s operations encompass the activities of regulator, service provider and employer. The office’s employer role activities are reported through the Australian Public Service Commission’s State of the Service agency survey.

Regulator

The Ombudsman does not directly enforce the disability discrimination legislation, but provides a complaint resolution service about Australian Government administrative actions. This assists in meeting the objectives of the Commonwealth Disability Strategy. This can include recommendations on enforcement of legislative obligations that apply to Australian Government agencies. Recommendations and remedies arising from some complaint investigations may also be particularly relevant to people with a disability. The own motion investigation report Implementation of job capacity assessments for the purposes of Welfare to Work initiatives (Report No 5/2008) is one such example.

The Ombudsman seeks to promote awareness of services in all areas of the Australian community, and provides an online complaint lodgement facility on the office’s website. Ombudsman staff liaise regularly with community organisations to promote awareness of the Ombudsman’s services.

Provider

The Ombudsman has an established internal complaint and review process, which allows complaints about the office’s decisions and service quality to be resolved quickly, fairly and informally. The office’s complaints and grievances mechanism is set out in our Service Charter. We seek to promote awareness of the office’s role and service in all areas of the Australian community.

In developing and maintaining the Ombudsman’s website, we use the priority 1 and 2 checkpoints of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 as our benchmark. Activities to ensure compliance include testing colour contrast for the vision impaired, limiting the use of graphics, simplifying navigation and providing a site map, separating document formatting from content with style sheets, providing text equivalents for non-text elements, and improving metadata.

Environmental matters

The Ombudsman is required to report on certain environmental matters under s516A(5)(a) of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth), detailing the office’s environmental performance and its contribution to ecologically sustainable development.

The Ombudsman continued to encourage staff to manage all resources, including energy, prudently and in an ecologically responsible manner. During 2007–08 we conducted an energy audit of all electrical equipment and the air conditioning system in our Canberra office.

The office’s Environmental Management Policy and information material focus on the conservation of energy, including the use of light, computer equipment, water management, transport management and organic recycling. The office recycles toner/printer cartridges, paper and cardboard products, classified waste and cans, bottles and plastic. These strategies are communicated through the Workplace Relations Committee, the office intranet, and induction program. We are also introducing an electronic records management system, with one objective being to help reduce paper usage.

The Ombudsman office’s estimated energy consumption per person per year decreased by 3% from 2005–06 to 2006–07, and in 2006–07 was below the government’s target for 2011–12. Data for 2007–08 was not available at the time of preparation of this report. It should be noted that all our offices in the states and territories are shared with other tenants and, in the case of the largest location of staff in Canberra, in an aged office building. We are looking at ways we can improve our environmental reporting infuture.

CHAPTER 4Management and accountability

External scrutiny

Privacy legislation

The Ombudsman’s office is subject to the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act). The office takes seriously its obligations in obtaining, holding, using and disclosing the personal information of complainants and others.

The Ombudsman provided information to the Privacy Commissioner for inclusion in the Personal Information Digest. The Commissioner did not issue any reports about the actions or practices of the office under s 30 of the Privacy Act in 2007–08. The Commissioner concluded an investigation into the actions of the Ombudsman’s office, finding there had been no breach of privacy as had been alleged by the complainant.

Substantial parts of our submission to the Australian Law Reform Commission review of privacy legislation were broadly reflected in the Commission’s discussion paper.

Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission

The Ombudsman’s office is subject to the jurisdiction of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission.

The Commission completed its investigation of a complaint it had received about a decision of the Ombudsman’s office not to accept telephone calls from a complainant for a period. This is a step the office sometimes takes to deal with callers who are unreasonably persistent or insulting in their contact with the office. The Commission did not criticise the Ombudsman’s office and the office’s restriction on such contact has expired.

Litigation and legal issues

In 2007–08 the Ombudsman’s office was the respondent in three matters brought to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) by complainants who had made requests under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) (FOI Act). At the end of the reporting period, one application had been dismissed for want of jurisdiction and another had been heard but was awaiting further submissions by the applicant. The third matter was scheduled to be heard in August 2008.

In Zoia v Commonwealth Ombudsman Department [2007] FCAFC 143, the Full Federal Court dismissed an appeal from the Federal Court (in Zoia v Commonwealth Ombudsman [2007] FCA 245). The Court had affirmed a decision of the AAT to dismiss and not reinstate an application because the applicant failed to attend hearings scheduled by the AAT.

