Part 5 - Management and accountability
Corporate Governance
As required by the Commonwealth's Enhanced Performance Framework, the office developed and publicly released its 2015–16 Corporate Plan (the Plan) in August 2015. The Plan frames the office's strategic vision, objectives, deliverables and key performance measures for the next four years.
In developing the Plan, the office's performance was reviewed with the aim of providing meaningful information to the Parliament and the public on how the office is delivering its strategic objectives. The office also reduced its key performance indicators (KPIs) from 26 to nine.
Internal audit review
The office engaged Ernst & Young (the office's internal auditor) to review our Governance Framework. The review delivered five findings and 15 recommendations. It concluded that:
The Governance Committee structure currently established within the office is robust and provides adequate breadth of coverage on key areas; however there are a number of areas identified in this report where this could be better.
The office is now in the process of addressing these recommendations.
Audit Committee
The office established an Audit Committee, in compliance with s 45 of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 (PGPA Act) and PGPA Rule s 17 Audit Committees for Commonwealth Entities.
The Audit Committee provides independent assurance to the Ombudsman on the office's financial and performance reporting responsibilities, risk oversight, management and systems of internal control.
As required, the Committee met four times during the year. Its members were:
| Name | Position | Period of membership during year |
|---|---|---|
| Peter Hoefer | Chair, independent | 1 July 2015 to 30 August 2015 |
| Richard Glenn | Deputy Chair, Deputy Ombudsman | 1 July 2015 to 14 September 2015 |
| Chair, Deputy Ombudsman | 15 September 2015 to 30 June 2016 | |
| Joanna Stone | Member, independent | 1 July 2015 to 30 June 2016 |
| Kurt Munro | Member, independent | 1 September 2015 to 30 June 2016 |
Regular observers at meetings of the Committee included representatives from the Australian National Audit Office, Ernst & Young, the Chief Operating Officer and the Chief Financial Officer.
Senior Leadership Group
The Senior Leadership Group comprises the Ombudsman, Deputy Ombudsman, Senior Assistant Ombudsmen and the Chief Operating Officer. It meets twice a month.
Management Committees
Management committees assist the Ombudsman and Senior Leadership Group with decision making in key areas. The committees (shown below) make recommendations to the Senior Leadership Group.
People Committee
The People Committee is chaired by the Deputy Ombudsman and comprises the Chief Operating Officer; the Senior Assistant Ombudsman, Social Services, Indigenous and Public Interest Disclosure Branch; the Senior Assistant Ombudsman, Immigration, Industry and Territories Branch; the Manager, Human Resources; and staff representatives from each branch.
The committee advises on the office's People Plan. The Committee meets as required with the key focus this year being the development of an action plan and addressing issues arising from the 2015 APS Employee Census.
Work Health and Safety Committee
The Work Health and Safety Committee is made up of elected staff representatives from each of the state and Canberra offices, and is chaired by the Senior Assistant Ombudsman, Immigration, Industry and Territories Branch. The committee meets quarterly. It reviews work health and safety matters and procedures to ensure the office complies with the terms of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011.
Workplace Relations Committee
The Chief Operating Officer chairs the Workplace Relations Committee. It comprises employee, management and union representatives, and is the principal forum for change and workplace issues.
Business Improvement Steering Committee
This Committee was established to facilitate business improvements within the office, to ensure our business is conducted as effectively and efficiently as possible, and in a manner that furthers the office's strategic objectives and maintains its viability and reputation. It is chaired by the Deputy Ombudsman.
Information Management Committee
This is chaired by the Deputy Ombudsman and provides strategic oversight and guidance in information management policy, processes and systems, and examining information management issues.
Risk and Security Governance Committee
This Committee was established to provide guidance and advice on operational risk and security governance matters for the office. It is chaired by the Chief Operating Officer, has representatives from the branches and subject matter experts and meets at least quarterly.
Inclusion Committee
This was established in May 2016 with the aim of providing guidance and advice on inclusion matters, especially concerning the Reconciliation Action Plan, the Multicultural Plan, the Workplace Diversity Program and others. It is chaired by the Deputy Ombudsman and includes staff members from throughout the organisation at various levels.
Corporate Governance Practices
Risk management
Our risk management framework includes a formal policy and protocol, a strategic risk plan and register, and quarterly monitoring and reporting.
The Senior Leadership Group regularly reviews strategic and operational risks. The office also participates in the annual Comcover Risk Management Benchmarking Survey, which independently assesses our risk management maturity.
