Review of Government Service Provision

The Review of Government Service Provision was an initiative of the Prime Minister, Premiers and Chief Ministers at the Premiers' Conference in July 1993 and now operates under the auspices of the Council of Australian Governments (COAG).

A Steering Committee, established in 1994, oversees the Review. The Committee comprises senior representatives from central agencies in the Australian, State and Territory Governments. It is chaired by the Chairman of the Productivity Commission which also provides the Secretariat.

The two main tasks of the Review, set out in its terms of reference are to:

• establish the collection and publication of data that will enable ongoing comparisons of the efficiency and effectiveness of Commonwealth and State Government services, including intra-government services
• compile and assess service provision reforms that have beeen implemented or are under consideration by Commonwealth and State Governments.

Since the original terms of reference were established, the Review has been active in reporting information on Indigenous Australians. The Prime Minister in his capacity as chair of COAG, wrote to the Chairman in May 1997, asking the Steering Committee to give priority to developing indicators that assessed the performance of mainstream services in meeting the needs of Indigenous Australians. This was followed by a further request arising out of the COAG meeting on 5 April 2002, for the Steering Committee:

...to produce a regular report against key indicators of Indigenous disadvantage, to measure the impact of changes to policy settings and service delivery and provide a concrete way to measure the effect of the Council's commitment to reconciliation through a jointly agreed set of indicators.

A compendium of Indigenous data in the Report on Government Services is also compiled and placed on the Review website.

The Review does not consider policy issues. Rather, it aims to assemble indicators of performance given the existing policy framework of governments. The performance measures established are to assist each Government in the formulation of its own policy objectives and priorities.

The Review aims to inform parliaments, governments, service providers and the clients of services — the wider community — about overall performance and reforms in service provision so as to promote ongoing performance improvement.

The first part of the Review's terms of reference is addressed by the annual Report on Government Services. The Report on Government Services publishes a set of performance indicators agreed by the Steering Committee, and data for these indicators, for each jurisdiction (where possible). These indicators assist governments to assess the performance of the services provided in their jurisdiction.

The service areas covered by the Report on Government Services include:

• Children's services
• School education
• Vocational education and training
• Police services
• Court administration
• Corrective services
• Emergency management
• Public hospitals
• Primary and community health
• Health management issues
• Aged care services
• Services for people with a disability
• Protection and support services
• Housing.

The second part of the Review's Terms of Reference is to publish analysis of service provision reforms that have been implemented, or are under consideration, by the Australian, State and Territory governments. The Terms of Reference require the Review to cover major reforms including those involving the separation of policy developments from service provision. The reform analyses take the form of case studies of major initiatives developed in cooperation with the relevant jurisdictions. The first report, Reforms in Government Service Provision 1997, was published in June 1997. The second report was released in September 1998.

The Review has adopted a cooperative approach based on participation of all governments in Australia. The Review is organised as outlined below:

Working groups

For the purpose of producing the Report on Government Services, the Steering Committee is supported by working groups convened by a Steering Committee member for each area of service provision covered by the report. The working groups are responsible for the development of performance indicators within the agreed performance indicator framework. Each jurisdiction has the opportunity to nominate a representative on each working group and working groups generally comprise senior staff working in the relevant line departments. For example, the School Education and the Vocational Education and Training working groups comprise of people working in education and training agencies from each jurisdiction.

An Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage Working Group, also comprising representatives from each jurisdiction, assists the Steering Committee to produce the Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage: Key Indicators report.

Specialist input and parallel exercises

A number of technical experts also attend working group meetings. The working groups may also draw on advice from specialist research groups.

For example, a range of Review working groups receive input from:

• the Australian Institute for Health and Welfare (AIHW) which collects and provides data for a number of inter-jurisdictional exercises in the health and community services areas.
• the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) which provides technical expertise and data.

There are other interested groups which contribute to the Review.

Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage: Key Indicators

The Review has been tasked to report information on Indigenous Australians. A draft framework for reporting was released in September 2002 to form the basis for consultations with key stakeholders. The first report, based on a framework agreed by COAG, was released in November 2003. Ongoing consultations continue in the second and third reports, published in 2005 and 2007 respectively. The fourth report is anticipated to be released during 2009.