23 November 2005
LITTLE KNOWN ON PROGRESS OF GORDON INQUIRY ACTION PLAN, SAYS AUDITOR
GENERAL
Three years
on from the Gordon Inquiry little is known about the progress of an action
plan (with initial funding of $66.5 million and more than 120 initiatives)
developed to address the Inquiry’s findings.
A report by WA Auditor General Des Pearson tabled in Parliament today
reveals that an authoritative account of the progress in implementing
the initiatives and the action plan overall does not exist.
The result is that groups formed to monitor and oversight the plan do
not have available such basic information as:
- The number of initiatives and how many have been implemented.
- How
many are behind schedule.
- Expenditure against budget.
- Estimates on final expenditure and anticipated final completion.
- A summary of the actions taken to resolve delays and barriers to
timely implementation.
The limited quality and quantity of information supplied to the oversight
groups has meant that any public reporting has only provided information
on a small number of initiatives, and the public has not been informed
about the progress of many initiatives nor of the action plan overall,
says Mr Pearson.
Further, an evaluation framework to assess if the action plan was making
a difference has not been finalised and is two years late, it being due
for delivery at the end of 2003.
In the absence of an authoritative account or appropriate public reporting
on the progress of implementing of the action plan, Mr Pearson examined
a sample of 10 key initiatives that responded to issues requiring urgent
action, were intended to improve coordination between agencies in delivering
services, and received new funding exceeding $47.7 million.
He found that seven of these initiatives had been implemented or progressed – however
the Construction of Remote Multifunctional Facilities initiative is substantially
behind schedule, whilst funding programs for the Indigenous Community
Partnership Fund and Safe Places Safe People initiatives (that provide
money to assist Aboriginal communities to develop a capacity to address
family violence and child abuse issues) are also substantially behind
schedule.
Also tabled in Parliament today was Mr Pearson’s Audit Results
Report by Ministerial Portfolios summarising the results of 175 financial
statement and controls audits and 127 performance indicator audits completed
to 11th November at agencies across the public sector, and detailing
sector-wide or specific concerns arising from those audits.
The opinions of three agencies were qualified in relation to controls:
- The
Rottnest Island Authority was qualified for the fifth consecutive year
over control inadequacies in the case of landing fees – the
Authority accepts information provided by third parties on landing
fee revenue due to the Board, but does not have the controls in place
to verify the accuracy or completeness of the revenue.
- The Government Employees Superannuation Board was qualified for
the second consecutive year because it had not reconciled a number
of clearing accounts.
- The Minister for Health in his capacity as the Deemed Board of
Metropolitan Public Hospitals (Metropolitan Health Services) was qualified
for the fifth consecutive year due to inadequate controls over postal
remittances relating to Special Purpose Accounts.
From the audit results Mr Pearson concludes that, in general, public
sector accountability continued to improve during the year; however,
he cautions managers against complacency urging them to maintain and
enhance standards as major challenges lie ahead.
With the advent of new financial reporting requirements in the coming
year all agencies will need to adopt a more rigorous approach to the
preparation of financial statements and performance indicators and significantly
improve the timeliness of their submission for audit, he warns.
Sector-wide compliance and control issues identified included:
- Significant IT security access control weaknesses and inadequate
business continuity plans, raised over the past three years, continued
to be of concern.
- The need for improved procedures to achieve best practice in the
areas of asset management, incurring and certifying of expenditure,
payroll certification by cost centre managers, and employee termination
procedures.
- Statements of Corporate Intent, intended to enhance corporate governance
and accountability at corporatised government entities, were again
not tabled in a timely manner to enable the Parliament to consider
their contents.
Ends/.
Media Contact: Peter Villiers,
Manager Reporting and Communications
Tel: (08) 9222 7558. Mobile:
0417 936 171 Fax: (08) 9322 5664
4th Floor Dumas House 2 Havelock
Street West Perth
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