Additional oversight of risk-management is provided by the Audit Committee and the Risk and Security Governance Committee.
Fraud Prevention and Control
The office engaged Ernst & Young to conduct an independent review of the office's Fraud Control Plan and to undertake an entity-wide fraud risk assessment.
The review concluded that the office had a medium overall fraud risk profile and made three recommendations, all of which were implemented.
Ernst & Young also provided fraud awareness training sessions to office staff. Our intranet page was updated to be more comprehensive and user friendly.
Business Continuity Planning
Our Business Continuity Plan is one of our key risk management strategies. It sets out strategies to ensure that our most important work can continue or be quickly resumed in the event of a disaster.
The office reviewed the plan in 2015–16 and confirmed that it has the capacity to maintain its critical business requirements and ability to function following a disruption. The office is continuing to refine the plan.
Ethical Standards
The office promotes ethical standards and behaviour by providing extensive information to staff and promoting the APS Commission's Ethics Advisory Service and our Ethics Contact Officer. Our intranet contains information on:
- APS Values and Code of Conduct
- workplace discrimination, bullying and harassment
- conflict of interest
- acceptance of gifts and hospitality
- procedures for determining breaches of the Code of Conduct
- procedures for dealing with Public Interest Disclosures relating to the office.
Employee Performance Development Agreements include the following mandatory key behaviour:
'in undertaking my duties I will act in accordance with the APS Values, Employment Principles and APS Code of Conduct.'
The Induction Handbook for new starters provides appropriate information on ethical standards and behaviours. The office also implemented APS Learn Hub which contains eLearning modules on APS Values and Principles and Fraud Awareness.
Accessibility
In developing and maintaining the office's websites, the office used the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 as the benchmark.
The office has substantially improved its online services. This has improved compliance with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (AA level). The upgraded systems included authoring tools to check for accessibility issues, and compliance reporting against the website. A graphic design refresh also simplified the presentation of content and increased contrast to assist readability.
External scrutiny
Court and tribunal litigation
No decisions of courts or administrative tribunals made in 2015–16 had, or may have, a significant impact on our operations.
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
During the reporting period, the Australian Information Commissioner advised the office of three instances in which an applicant had sought review of our decisions under the Freedom of Information Act 1982. At the time of reporting, all three matters were under consideration by the Information Commissioner.
The office is subject to the Privacy Act 1988. The Privacy Commissioner has advised of one complaint about our office during the reporting period. At the time of reporting, that complaint was still under consideration. The Privacy Commissioner did not issue any report or make any adverse comment about the office during 2015–16.
Australian Human Rights Commission
The office is subject to the jurisdiction of the Australian Human Rights Commission. During the reporting period the commission did not receive any new complaints about this office.
Management of Human Resources
Overview
The office's Workforce Plan 2015–19 covers a four-year time period and is aligned to business planning processes. Specifically, it:
- seeks to identify high-level trends and developments (i.e. the risks) that will affect the availability of the workforce capability required to deliver organisational outcomes
- tells the office how it can avoid these risks.
The Workforce Plan is reviewed on an ongoing basis.
Our People Plan 2014–17, defines three key aims: attract, develop and motivate, and retain and align. The Plan is reviewed regularly to ensure it reflects our people priorities.
These Workforce Plan and People Plan are complemented by our:
- Workplace Diversity Program 2015–18
- Reconciliation Action Plan 2015–17
- Multicultural Plan 2013–15.
A quarterly report on the status of activities being undertaken against the Workforce and People Plans is provided to the Senior Leadership Group.
Learning and Development
This year the office continued to deliver training against the core competencies established under the Learning and Development Strategy 2013–16, together with other targeted learning and development opportunities. The training delivered included:
- Principles of decision-making
- Privacy Refresher Training
- Business Classification Systems
- Editing and proof reading
- Financial skills
- Productivity Toolkit
- Mental Health First Aid
- Building a bullying free workplace
- Indigenous cultural awareness
- Building high performance teams
- Courageous conversations
- Website content publishing
- Work health and safety
- Attendance at APSC Event Series sessions.
The office implemented Learn Hub and Lynda.com through the Shared Services Centre. These interactive learning solutions enable us to deliver a broad range of targeted eLearning programs to all staff on their desktops.
The office also supports staff to undertake relevant study at tertiary institutions through study leave and/or financial assistance.
Work Health and Safety
The office is committed to maintaining a safe and healthy workplace for all our employees, contractors and visitors. The office acknowledges its employer responsibilities under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (WHS Act), the Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988 and anti-discrimination legislation.
