List of acronyms and initialisms
ACT Australian Capital Territory
AIFS Australian Institute of Family Studies
ANAO Australian National Audit Office
ATSIC Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission
AWT Australians Working Together
CSA Child Support Agency
DEST Department of Education Science and Training
DEWR Department of Employment and Workplace Relations
DHA Department of Health and Ageing
DIMIA Department of Immigration, Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs
FaCS Department of Family and Community Services
HILDA Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey
IT Information Technology
JPET Job Placement, Employment and Training Program
LDS Longitudinal Data Set
PSP Personal Support Programme
SSAT Social Security Appeals Tribunal
STO State and Territory Office
How to find out more
For inquiries about this report contact:
Communication and Media Unit
Box 7788
Canberra Mail Centre ACT 2610
Email: CMU@facs.gov.au
Fax: (02) 6244 5540
FaCS web site
For more information about FaCS visit the department’s web site on www.facs.gov.au or Email: facs.internet@facs.gov.au
To obtain copies of other FaCS publications
For copies of this or other FaCS publications, telephone 1800 050 009 (a free call except from mobile and pay phones).
Australian Government Department of Family and Community Services
Telephone: 1300 653 227
Internet: www.facs.gov.au
Annual Report 2002–03 I Volume 2
© Commonwealth of Australia 2003
ISSN: 1442-5238
ISBN: (Volume one) 0642770980
ISBN: (Volume two) 0642770999
ISBN: (set) 0642770972
ISBN: CD-ROM: 1920851003
This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced by any process without prior written permission from the Commonwealth available from the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts. Requests and inquiries concerning reproduction and rights should be addressed to the Commonwealth Copyright Administration, Intellectual Property Branch, Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, GPO Box 2154, Canberra ACT 2601 or posted at http://www.dcita.gov.au/cca
Department of Family and Community Services
Box 7788
Canberra Mail Centre ACT 2610
Telephone 1300 653 227 (for the cost of a local call, mobile phones at mobile rates)
Internet: www.facs.gov.au/annualreport
ABN: 36 342 015 855 FaCS, Social Security Appeals Tribunal and Australian Institute of Family Studies
ABN: 36 342 015 855 004 Child Support Agency
Acknowledgments
Annual Report Team: Liz Clarke, Sophia Collison, Carmel Curran, Greg Moores and Wendy Tierney
Editor: Jeff Fitzgibbon
Proof reading: Janet Willis
A user’s guide
This year’s annual report of the Department of Family and Community Services (FaCS)-the fifth—has been divided into two volumes for ease of access and readability.
It is a continuing challenge for the department to maintain a manageable publication size while ensuring mandatory requirements are met. This is a difficult task for a department that has appropriations of more than $60 billion to report.
Volume one provides an overarching view of the department’s functions and summary of its achievements.
Volume two provides more detail, covering performance reporting, management and accountability, appendixes and financial statements.
Each volume has its own contents page, glossary and index. A CD-ROM of the full report is enclosed in Volume one.
This report is available online on the FaCS web site at www.facs.gov.au/annualreport
Our essential aim is for the report to meet the needs of our readers—Senators, Members and the public.
Part 1 I Performance reporting
Performance reporting
External performance reporting framework
Outcome 1 Stronger Families
Output Group 1.1 Family Assistance
Output Group 1.2 Youth and Student Support
Output Group 1.3 Child Support
Output Group 1.4 Child Care Support
Outcome 2 Stronger Communities
Output Group 2.1 Housing Support
Output Group 2.2 Community Support
Outcome 3 Stronger Families
Output Group 3.1 Assistance for People of Workforce Age
Output Group 3.2 Support for people with a Disability
Output Group 3.3 Support for Carers
Output Group 3.4 Support for the Aged
Performance reporting
The collection of performance information, its analysis and reporting of that performance to stakeholders is critical in supporting decision-making to further improve the degree to which outcomes are achieved. This section reports, for the first time, performance against the identified strategic priorities of FaCS. The priorities do not reflect every aspect of FaCS’ work but do help and guide everyone in FaCS with business and other planning.
An outline of the FaCS performance reporting framework follows the report against priorities. This framework is consistent with government reporting requirements while being tailored to FaCS’ business needs. The detailed breakdown of outcome and output performance for clients is in the remainder of this part of this report.
Volume two, Part two—Management and Accountability—supports the performance reporting by outlining significant features of FaCS’ operations to sustain the achievement of outcomes. Similarly, the mandatory reporting in the appendices to this report outlines aspects of work that are also critical to achieving outcomes for the community.
Strategic priorities
This section outlines performance against the 11 key areas identified in the first annual FaCS Priorities Plan.
In support of implementing the measures announced in the 2002–03 Budget, as well as emerging social challenges, FaCS identified a number of strategic priorities. The key policy priorities for the portfolio in 2002–03 were:
Structural ageing
Welfare reform
Implementation and service delivery
Commonwealth state and territory relationships
Children and youth.
A number of departmental priorities were also developed:
Strategic influencing
Relationship management
Decision-making and communication
Knowledge investment and management
Strengthening FaCS people’s capacities
Investing in FaCS systems.
The annual Priorities Plan is based on the FaCS Strategic Statement 2002-2005. While the Strategic Statement stands for three years, the Priorities Plan is reviewed annually to make sure FaCS is on track in delivering against its strategic objectives.