In December 2007 the High Court refused leave or special leave in a number of applications arising from a federal prisoner’s custody by state authorities. One of the applications concerned a decision of the Ombudsman’s office to decline to investigate following a complaint about the way in which state prison authorities managed the custody of a person who was, at times, a federal prisoner.

Section 35 of the Ombudsman Act provides that the office is not compellable to provide, to a court or tribunal, information or documents obtained by the office in discharging its functions. We customarily rely on that statutory non-compellability when required by subpoena or discovery to produce information for the purposes of a legal proceeding to which we are not a party. The office would be more likely to provide evidence in a matter about a serious and credible threat against life or public safety.

Reports by the Auditor-General and parliamentary committee inquiries

There were no reports specific to the operation of the Ombudsman’s office by the Auditor-General or by parliamentary committees. The Audit Committee examines all reports by the Auditor-General that may be relevant to the office (for example, 2007–08 Audit Report No 37 Management of Credit Cards) to identify any opportunities for improvements in office procedures.

CHAPTER 4Management and accountability

People Management

People Management menu: Workplace relations | Staffing profile | Career development and training | Occupational health and safety

During 2007–08 the Ombudsman’s office managed its employees in accordance with the conditions of our Certified Agreement 2005–2008 and a number of Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs), as well as within our obligations under the Public Service Act.

We developed, reviewed and promoted human resources policies and guidelines to reflect responses from the 2007 staff survey and changes in office procedures and practices. In particular, we focused on:

• the learning and development framework to improve organisational performance and build expertise and capability to meet current and future challenges
• recruitment and selection guidelines to provide flexibility with increased internal opportunities and to streamline recruitment processes to achieve more efficient and effective outcomes
• working from home guidelines to provide the right balance between work and personal life
• use and disclosure of personal information to ensure that workplace principles are embedded in our office culture
• harassment and bullying to further embed the office policy of zero tolerance.

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Workplace relations

The Certified Agreement 2005–2008 focuses on people, remuneration and employment arrangements, working environment and lifestyle, further streamlining of personnel practices and processes, and performance management and improvement to underpin salary increases. A total of 143 employees were covered under the office’s Certified Agreement. Two staff were employed on AWAs with conditions closely aligned to the Certified Agreement. Conditions are provided for Senior Executive Service (SES) staff under AWAs.

The Certified Agreement does not make provision for performance pay. Salary advancement through pay points within each classification is linked to performance, in accordance with the policy parameters for agreement making in the Australian Public Service. The non-SES AWAs do not provide for performance-based pay. SES AWAs provide for annual salary advancement within the range based on performance, and do not make provision for performance pay. Non-salary benefits are not offered to employees.

The office’s Workplace Relations Committee continues to provide a forum for discussion of issues surrounding implementation and operation of the agreement. It also provides the consultative, advisory and information-sharing mechanism between management and employees on matters affecting employment conditions in the office.

A new collective agreement is due to be negotiated and implemented before October 2008, when the current Certified Agreement expires.

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Staffing profile

As at 30 June 2008, the actual number of employees was 165, including the Ombudsman and two Deputy Ombudsmen. The number of full-time employees was 141 and 24 employees were part-time (15% of employees). All the staff employed on a part-time basis were ongoing employees.

During the year, 44 employees were engaged on an ongoing basis and 37 ongoing employees left the office, giving a turnover rate of 22% (compared to 19% in the previous year). Given the nature of the office’s work, the completion of some major 2007–08 budgeted priorities and the restructuring of some specialist functions, the turnover is not disproportionate for this financial year.

Table 4.1 shows the numbers of employees, by gender and APS classification and salary range. Four employees on long-term leave without pay under the Prime Minister’s Directions 1999 are not included. Table 4.2 shows the office’s staffing profile by location.

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Career development and training

In response to the 2007 staff survey, the office’s focus this year has been on learning and development. Our program centres on a performance management process which is designed to establish the needs of staff in relation to their corporate and core business training and development.

Our learning and development framework is based on three elements—leadership, corporate and core business programs. We have shifted our focus to tailored training in-house to help improve the consistency and effectiveness of business activities. Eight core modules have been developed, and work on other modules is underway.

During the year particular attention was paid to leadership, relationship management, written communication, investigations and governance.