During 2015–16 the office undertook the following health and safety initiatives:
- conducted individual workplace assessments
- made available first aid facilities and supplies, and provided first aid training to First Aid Officers (refresher and senior first aid for new officers)
- provided workplace health and safety training to Health and Safety Representatives
- provided flu vaccinations to employees free of charge, a healthy lifestyle reimbursement of up to $299 per year and provision of mental health first aid training
- conducted work health and safety hazard inspections in all offices
- provided access to an employee assistance program, which offers a confidential counselling service, facilitation of teamwork issues, career advice and the management of work-related or personal issues
- required all employees and contractors to complete the eLearning course on Work Health and Safety.
As part of the induction process, all new employees are advised of the importance and responsibilities of staff and management in relation to health and safety in the workplace. New employees undertake a workstation assessment during their first week in the office. Employees who work from home complete a form to assess the need for workplace inspections.
During the reporting period no accidents or injuries occurred that are reportable under s 38 (5) of the WHS Act.
There were no investigations conducted within the office under Part 10 of the Act.
The office has also conducted an internal audit of the:
- work health and safety policies and procedures to perform a compliance review against legislative requirements
- Rehabilitation Management Systems, in accordance with the requirements of the Guidelines for Rehabilitation Authorities 2012.
Workplace arrangements
The office's Enterprise Agreement 2011–14 (the Agreement) came into effect on 27 July 2011 and reached its nominal expiry date on 30 June 2014. The office has continued to bargain in good faith in relation to the new Enterprise Agreement and it is expected that the new Agreement will be finalised in 2016–17.
As at 30 June 2016, 166 employees were covered under the current Agreement. The Agreement does not make provision for performance pay. Salary advancement within each of the non-SES classifications is linked to performance. Four employees have an Individual Flexibility Agreement in place.
Conditions are provided for four SES staff under s24 (1) of the Public Service Act 1999. Determinations under s 24 (1) of the Public Service Act 1999 provide for SES annual salary advancement based on performance and do not make provision for performance pay.
The office does not have any staff employed under Australian Workplace Agreements or common law contracts.
The office offers non-salary benefits to our people under relevant enterprise agreements and other individual industrial instruments. These include various types of leave, as well as flexible working arrangements, access to salary packaging and eyewear reimbursement for screen based work.
Workforce profile
As at 30 June 2016 there were 172 staff (157.5 full-time equivalents) employed in the office. This includes the Ombudsman and Deputy Ombudsman who are statutory office holders.
Women made up 66 per cent of the office's workforce as at 30 June 2016 and 26 per cent of our employees worked part-time. The number of staff who identified as Indigenous was 2.3 per cent (1.33 per cent in 2015) and 3.49 per cent of staff identify as having a disability (four per cent in 2015).
Table 17 provides further information in relation to the office's workforce profile.
| At 30 June 2016 | At 30 June 2015 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Category | Ongoing | Non-ongoing | Total | Ongoing | Non-ongoing | Total |
| APS Classification | ||||||
| APS3 | 11 | 3 | 14 | 10 | 4 | 14 |
| APS4 | 17 | 6 | 23 | 19 | 4 | 23 |
| APS5 | 26 | 3 | 29 | 19 | 1 | 20 |
| APS6 | 29 | 2 | 31 | 28 | 1 | 29 |
| Executive Level 1 | 45 | 6 | 51 | 38 | 1 | 39 |
| Executive Level 2 | 15 | 2 | 17 | 16 | 2 | 18 |
| SES Band 1 | 4 | - | 4 | 4 | - | 4 |
| Statutory Officers26 | 3 | - | 3 | 3 | - | 3 |
| Total | 150 | 22 | 172 | 137 | 13 | 150 |
| Location | ||||||
| ACT | 83 | 13 | 96 | 84 | 7 | 91 |
| NSW | 16 | 4 | 20 | 7 | 1 | 8 |
| QLD | 12 | 3 | 15 | 12 | 1 | 13 |
| SA | 19 | 1 | 20 | 17 | 3 | 20 |
| VIC | 16 | 1 | 17 | 13 | 1 | 14 |
| WA | 4 | - | 4 | 4 | - | 4 |
| Total | 150 | 22 | 172 | 137 | 13 | 150 |
| Gender/Diversity | ||||||
| Female | 102 | 12 | 114 | 89 | 7 | 96 |
| Male | 48 | 10 | 58 | 48 | 6 | 54 |
| Indigenous | 1 | 3 | 4 | 2 | - | 2 |
| People with a disability | 5 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 6 |
| Employment status | ||||||
| Full time | 110 | 17 | 127 | 104 | 10 | 114 |
| Part time | 40 | 5 | 45 | 33 | 3 | 36 |
| Classification | Salary range |
|---|---|
| APS1 | $43,283–$47,841 |
| APS2 | $48,985–$54,321 |
| APS3 | $55,796–$60,222 |
| APS4 | $62,186–$67,518 |
| APS5 | $69,359–$73,547 |
| APS6 | $74,914–$86,053 |
| Executive Level 1 | $96,035–$103,702 |
| Executive Level 2 | $111,820–$126,743 |
| SES Band 1 | $145,000–$185,400 |
Note: Under the Enterprise Agreement 2011–2014, where an employee moves to the office from another agency and his or her salary exceeds the maximum point in the office's salary range for the relevant classification, the higher salary will be maintained until the difference has been absorbed by the office's salary rates.