Towards the end of 2002–03 a review of the first priorities plan took place, with a revised set of priorities developed for 2003-04. Further discussion about the new priorities can be found in Volume two, Part two—Management and Accountability.
Performance against priorities
The major achievements against the first annual FaCS Priorities Plan for 2002–03 were:
Structural ageing
working in partnership with the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) and the Department of Education Science and Training (DEST), under the ambit of the Treasury Demographic Taskforce, to build a solid platform to progress key ageing issues
delivering FaCS submissions to the House of Representatives Committee on Ageing, and the Senate Select Committee on Superannuation inquiries on ‘Superannuation and Living Standards in Retirement’ and ‘Planning for Retirement’
sharing knowledge on structural ageing across FaCS
presenting conference papers including ‘A Lifecycle Approach to Demographic Change in Australia’ by Wayne Jackson, Deputy Secretary at the International Social Security Association’s international research conference.
Welfare reform
implementing the first tranche of Australians Working Together (AWT) including the Personal Support Programme (PSP) and support from personal advisers
reaching Ministerial agreement to the AWT Evaluation Strategy, establishing the Jobseeker dataset and scoping individual evaluation projects
completing the Working Age Payment Reform community consultations and establishing the interdepartmental committee to consider feedback from consultations and policy responses
delivering FaCS’ submission to Senate Inquiry into ‘The Structure and Distributive Effects of the Australian Taxation System.
Implementation and service delivery policy
developing service delivery policy options and principles for how best to deliver FaCS services
advancing an issues paper on critical aspects of service delivery, including services integration, sector capacity, community capacity building, service gaps and the impact of demographic change
developing a Practical Guide to help staff make the most appropriate decisions to achieve planned program outcomes. These decisions will take into account roles and responsibilities, governance considerations and linkages to other FaCS policy, procedures and tools.
introducing a project management framework across the department.
Commonwealth, state and territory relationships
negotiating the Commonwealth State Territory Disability Agreement (CSTDA) in collaboration with the Department of Health and Ageing (DHA) and negotiating the Commonwealth State Housing Agreement (CSHA)
establishing a coordination and development committee and information sub-committee under the Supported Accommodation Assistance Program
supporting the CSMAC Youth Working Group, which undertook an extremely successful Youth Protocol renegotiation, and acted as a steering group for the Transition to Independent Living Allowance (TILA) initiative.
Children and youth
developing a National Agenda for Early Childhood discussion paper and consulting on that paper
initiating whole-of-government discussions on future directions in work and family issues
improving program administration including a new Job Placement, Employment and Training Program business allocation process
contributing to the Ministerial Council for Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs’ joint declaration Stepping Forward—Improving pathways for all young people.
Strategic influencing
developing a three year plan for the Portfolio Policy Committee
revising the FaCS research and evaluation agenda to align it more closely with areas of current and emerging policy priority
drafting a communications framework
developing and promoting Fact Sheets which were well received by stakeholders
trialling new ways of influencing debate through key social security conferences
dedicating communications support for policy taskforces such as the Welfare Reform and Working Age taskforces.
Relationship management
forming state and territory office local level relationships with Centrelink, state governments and community organisations
developing a Relationship Guide and Relationship Assessment Tool to assist and guide staff working with external stakeholders.
piloting the Business Assurance Framework (BAF) to test robustness of providing adequate assurance for accuracy of outlays, including the role of external validation
commencing development of the Service Delivery Framework
piloting projects with Centrelink, under the umbrella of Alliance 2004, to support the implementation of the BAF and the FaCS—Centrelink Outcomes and Outputs framework
developing the Centrelink funding model.
Decision making and communication
developing best practice policy advice guidelines and a consistent, formal approach to reviewing FaCS policy advice
developing and implementing an online system of business planning
improving the processes to support decision-making of the Executive board’s sub-committees
developing, implementing and reviewing the first annual Priorities Plan in support of the FaCS Strategic Statement 2002-2005
developing and launching the second annual FaCS Priorities Plan.
Knowledge investment and management
adopting a knowledge framework as a useful way of thinking about purpose, impact and relationships between specific knowledge initiatives
creating the Knowledge sub-committee of the Executive board and gaining endorsement of a number of major knowledge projects and actions including a knowledge strategy and a project to facilitate retention of corporate memory
undertaking broad consultation on an information needs analysis project, knowledge management guided self-assessment, and conducting a knowledge workshop with broad representation from across FaCS.
Strengthening FaCS people’s capacities
commencing implementation of the workforce planning cycle to assist FaCS to get the right people in the right place at the right time
developing and delivering a range of targeted people capability development activities, including a Senior Leadership Program to develop leadership and management skills of middle and senior managers
commencing development of a strategic approach to a reward and recognition strategy
improving recruitment processes by developing an entry level recruitment strategy to address forecasted staffing supply and capability development needs
delivering a coordinated approach to project management and leadership skills development, including investigation of future strategies for project management skills development.
Invest in FaCS systems
improving the ability to align assets through improved governance arrangements, developing a technical architecture, cost and price benchmarking and a capacity management pilot
improving access to information through initiatives such as the Electronic Document Management System (EDMS), knowledge harvesting project, improving technology change management and the Jobseeker dataset
increasing the focus on usability through a new assistive technology management advisory group, improving assistive technology tools and implementing a project to improve email management planning for the future through developing an information and communications technology strategic plan 2003-06.
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