About the Review of Government Service Provision

Operations

Charter of Operations

The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) agreed to this charter of operations for the Steering Committee for the Review of Government Service Provision at its 19-20 April 2010 meeting.

These are also available on the COAG website.

Report on Government Services

The first part of the Review's terms of reference is addressed by the annual Report on Government Services (ROGS). The Review has more recently been tasked to report information on Indigenous Australians.

The ROGS 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 Review include:

• School education
• Vocational education and training
• Police
• Courts administration
• Corrective services
• Emergency management
• Health
• Aged care
• Services for people with a disability
• Children's services
• Protection and support services
• Housing.

Review of reforms in service provision

The second element of the Review is to publish analysis of service provision reforms that have been implemented, or are under consideration, by the Australian, State and Territory governments. The Review covers 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.

See more about review of reforms in service provision

Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage

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, with a second and third report released in 2005 and 2007 respectively.

National Agreement Reporting

In November 2008, COAG endorsed a new Intergovernmental Agreement on Federal Financial Relations. COAG agreed to six new National Agreements:

• National Affordable Housing Agreement
• National Disability Agreement
• National Education Agreement
• National Healthcare Agreement
• National Indigenous Reform Agreement
• National Agreement for Skills and Workforce Development.

The COAG Intergovernmental Agreement On Federal Financial Relations states that:

'The performance reporting framework for the National Agreements is based on:

1. High-level performance indicators for each National Agreement
2. the Steering Committee for the review of Government Service Provision (the Steering Committee) having overall responsibility for collating the necessary performance data
3. the COAG Reform Council publishing performance data relating to national Agreements, and National Partnerships to the extent that they support the objectives in national Agreements, within three months of receipt from the Steering Committee, along with a comparative analysis of this performance information that:
   • focuses on the high-level National Agreement performance indicators
   • highlights examples of good practice
   • highlights contextual differences between jurisdictions which are relevant to interpreting the data
   • reflects COAG's intention to outline transparently the contribution of both levels of government to achieving performance benchmarks and to achieving continuous improvement against the outcomes, outputs and performance indicators.'

The July 2008 COAG communiqué stated that:

'the Steering Committee for the Review of Government Service Provision (SCRGSP) should provide to the CRC, desirably within three months and certainly no later than six months after the reporting period to which the data relates, the agreed performance information for the CRC to undertake its assessment, analytical and reporting responsibilities.'