Chapter 4 | Management and accountability

Corporate governance

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 11 in the Financial Statements details executive remuneration.

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 30 June 2009, the office's senior management team and their areas of responsibility were:

Mr Ron Brent, Deputy Ombudsman—main areas of responsibility:

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

Dr Vivienne Thom, Deputy Ombudsman—main areas of responsibility:

• ACT, Defence and Public Contact—Ms Anna 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 and Legal—Ms Helen Fleming, 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 six months or more
• in–house legal advice and policy service to support staff in performing their functions.
• Law Enforcement, Inspections and Taxation—Ms Diane Merryfull, Senior Assistant Ombudsman
• complaint handling and investigating law enforcement activities relating to Australian Government law enforcement agencies
• inspecting the records of enforcement agencies for statutory compliance, adequacy, and comprehensiveness
• specialised advice and complaint handling relating to the Australian Taxation Office.

Corporate planning and review

The office's Strategic Plan 2008—2011 sets out the office's direction for that period. Each year the Ombudsman and Deputy Ombudsmen review the plan and establish the priorities for the next year. Our strategic priorities for 2009–10 are to:

• target outreach, relevant publications and communication activities to key stakeholders, particularly in regional Australia
• identify, through individual complaint investigation, problem areas in public administration that occur across government
• be responsive to areas of changing need in allocating resources
• implement a new electronic records management system to improve recordkeeping, consolidate new quality assurance and utilise the growing data the new system is delivering to improve the quality of our complaint handling
• further develop staff training and development programs
• enhance services over the internet, including improved opportunities to lodge complaints via the web.

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.

This year a more formal reporting framework has been developed to ensure there is rigour in the quality and quantity of data provided to the office's Executive. The Executive considers reports on finance, human resources, operations and information technology on a monthly basis. Business statistics are also available to all staff on an ongoing basis and are available electronically.

Management committees

Management committees are set up to assist the Executive with decision making in key areas. The committees make recommendations to the Executive, which meets weekly.

Senior Management

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

Information Management Committee

The Information Management Committee ensures that the development of information technology, work practices and governance strategies align with a whole–of–office approach to information management. The committee meets monthly. It is chaired by a Deputy Ombudsman and has representatives from relevant areas in the office, including the specialist investigation areas.

Internal Audit Committee

As required by the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997, 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 processes for monitoring compliance with legislation and government policy directives.

At 30 June 2009 the members of the committee were Dr Vivienne Thom, Deputy Ombudsman (Chair); Ms Helen Fleming, Senior Assistant Ombudsman; Ms Anna Clendinning, Senior Assistant Ombudsman; and Mr Joe D'Angelo, Chief Finance and Information Officer, Department of the Senate (independent external member). Representatives from the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO), the office's internal auditors, WalterTurnbull, and the Chief Finance Officer attend committee meetings as observers.

During 2008–09 WalterTurnbull conducted three internal audits—review of internal accounting controls, audit of payroll and review of security practices. We are implementing the recommendations from the audits and consider progress against each action item at each Internal Audit Committee meeting.

Occupational Health and Safety Committee

The office's Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S) Committee is made up of elected representatives from each state and territory office and chaired by the Assistant Manager, Human Resources who represents management. The committee met twice during the year.

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 twice during the year and considered matters such as staff survey action items, recruitment and selection guidelines, learning and development, accommodation and environmental management.

Corporate governance practices

Risk management

The office's risk management activities are overseen by the Internal Audit Committee. In 2007–08 the office updated its risk management framework in accordance with the standard AS/NZS 4360 Risk Management. In 2008–09 we engaged an external consultant to review and update our Strategic Business Assessment and Risk Management Plan. The risk assessment was comprehensive and identified six key risks for the office. Each risk was rated in accordance with the office's risk matrix. The analysis set out recommended management actions to mitigate the identified risks. We report on these management actions at each Internal Audit Committee meeting.

The office's risk management strategies include:

• embedding 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
• incorporating assessment of risk within the quarterly business reporting framework.

All staff responsible for risk management within the office regularly attend related learning and development opportunities.

The office continues to participate in the annual Comcover Risk Management Benchmarking Survey, and we have noted a measurable improvement in our risk rating since last year, reflecting the effort we have put into this area. The office has moved from being below the average for small agencies on Comcover's overall performance rating to above the average (from 4.4 in 2008 to 5.2 in 2009, compared to 5.0 as the small agency average for both years). The key result area we need to address is in risk monitoring and review, and we will pay particular attention to this in 2009–10.

