Report on Government Services 2012
The Report on Government Services 2012 is being released on 31 January 2012. This is the seventeenth edition of the Report, produced by a Steering Committee of senior officials from Australian, State and Territory governments for the Council of Australian Governments (COAG). The Steering Committee is chaired by Gary Banks, Chairman of the Productivity Commission.
Gary Banks observed that the Report promotes awareness about the performance of government services and helps drive improvements. 'Everyone relies on government services at different stages of their lives, and the services in this Report are particularly important for the more disadvantaged members of society. Improving government services is important socially, but also economically. Governments spent over $164 billion on the services covered in this year's Report, equivalent to around 12.5 per cent of Australia's national income'.
There are a number of improvements in this year's Report, including the introduction of sector summaries in all broad reporting areas (Early childhood, education and training, Justice, Emergency management, Health, Community services, and Housing and homelessness), further data quality information, extended time series data for many indicators, and inclusion of brief case studies for selected service areas.
Reporting on the delivery of mainstream services to Indigenous Australians is a priority for this Report. For example, this edition includes additional school education reporting on learning outcomes for recent student cohorts, by Indigenous status.
Information on each service covered by the Report is summarised in the attached Factsheets. Improvements in the 2012 Report are outlined in the introductory sections of each service-area chapter. The most recent data (and any errata) will appear on the Steering Committee's web page.