Compliance obligations What is the purpose of compliance obligations? The purposes of public sector compliance obligations are manifold: to ensure transparency and accountability to provide information for planning and management purposes to ensure public policy outcomes are met to emphasise a strong commitment to an issue by highlighting its importance. What form do they take? They can take a number of forms, including: Acts of Parliament and subsidiary legislation Premier’s Circulars Public Sector Wages Policy Commissioner’s Instructions Public Sector Commissioner’s Circulars Treasurer’s Instructions other sector wide policies sector wide guidelines are described in the ‘Glossary’. Some compliance obligations are mandatory while others are recommended (although it is generally expected that these will also be complied with). Many compliance obligations include a reporting component to a responsible agency or to Parliament. The nature of this reporting obligation varies: from annual reporting of
Department of the Premier and Cabinet (DPC) Government Advertising and Communications Policy (GACP) Under Premier’s Circular 2014/03, all public sector agencies other than Schedule 1 PSM Act agencies must comply with the GACP and Guidelines. All campaign advertising must be approved by DPC. Premier’s Circulars are reviewed every two years for relevance and are rescinded as required. DPC provides an application form for departments and agencies to complete. DPC recently reviewed the policy and reduced sic separate policies down to one. Approvals by DPC for advertising are no longer required. Only submissions with a value greater than $40 000 are required to be referred to the Independent Communications and Review Committee for approval. The revised policy and guidelines clearly define agency responsibilities and initial feedback from agencies is that the revised policy, guidelines and processes will assist agencies to more easily meet their obligations under this Circular. Overview of obligation Good practice in responsible agency Current improvement initiatives Good practice in complying agencies Department of the Premier and Cabinet (DPC) Reporting on use of consultants Under Premier’s Circular 2005/08 departments and agencies are to prepare and submit details of all consultants engaged on contracts for services on a six monthly basis. Ministerial Offices are required to collate returns from government departments and agencies and submit these to DPC within eight weeks of the end of each six month period. Premier’s Circulars are reviewed every two years for relevance and are rescinded as required. DPC provides a form to assist departments and agencies to provide the required information. The circular is review. As this requirement has been in place for some time and involves reporting of straightforward information, the requirement is well understood by agencies.
Overview of obligation Good practice in responsible agency Current improvement initiatives Good practice in complying agencies Disability Services Commission (DSC) Public sector and local government agencies have a number of obligations under the Disability Services Act 1993. These include the requirement to develop and implement a Disability Access and Inclusion Plan (DAIP), to report annually to the Disability Services Commission (DSC) on the agency’s progress in implementing the DAIP, as well as in their own annual report and to review the DAIP at least every five years. Each year DSC aggregates the information provided by public sector agencies into an annual report for the Minister. This report provides an overview of public sector progress in implementing strategies to ensure access to services for people with a disability. DSC utilises a number of methods to improve understanding of and capability within agencies about the DAIP program, such as ‘google groups’ (networking forums) for both local government authorities and public sector agencies, which are run in person or through teleconferencing and provide an opportunity for information sharing and presentations by good practice agencies. DSC also provides regular emails to DAIP officers to provide information and share examples of best practice. Templates are provided as far as possible to facilitate reporting. DSC commenced a project in mid-2014 to review the reporting obligations for agencies. Current initiatives being progressed by DSC include encouraging links between procurement and DAIP officers to ensure that information about DAIP requirements is made known to contractors through the contract process this compliance obligation is generally well understood, DSC plans to further streamline reporting on the DAIP through the following: considering enhancements to ICT applications to enable agencies to report on the strategies within their DAIP throughout the year, rather than at a fixed time providing a longer window for specific annual reporting exploring ways to streamline reporting back to agencies enhancing the information contained in the Annual Reporting Framework. Some good practice agencies provide information on their systems and process more broadly across the public sector.