Business continuity planning

The purpose of our Business Continuity Plan is to ensure that the most critical work of the office can continue with minimal disruption, or be quickly resumed, in the event of a disaster. We revised the plan during the year. The plan utilises the strengths of a national office structure to respond to a potential problem with one or more of the office's nine sites. This was tested during the year when our public contact activities were twice transferred temporarily to other sites.

We scenario-tested the plan in April 2009. The test highlighted the need to update a number of documents and points of weakness in our information technology infrastructure. We revised the plan to address the gaps identified.

Fraud prevention and control

During 2008–09 the office reviewed and updated its fraud control plan and fraud risk assessment. The risk of fraud remains low for the office. The Internal Audit Committee oversees the implementation of the fraud control plan.

Ethical standards

The office upholds the Australian Public Service values, as specified in s 10 of the Public Service Act 1999. The key values of the Commonwealth Ombudsman's office are independence, impartiality, integrity, accessibility, professionalism and teamwork. Our values are documented in the office's Strategic Plan 2008–2011 and are incorporated in the Commonwealth Ombudsman Collective Agreement 2008–2010.

The importance of the values is outlined in induction documentation and training for staff, and in internal documents including the Harassment Prevention Policy and the Work Practice Manual. It is reinforced on a continuous basis through mechanisms such as our internal quality assurance processes, staff training and dealing with complaints about service delivery. We also gauge internal perceptions of our ethical standards through major surveys, such as the staff survey conducted in March 2009, and engagement with the Australian Public Service Ethics Contact Officer Network, which commenced in May 2009.

Complaint management

The office 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. We evaluated our practices against our Better Practice Guide to Complaint Handling and this led to a number of steps to improve the way we accept and monitor complaints about the office's service delivery. The office's complaints and grievances mechanism is set out in our service charter and detailed reporting is provided in Chapter 3—Performance report.

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 are committed to meeting our obligations under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 through implementation of the Commonwealth Disability Strategy, the Commonwealth Ombudsman's Disability Action Plan 2005–2008 and the Workplace Diversity Framework and Plan 2007–2009. While our Disability Action Plan formally covered the period to 2008, we continue to use this plan and the principles it contains. We will revise the plan when the review of the Commonwealth Disability Strategy by the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs is completed.

The office's operations encompass the activities of regulator, service provider and employer. Employer activities are reported by the Australian Public Service Commission.

Regulator

The Commonwealth 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 Assessment of claims for disability support pension from people with acute or terminal illness: an examination of social security law and practice (Report No. 2/2009), published in March 2009, 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.

Service provider

In developing and maintaining our website, we have used 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. We have started redeveloping our website to further improve accessibility by all members of the public.

Environmental matters

The Ombudsman is required to report on certain environmental matters under s 516A(5)(a) of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act), 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. The office's Environmental Management Policy focuses on the conservation of energy within the workplace, including the use of light, computer equipment, water management, transport management and recycling. The office recycles toner/printer cartridges, paper and cardboard products, classified waste, cans, bottles and plastic. These strategies are communicated to staff through the Workplace Relations Committee, the office intranet, and induction program. We are also introducing an electronic records management system, which will help to reduce paper usage.

The Ombudsman office's estimated energy consumption per person per year decreased by 9% from 2006–07 to 2007–08. This followed a decrease of 3% in the previous year. Data for 2008–09 was not available at the time of preparation of this report.

All our offices are shared with other tenants. When an office needs to move location, one factor we try to take into account in selecting a new location is the environmental credentials of alternative locations. During 2008–09 we were fortunate to be able to move our Brisbane office to a new office that has achieved a four star Green Star office rating. The building has a high performance façade with excellent shading and glazing characteristics to increase internal space energy efficiency. Other features include a capacity for grey–water re–use and irrigation, onsite storm water filtration and re–use for flushing toilets, and a high use of recycled concrete and steel in its construction.

As part of our core complaint–handling activities, we may also investigate matters that relate specifically to the EPBC Act. For example, in June 2009 the Ombudsman released the report Delays in preparation of Heritage Strategies by Australian Government agencies: Implementation of section 341ZA of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Report No. 9/2009). Among other things, the report noted that few Australian Government agencies were aware of their obligation to prepare a heritage strategy for managing places they own or control, in accordance with s 341ZA of the EPBC Act. The Ombudsman recommended that the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts write to all departments, alerting them to the obligation under s 341ZA resting on all agencies within their portfolio. He made a number of other recommendations to assist relevant agencies to comply with the Act.

