About the Review of Government Service Provision

Objectives

The Review of Government Service Provision was established in 1993 by Heads of government (now the Council of Australian Governments or COAG) to provide information on the effectiveness and efficiency of government services in Australia. A Steering Committee, comprising senior representatives from the central agencies of all governments, manages the Review with the assistance of a Secretariat provided by the Productivity Commission.

The Review aims to:

• enable ongoing comparisons of the performance of government services
• report on government service provision reforms that governments have implemented or that are under consideration.

Two main tasks of the Review, as set out in the original terms of reference, are to:

• develop agreed national performance indicators for government services (which are published in the annual Report on Government Services)
  
• analyse service provision reforms.

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 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 to promote ongoing performance improvement.

A third main task of the Review is production of the Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage: Key Indicators report on a regular basis.

A fourth main task is to provide agreed performance information to the COAG Reform Council (CRC) to enable reporting under new National Agreements.