Sustainability Report 2005-2006
Department of the Environment and Water Resources, 2007
Social Performance
Administrative Efficiency and Quality
AE1, PR8: Administrative efficiency and quality
Goals 2005-06
- None set
Performance 2005-06 and trends
In 2005-06 several internal and external reviews of DEH services were conducted. These included an evaluation of the contractual arrangements for the delivery of People Management support services to DEH employees. These contracts relate to performance management and improvement, the Employee Assistance Program, Code of Conduct investigations, OH&S, and Rehabilitation services. The review also incorporated the Personnel Helpdesk, and was undertaken by external consultants.
In relation to the above review of support services: desk research, interviews with other agencies, interviews with providers, and extensive employee focus groups and workshops were undertaken to provide a basis for the consultant's recommendations. The results indicated that the balance of in-house provision and outsourced provision for DEH is appropriate and that there does not appear to be a strong argument for outsourcing more functions or bringing any outsourced functions in-house again. Most of the suggestions for improvement concerned the strengthening of the internal capabilities, systems and processes to manage outsourced services more effectively. Further measures will be taken to refine current systems to manage and monitor costs related to these contracts.
In general, DEH does not conduct comprehensive formal surveys of external stakeholders and clients to record their feedback on our services.
The Community Information Unit (CIU) is the public face of DEH, providing information directly to the community. It tracks the delivery of these services, and in 2005-06 the CIU:
- responded to 39 965 inquiries
- 16 874 (42%) were general inquiries and 23 091 (58%) were publication inquiries
- 23 825 (60%) of all inquiries were campaign-related, such as Saveourwhales or Envirofund
- 78% of all inquiries were answered by the CIU (not referred on)
- 85% of all campaign-related inquiries were answered by the CIU (not referred on).
Figure 1 below shows the main types of enquiries received (CWG is Community Water Grants):
The CIU also distributed 236 553 publications and 11 208 people visited the DEH Publications Shopfront.
Commentary
The main client for the department is our Minister and Parliamentary Secretary. Regular feedback is received from their office staff as to the efficiency and quality of our services, and corrective actions are implemented to address any issues arising.
Goals 2006-07
- Develop a strategy for stakeholder engagement by June 2007.
Contents
- Sustainability Report 05-06
- Executive summary
- Vision and strategy
- Our organisation
- Governance
- Policy and influence
- Environmental performance
- Social performance
- Economic performance
- Report assurance statement
- Case studies
- GRI index
Key
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