Skip to Content
 Close search
Print

Report on Government Services

The annual Report on Government Services (RoGS) provides information on the equity, effectiveness and efficiency of government services in Australia. The 2021 RoGS was progressively released between 20 January and 2 February 2021.

Impact of COVID-19 on data in the 2021 Report

COVID‑19 may affect data in this Report in a number of ways. This includes in respect of:

  • actual performance — that is, the impact of COVID‑19 on service delivery in 2020 which is reflected in the data for those indicators with data covering this time period
  • the collection and processing of data — that is, the ability of data providers to undertake data collection and process results for inclusion in the Report (regardless of the time period of the data).

For affected data, the impacts of various restrictions introduced from March 2020 have been identified and noted in relevant sections. The impacts predominately related to changes in service inputs, outputs and outcomes, but did not change the comparability of any indicators in the 2021 Report. For some service areas, the impact resulted in non-collection of data (for example, NAPLAN 2020 for section 4 – School education) or delays in data collection and hence no new data available in time for inclusion in this edition of the Report (for example, Student Outcomes Survey 2020 for section 5 – VET).

The Steering Committee will continue to monitor the impact of COVID-19 on future editions of this Report.

Register to keep informed

The 2021 RoGS is available below, with earlier editions accessible by changing the year in the white box and pressing ‘Change year'.

Documents are provided which outline how to access the RoGS material. The colour coding refers to which document should be used for each RoGS Part below.

  • At a glance
  • Media release
  • About report

Report at a glance

A Approach to performance reporting

PART A: RELEASED ON 20 JANUARY 2021

Part A includes an introduction to the Report on Government Services 2021, Statistical context for the service-specific parts B to G, the Glossary and the Acronyms and abbreviations list.

1 Approach to performance measurement

2 Statistical context

Glossary

Acronyms and abbreviations

B Child care, education and training

PART B: RELEASED ON 2 FEBRUARY 2021

Part B includes performance reporting for Early childhood education and care (ECEC), School education and Vocational education and training (VET).

Sector overview

3 Early childhood education and care

4 School education

5 Vocational education and training latest update: 3 june 2021

C Justice

PART C: Released on 22 January 2021

Part C includes performance reporting for Police services, Courts and Corrective services.

Sector overview

6 Police services latest update: 3 june 2021

7 Courts

8 Corrective services

D Emergency management

PART D: RELEASED ON 22 JANUARY 2021

Part D includes performance reporting for Emergency services for fire and other events.

Sector overview

9 Emergency services for fire and other events

E Health

PART E: RELEASED ON 28 JANUARY 2021

Part E includes performance reporting for Primary and community health, Ambulance services, Public hospitals and Services for mental health.

Sector overview

10 Primary and community health

11 Ambulance services

12 Public hospitals

13 Services for mental health

F Community services

PART F: RELEASED ON 20 JANUARY 2021

Part F includes performance reporting for Aged care services, Services for people with disability, Child protection services and Youth justice services.

Sector overview

14 Aged care services

15 Services for people with disability

16 Child protection services

17 Youth justice services

G Housing and homelessness

PART G: Released on 20 January 2021

Part G includes performance reporting for Housing and Homelessness services.

Sector overview

18 Housing latest update: 3 june 2021

19 Homelessness services

Media release

The Report on Government Services provides a public report card on the performance of Australian governments in the delivery of important services to the community.

The Report looks at a broad range of indicators relating to the cost, quality and timeliness of services covering:

  • Education
  • Justice
  • Community services
  • Health
  • Emergency management
  • Housing and homelessness

Expenditure on these services makes up around 72 per cent of Australian, State and Territory Governments’ expenditure, or around $276 billion dollars.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of more timely data” Michael Brennan, Chair of both the Productivity Commission and the Steering Committee said.

“While much of the data in this edition reports on performance for part of 2020, there are some areas where this was not the case and data continue to lag” Mr Brennan said. “Of particular concern are services for mental health, where much of the annual administrative data for national reporting were only available to mid‑2019.”

“With governments adapting policies and programs more quickly, particularly in the face of a global pandemic, data developments to monitor these changes need to keep pace” said Mr Brennan. “Commencing with a small pilot in mid-2020, the Report is transitioning from a single annual update to more regular updates as new data become available.”

This comprehensive Report covers 17 services is being released in seven parts from Wednesday 20 January through to Tuesday 2 February 2021. The schedule of release can be found below.