External scrutiny

Privacy legislation

The office is subject to the Privacy Act 1988 and we comply strictly with our responsibilities under that Act. We provide information required for the Personal Information Digest. The Privacy Commissioner did not issue any report or make any adverse comment about the office during 2008–09.

The office participated in the survey conducted by the office of the Privacy Commissioner on portable storage devices and personal information handling in March 2009. A public sector information sheet was developed following the survey, which the office has used to review and update our policies and procedures that apply to the secure use and transfer of information.

Australian Human Rights Commission

The office was not subject to any investigation or report by the Australian Human Rights Commission in 2008–09. The office recognises and respects human rights and anti–discrimination values in all aspects of its work.

Litigation and legal issues

The office was the respondent in two matters brought in the Federal Magistrates Court by the same applicant. One matter was dismissed and the other matter had not been decided by the end of 2008–09.

The office was the respondent in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal in five matters. In the four matters decided by the end of 2008–09, the Tribunal considered it had no jurisdiction to hear two matters, one application was dismissed, and in the other matter the Tribunal determined that additional parts of a document should be released to a person under the Freedom of Information Act 1982.

The Ombudsman and staff enjoy a qualified immunity from suit in relation to things done in good faith in the course of their work. They are not compellable to disclose in proceedings information they acquire in the course of their employment. We customarily rely on that non–compellability when we receive summonses or subpoenas in a matter to which we are not a party.

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. Our Internal Audit Committee examines all reports by the Auditor–General that may be relevant to the office (for example, 2008–09 Audit Report No. 37 Online Availability of Government Entities' Documents Tabled in the Australian Parliament) to identify any requirements for improvements in office procedures.

People management

Human resources

The management of staff is a critical function within our office. As a small and geographically dispersed office we face a unique set of challenges in developing a well skilled and stable workforce. This year we have been proactive in meeting this challenge through the development of a clear and concise human resources plan that was released in April 2009.

The human resources plan was developed to assist the human resources team and all staff understand the focus and outcomes expected of human resources activities in the next 12 months. In preparing the plan, consideration was given to the strategic action agenda and strategic priorities contained in the Commonwealth Ombudsman Strategic Plan 2008–2011, as well as an analysis of the current business environment and emerging trends that are driving change.

These include:

• the Australian Public Service Commission 'State of the Service' Report 2007–2008
• the Commonwealth Ombudsman staff survey
• financial constraints
• the economic climate
• our workforce profile.

The human resources team has identified that a key outcome of its activities is to extend the average time of tenure with the office. In doing so, the office stands to gain efficiencies that arise from lower staff turnover such as less recruitment effort and cost, increased corporate knowledge, and improved consistency and effectiveness of our core business activities. We will do this by focusing on six key areas:

• recruitment
• career management
• managing performance
• learning and development
• developing and maintaining a positive workplace culture
• workforce planning.

Staff survey

In March 2009 we conducted the second staff survey for the office. The results provided a measure of employee satisfaction at an organisation–wide level. The response rate was extremely high, with 93% of staff participating in the survey. This year we had the added advantage of being able to compare results with the first staff survey, which was conducted in 2007. In some instances our responses were also compared to a 'State of the Service' benchmark to provide a broader APS–wide perspective.

Overall the results show that the majority of Ombudsman office staff remain satisfied with the office as an employer and almost 90% of staff agreed that they are proud to tell others that they work for the office. In many areas we significantly exceeded the 'State of the Service' benchmark. This level of satisfaction with our working environment reflects positively on all staff.

Using sophisticated statistical analysis to assist us, we have been able to prioritise organisational improvements to drive overall staff satisfaction with the office. The analysis highlights the two main areas for improvement as career progression, and recognition and feeling valued.

There are several other areas that have less influence on overall satisfaction than the areas above, but still have a significant influence on how staff feel about the office. They are:

• internal communication
• information technology (IT) and information systems
• recruitment and selection
• work–life balance.

We will review and further develop our human resources policies and guidelines to reflect responses from the staff survey.

Workplace relations

On 15 December 2008 a new collective agreement between the office and the Community and Public Sector Union came into effect. The Commonwealth Ombudsman Collective Agreement 2008–2010 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 162 employees are covered under the office's collective agreement. Conditions are provided for the office's six Senior Executive Service (SES) staff under s 24(1) of the Public Service Act. No staff are employed under Australian workplace agreements or common law contracts.

The collective 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. Determinations under s 24(1) provide for SES 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.