Key areas of learning and staff development delivered by the office included:

• leadership skills
• relationship management
• performance management
• recruitment and selection processes
• administrative law
• fraud, risk and financial management
• dealing with difficult complainants
• on-the-job investigation training
• written communication
• harassment and bullying awareness.

Staff representatives delivered a variety of information technology, financial and investigation workshops across all offices. This proved to be of great value with an increase in consistency in the use of the office’s complaint management system, financial framework and recordkeeping compliance.

The office contributes to the development of its staff by supporting staff attendance at courses, seminars and conferences identified in their personal development plans. We recognised and put in place other development opportunities, through job rotation, special project work, higher duties, placements with other agencies and representation on work committees. These programs have been well received with many staff taking up the opportunities to further develop their skills.

The office also supports staff who undertake relevant study at tertiary institutions. We offer staff assistance through study leave and/or financial assistance.

TABLE 4.1 Staffing profile by level, gender and salary range at 30 June 2008 (at 30 June 2007)

Note: under the Certified Agreement, officers moving to the office from a higher salary range may be maintained at that salary until increments in the Ombudsman office salary range exceed the salary differential.

TABLE 4.2 Staffing profile by location at 30 June 2008

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Occupational health and safety

Health and safety management arrangements are set out in the office’s Occupational Health and Safety Guidelines, agreed between the Ombudsman and staff representatives. The Ombudsman also reports against the targets set out in the Occupational Health and Safety and Rehabilitation Performance Improvement Targets for Commonwealth Premium Paying Employees (2002—2012) strategy.

During the year there were no accidents or injuries reportable under s 68 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act 1991 (Cth) (OH&S Act) and there were no investigations conducted within the office under sections 29, 46 or 47 of the OH&S Act.

All new employees are advised of the importance and responsibilities of both staff and management for health and safety in the workplace during their induction. New employees are provided with a workplace assessment in the first week of commencement and familiarisation with their physical work environment.

Occupational health and safety committee and representatives

A health and safety representative is located at each office site. The representatives manage OH&S matters either through the OH&S Committee that meets twice a year, regular staff meetings or by seeking assistance from the OH&S officer. Two health and safety representative vacancies were filled in accordance with the office’s OH&S Agreement.

Health and safety measures

During 2007–08 the office:

• met obligations for Comcare premiums—there was a significant reduction in the premium, reflecting in part the continuing success of our approach to OH&S
• managed compensation cases in accordance with approved guidelines
• arranged health assessments where necessary
• conducted individual workplace assessments
• facilitated eye examinations where necessary
• made first aid facilities and supplies available, and provided first aid training to First Aid Officers (refresher and senior first aid for new officers)
• provided OH&S training of representatives
• provided harassment and bullying prevention workshops
• conducted regular simulated emergency evacuations
• conducted two health and safety inspections
• targeted individual health awareness through health management initiatives such as providing flu shots to employees free of charge and disseminating a quarterly bulletin raising awareness on specific OH&S issues
• implemented a national Health Month that comprised a diverse range of health and wellbeing activities and information sessions
• introduced fortnightly reporting to the office Executive on absence management.

To promote a supportive working environment, the office provides staff with access to an employee assistance program that provides a confidential counselling service, facilitation of teamwork issues, career advice and the management of any work-related or personal issue.

These measures contribute to the maintenance of the very low rate of accidents and compensable injuries in the workplace. While our workers compensation record is good, we are concerned that unplanned leave rates are higher than public service norms. We are looking at this issue carefully to ensure we understand the causes and are responsive to staff health and welfare needs.

CHAPTER 4Management and accountability

Financial management

Financial performance

Revenue received from ordinary activities was $19.394 million in 2007–08. The office received $17.881 million in appropriation revenue, amounting to $0.302 million more than received in 2006–07. The office received $0.349 million in 2007–08, including $0.149 million in capital funding, to provide services both to Indigenous communities and other people who may wish to make complaints about the actions of Northern Territory Emergency Response (NTER) agencies, and to NTER agencies to assist them to develop better complaint-handling procedures.

Total expenses for the office were $20.072 million resulting in a deficit in 2007–08 of $0.657 million, primarily due to the delay in implementing new initiatives in 2006–07 and the increased activity related to the NTER.

The office requested and received approval to budget for an operating loss in 2007–08 of $0.500 million. The underlying reason for the budgeted loss was due to a timing difference. We received funding for immigration, Welfare to Work and law enforcement measures in the 2005–06 and 2006–07 Additional Estimates. The tight labour market meant there were delays in recruitment for this work. In addition, in August 2007 the office received funding to handle complaints arising from the NTER. The funding received did not anticipate the level of complaint activity. The office redirected its internal resources to handle the large numbers of complaints arising from this initiative.