Releases will appear on the Productivity Commission website at www.pc.gov.au/research/ongoing/report-on-government-services. The Report is produced by the Productivity Commission on behalf of all Australian governments. The 2021 Report is the 26th edition.

Release schedule

Wednesday, 20 January 2021 – 12.15 am

  • Approach to performance reporting – Part A
  • Community services (aged care, disability, child protection and youth justice) – Part F
  • Housing and homelessness – Part G

Friday, 22 January 2021 – 12.15 am

  • Justice (police, courts and corrective services) – Part C
  • Emergency management (fire and other emergency services) – Part D

Thursday, 28 January 2021 – 12.15 am

  • Health (primary and community health, ambulance, public hospitals, mental health) – Part E

Tuesday, 2 February 2021 – 12.15 am

  • Child care, education and training (early childhood education and care, school education and vocational education and training) – Part B

About this report

Expand allCollapse all

Acknowledgment

This report was produced under the direction of the Steering Committee for the Review of Government Service Provision (SCRGSP). The Steering Committee comprises the following current members:

NameGovernmentDepartment/Agency
Mr Michael Brennan Chair Productivity Commission
Mr John Swieringa 
Ms Clare Firth  		Australian Government 
Australian Government  		The Treasury 
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet 
Ms Angela McIlwain
Ms Anita Truninger  		NSW
NSW  		NSW Treasury
Department of Premier and Cabinet 
Mr Michael Boelsen
Ms Teresa Fels 		Vic
Vic  		Department of Premier and Cabinet
Department of Treasury and Finance 
Ms Nicole Tabb
Ms Catherine McFadyen  		Qld 
Qld 		Department of the Premier and Cabinet
Queensland Treasury 
Ms Eleanor Jones
Mr Kurt Sibma  		WA
WA  		Department of the Premier and Cabinet
Department of Treasury 
Mr Chris McGowan
Ms Tammie Pribanic  		SA
SA 		Department of the Premier and Cabinet
Department of Treasury and Finance 
Mr Craig Limkin Tas Department of Premier and Cabinet
Mr Sam Engele ACT Chief Minister, Treasury and Economic Development Directorate
Ms Nadia Phillips
Ms Nardia Harris  		NT
NT  		Department of the Chief Minister
Department of Treasury and Finance 
Dr Paul Jelfs   Australian Bureau of Statistics
Mr Matthew James   Australian Institute of Health and Welfare

People who also served on the Steering Committee during the production of this Report include:

NameGovernmentDepartment/Agency
Ms Joanne Evans Australian Government The Treasury
Mr Joshua Greenwood
Ms Tegan Tembe  		NSW
NSW              		NSW Treasury
NSW Treasury
Ns Nicola Quin Vic Department of Premier and Cabinet
Ms Sarah Norton WA  Department of Premier and Cabinet

Copyright and publication detail

Read more about copyright

ISSN 2205-5703 (Online)

Attribution

This work should be attributed as follows, Source: Steering Committee for the Review of Government Service Provision, Report on Government Services 2021 .

If you have adapted, modified or transformed this work in anyway, please use the following, Source: based on Steering Committee for the Review of Government Service Provision data, Report on Government Services 2021. 

An appropriate reference for this publication is:

SCRGSP (Steering Committee for the Review of Government Service Provision) 2021, Report on Government Services 2021, Productivity Commission, Canberra, https://www.pc.gov.au/research/ongoing/report-on-government-services/2021 (accessed [include the date you accessed the online material]).

Publications enquiries:

The Productivity Commission acts as the Secretariat for the Steering Committee for the Review of Government Service Provision. This report and previous editions are available from the Productivity Commission website at www.pc.gov.au.

The Steering Committee welcomes enquiries and suggestions on the information contained in this report. Contact the Secretariat by phone: (03) 9653 2100 or general enquiries form.

You may also be interested in

Terms of reference - Report on Government Services

Criteria for selecting service provision sectors

Previous years RoGS

What works

Supplementary reviews of government services.

What works reviews

Printed copies

Printed copies of the complete set of volumes for this report can be purchased from Canprint Communications.

Please note: If you do not need the whole Report then you can purchase individual volumes from their respective web pages.

This publication is only available online.

Publications feedback

We value your comments about this publication and encourage you to provide feedback.

Submit publications feedback

2009 Review of the Report on Government Services

COAG endorsed the review's recommendations at its 7 December 2009 meeting.

The Steering Committee endorsed the Independent Reference Group's Review of the Report on Government Services' performance indicator framework Report in September 2010.

Join the conversation