Staffing profile

At 30 June 2009 the actual number of employees was 171, including the Ombudsman and two Deputy Ombudsmen. One hundred and forty–three employees were full–time. Twenty–eight employees (16% of employees) were part–time and of these, 27 were ongoing. The full–time equivalent number of employees for the year was 152.

During the year, 49 employees were engaged on an ongoing basis and 45 ongoing employees left the office, equating to a turnover rate of 26% (compared to 22% in the previous year).

Table 4.1 shows the numbers of employees, by gender and Australian Public Service (APS) classification and salary range. Table 4.2 shows the office's staffing profile by location.

TABLE 4.1Staffing profile by level, gender and salary range at 30 June 2009

Note: under the previous certified agreement and the current collective 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.

Note: 'EL' is 'Executive Level'.

TABLE 4.2Staffing profile by location at 30 June 2009

Career development and training

The office continues to focus on learning and development opportunities for staff. Our learning and development framework is based on three elements—leadership, corporate and core business programs. During the year we finalised a suite of 11 training modules designed specifically to develop core competencies and skills in investigations, inspections, writing, administrative law, office practices and recordkeeping. These core training modules are conducted regularly and all staff are required to attend the sessions. Other learning and development programs centre on performance management.

Each staff member is encouraged to undertake learning and development programs that are designed to promote their capability in relation to their corporate and core business training and development. This approach is now complemented by other initiatives such as career mapping, expansion of the staff induction program and an emphasis on managers mentoring staff career development.

Our learning and development framework will be supported by a new electronic scheduling system which will identify training and other learning and development opportunities, provide online booking facilities and record the training history for each employee. This will be used as part of an improved performance management process.

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

• ethical conduct
• leadership skills
• relationship management
• performance management
• administrative law
• recruitment and selection processes
• 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, risk and fraud management 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.

Occupational health and safety

The Ombudsman reports each year against the statement of commitment signed in 2005, to actively work towards achieving 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 (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. Staff who work from home are also given workplace assessments.

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 2008–09 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 managing OH&S
• 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 to representatives
• provided harassment and bullying awareness workshops
• conducted regular simulated fire 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
• implemented a national Health Month that comprised a diverse range of health and wellbeing activities and information sessions.

The Ombudsman actively promotes employee activities that lead to a healthy lifestyle. Accordingly, the Executive agreed to the inclusion of a 'promoting good health' allowance in the collective agreement 2008–2010. This is available to all staff as a reimbursement for health–related lifestyle expenses.

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 issues.

These measures contribute to the maintenance of the very low rate of accidents and compensable injuries in the workplace. Our workers compensation record is good, with unplanned leave rates decreasing. The average amount of unplanned leave for the office has decreased from almost 11 days a year in 2006–07 to less than eight days in 2008–09. We do not expect it to reduce further next year, given the rate of illness in the community in winter 2009.

Financial management

From 1 July 2008, the office transferred the management of its financial reporting from an outsourced provider to an internal operation. This activity provided substantial challenges for our finance team, including the establishment of appropriate audit controls, strengthening the team's skills and capabilities, and the introduction of robust frameworks for reporting. The transition proved successful and provided the office with some financial gains and a significant improvement in control over the quality of financial information.

Financial performance

Revenue received from ordinary activities was $20.756 million in 2008–09. The office received $19.364 million in appropriation revenue, $1.483 million more than in 2007–08. Following the Northern Territory Emergency Response (NTER) the office received $0.202 million in 2008–09, and will receive a further $0.800 million as a prior year's output in 2009–10 to provide services both to Indigenous communities and other people who may wish to make complaints about the actions of agencies involved in delivering the NTER. The funding also enabled us to assist NTER agencies to develop better complaint–handling procedures. The office received $0.566 million as a result of its acquittal of the NTER 2007–08 no win–no loss funding, that is, as delayed funding for the 2007–08 financial year. The office received further funding in 2008–09 of $0.261 million at Additional Estimates for the 'Excision and refugee status processing' arrangements. The funding allows the office to provide independent external scrutiny of the processing by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) of non–statutory refugee status claims by offshore entry persons. DIAC is the lead agency for the measure.

Total expenses for the office were $19.894 million resulting in a profit in 2008–09 of $0.929 million. This is primarily due to receiving the $0.566 million in NTER no win–no loss funding related to 2007–08 in 2008–09.

Financial position

The office's total equity—sum of the office's assets less its liabilities—has increased by $0.723 million due mainly to the surplus in 2008–09.