Table 4.3 shows the resources for Ombudsman office outcomes for 2007–08 and the budget for 2008–09. The office has no administered expenses. Average staffing level in 2007–08 was 151, and the budgeted average staffing level for 2008–09 is 137.

TABLE 4.3 Resources for Ombudsman office outcomes, 2007–08

Financial position

The office’s total equity—that is, sum of the office’s assets less its liabilities—has decreased by $0.588 million due mainly to the deficit and a revaluation of assets.

The office’s total assets decreased to $7.177 million in 2007–08 from $7.611 million in 2006–07. The decreases arose primarily out of a decrease in non-financial assets, due to delays in capital acquisition.

The Ombudsman’s office is a small office with a standard suite of assets, such as information technology items, which require no special management measures beyond those which are standard in an accrual-based budgeting framework. The office’s assets by category at 30 June 2008 are:

• receivables (amounts due to be paid to the office—72% of total assets)
• infrastructure, plant and equipment (20%)
• intangibles (non-physical assets such as software—4%)
• other non-financial assets (relating to prepayments—2%)
• cash (2%).

The Balance Sheet shows cash holdings of $0.160 million ($0.059 million in 2006–07). The office’s appropriation receivable increased by $0.141 million, from $4.691 million in 2006–07 to $4.832 million in 2007–08. The office’s non-financial assets decreased to $1.873 million in 2007–08 ($2.459 million in 2006–07), primarily due to a delay in purchasing assets.

Total liabilities increased by $0.154 million to $4.693 million in 2007–08 ($4.539 million in 2006–07). The change in liabilities was primarily due to an increase in employee provisions.

Purchasing

The Ombudsman’s office is committed to achieving the best value for money in its procurement practices. Purchasing practices and procedures are consistent with the Commonwealth Procurement Guidelines and are set out in the Ombudsman’s Chief Executive Instructions.

The office published the Annual Procurement Plan on the AusTender website (as required under the Commonwealth Procurement Guidelines) to facilitate early procurement planning and draw businesses’ attention to our planned procurement for the 2008–09 financial year. Information on expenditure on contracts and consultancies is also available on the AusTender website www.tenders.gov.au.

Consulting services

The office engages consultants when the expertise required is not available within the organisation, or when the specialised skills required are not available without diverting resources from other higher priority tasks. In accordance with procurement guidelines, consultants are selected by open tender, panel arrangements, select tendering or direct sourcing. The main categories of contracts relate to information technology, financial services, human resources services, governance and legal advice.

During 2007–08 the office entered into four new consultancy contracts involving total actual expenditure of $121,990. In addition, four ongoing consultancy contracts were active during 2007–08, involving total actual expenditure of $126,688. See Appendix 4 for details of new consultancy contracts.

Table 4.4 shows expenditure on consultancy contracts over the three most recent financial years.

Contractual provisions allowing access by the Auditor-General

The office’s standard contract templates include an ANAO audit clause. All contracts signed in the reporting period of $100,000 or more (including GST) provided for the Auditor-General to have access to the contractor’s premises.

TABLE 4.4 Expenditure on consultancy contracts, 2005–06 to 2007–08

Contracts exempt from AusTender

No office contracts or standing offers that cost more than $10,000 (including GST) were exempted by the Ombudsman from being published in AusTender.

CHAPTER 4Management and accountability

Information technology

We continued to improve the office’s use and management of information technology to support the performance of its functions. In 2007–08 we commenced a whole-of-office strategic approach to information management. Mindful of the increasing reliance on information technology for both internal purposes and as a form of communication with the public, the office recognises the need for efficient and effective delivery of services for all stakeholders.

To this end the office established an Information Management Committee designed to oversee the management of information within the office. The committee endorsed a strategic plan to meet the office’s future needs.

The committee also directed a number of projects including the consolidation of operating systems, the rollout to Microsoft Exchange, the commencement of an electronic records management system project, and the establishment of a business improvement team to review business practices within the office.

In 2008–09 we will continue to work on:

• implementing an electronic records management system
• improving information technology workflow and change management procedures
• replacing redundant hardware in a planned and measured fashion
• enhancing interoperability with other agencies
• improving internet service delivery.