Purchasing
The office is committed to achieving the best value for money in procurement activity and uses procurement practices that are consistent with the Commonwealth Procurement Rules. This includes the use of the Commonwealth Contracting Suite to prepare approaches to market and manage procurement processes. These practices are supported by the Accountable Authority Instructions and internal policy and guidance material.
To improve efficiency in procurement, the office used established procurement panels where possible. The office supports small business participation in the Commonwealth Government procurement market. Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) and Small Enterprise participation statistics are available on the Department of Finance's website. The office's procurement methods aim not to discriminate against small and medium-sized enterprises. Our policies and processes highlight the requirement to first access the Supply Nation website to check whether there are any Indigenous businesses that can provide the goods and services required. The office will seek to enter into arrangements with Indigenous business where possible and ensure that the arrangement adheres to the value for money and best fit principles. All procurements entered into are done on the basis of value for money and best fit.
Procurement plans are published on AusTender as they become known, to facilitate early procurement planning and to draw attention to our planned activity. All procurements that are in excess of $10 000 are published on AusTender as soon as practical.
Consultants
The office engages consultancy services when a specific expertise is not available internally or when independent advice is required. During 2015–16, seven new consultancy contracts were entered into, involving total actual expenditure of $0.152 million (including GST). In addition, three ongoing consultancy contracts were active during the 2015–16 year, with total expenditure of $0.139 million. These contracts covered financial services, IT development and mediation services.
No contracts were let containing provisions that do not allow the Auditor-General to have access to the contractor's premises, and no contracts were entered into that were exempt from being published on AusTender. 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 at tenders.gov.au. The office does not administer any grant programs.
| Year | Number of consultancy contracts | Total actual expenditure $'000 |
|---|---|---|
| 2015–16 | 10 | 291 |
| 2014–15 | 9 | 321 |
| 2013–14 | 13 | 163 |
Advertising campaigns
There were no advertising campaigns undertaken by the office.
Exempt contracts
There were no contracts over $10 000 exempted from reporting to AusTender.
Compliance reporting
There have been no significant issues reported to the responsible Minister under paragraph 19 (1) (e) of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 that relate to non-compliance with the finance law in relation to the office. An internal compliance review process is undertaken throughout the year and the results considered by to the Senior Leadership Group and the Audit Committee.
Asset management
The assets managed by the office include ICT assets, plant and equipment, property and intangible assets such as software. With the exception of the property all of these assets are handled internally and the five year capital replacement and capital investment plans predict our requirements. The office currently has a Memorandum of Understanding with the Department of Industry to help manage our properties. This assistance extends through project management, reporting, legal advice, property searches and ongoing maintenance and refurbishment.
Our ICT assets are managed in-house and the property plant and equipment category of assets is primarily ICT in nature and supported by maintenance agreements and warranties. This category currently represents approximately 30 per cent of the total assets. Intangible assets are made up of software and websites. These are either supported internally or through a support contract. This class of asset is approximately 24 per cent of total assets. The final asset category is property and this represents approximately 46 per cent of our asset base. These assets are managed through an agreement with the Department of Industry. The office has offices in Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney.
Assets were checked for impairment and an asset stocktake was undertaken at year end. All assets are kept and maintained in good working order by the office.
Footnote
26 The office had three statutory officers and four SES Band 1s this year (30 June 2016) and last year (30 June 2015) due to acting arrangements, as a result of a statutory officer being on leave at that time.