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 total assets increased to $8.872 million in 2008–09 from $7.177 million in 2007–08. The increases arose primarily out of an increase in undrawn appropriations. The office's assets by category at 30 June 2009 were:

• receivables (amounts due to be paid to the—75% of total assets)
• infrastructure, plant and equipment (15%)
• intangibles (non–physical assets such as software—5%)
• other non–financial assets (relating to prepayments—4%)
• cash (1%).

The balance sheet shows cash holdings of $0.128 million ($0.160 million in 2007–08). The office's appropriation receivable also increased by $1.465 million, from $4.832 million in 2007–08 to $6.297 million in 2008–09.

The office's non–financial assets increased to $2.125 million in 2008–09 ($1.873 million in 2007–08), primarily due to purchases of information technology assets and prepaying our suppliers.

Total liabilities increased by $0.972 million to $5.665 million in 2008–09 ($4.693 million in 2007–08). The change in liabilities was primarily due to an increase in employee provisions and other payables.

Procurement and grants

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's Instructions.

The office published its Annual Procurement Plan on the AusTender website (as required under the Commonwealth Procurement Guidelines) to facilitate early procurement planning and to draw to the attention of businesses our planned procurement for the 2008–09 financial year.

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 tender or direct sourcing. The main categories of contracts relate to information technology, financial services, human resources services, governance and legal advice.

During 2008–09 the office entered into three new consultancy contracts involving total actual expenditure of $164,721. In addition, three ongoing consultancy contracts were active during 2008–09, involving total actual expenditure of $71,574. See Appendix 5 for details of new consultancy contracts. (Details are also available at www.ombudsman.gov.au.)

Annual reports contain information about actual expenditure on contracts for consultancies. Information on the value of contracts and consultancies is available on the AusTender website (www.tenders.gov.au).

Table 4.3 shows expenditure on consultancy contracts over the three most recent financial years.

TABLE 4.3Expenditure on consultancy contracts, 2006–07 to 2008–09

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.

The office did not exempt any contracts or standing offers that cost more than $10,000 (including GST) from publication in AusTender.

The office did not administer any grant programs during 2008–09.

Information management and work practices

We continued to improve our use and management of information and work practices to support the performance of Commonwealth Ombudsman functions. In 2008–09 we continued the whole–of–office strategic approach to information management that started in 2007–08. We are mindful of the increasing reliance on IT for both internal purposes and as a form of communication with the public. We continuously review our information management practices to build on the work practice and system changes of the past several years, to deliver improved timeliness, efficiency and effectiveness in managing complaints, conducting inspections and generating reports.

To this end the office established a business improvement team in late 2008. Their brief is to review our work practices and identify areas for improvement. The team has prepared a number of papers for the office. They provided the impetus to revise our five-category complaint–handling structure and our administrative deficiency workflow. The papers were instrumental in streamlining office processes and improving efficiency. We are currently reviewing our initial management of approaches to the office to capitalise on the initiatives that the office has been working on over the past several years to better manage the increased volume and diverse nature of approaches.

We have also restructured the twin functions of IT and business improvement under the stewardship of one manager at the EL2 level. The expectation is that the dual role of the team will provide for better integration of business planning and the development of our IT capabilities, so that the office's IT development fully meets the business needs of the office.

The Information Management Committee oversees the management of information within the office and meets monthly. The committee monitors and develops plans for improvement in the office's handling and use of information, and the technology that supports this.

The committee has overseen a number of projects including:

• a project to implement an electronic records management system
• the revision and application of a business classification scheme which is appropriate and applicable to the office's needs
• the preparation and application of a number of issues papers to review business practices within the office
• the implementation of a virtual server network and other redundancy measures to ensure that the office's business practices are secure and continuous
• the redevelopment of the work practice guidelines and improved electronic accessibility for staff
• mapping of office workflows to assist in learning and development opportunities for staff and the evaluation of business practices.

In 2009–10 we will continue to work on:

• developing broader application of the office electronic records management system, in order to better integrate our complaint management system and workflows and further improve our intranet capability to assist in handling approaches and complaints
• improving IT workflow and change management procedures with particular emphasis on improving our public contact centre capability
• replacing redundant hardware in a planned and measured fashion
• enhancing interoperability with other agencies
• improving internet service delivery.

We implemented a range of other initiatives to improve complaint handling, partly in response to a client survey conducted late in 2007–08, enhanced our quality assurance processes, and revised the way in which we address requests for review of our decisions on complaints. These are described more fully in Chapter 3—Performance report.