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Implementing reforms in government services 1998

Steering Committee report

This report was released on 2 September 1998 and comprises case studies of recent reforms in different government service areas in four jurisdictions.

These are education (devolution of decision making in Victorian Government schools), health (use of competitive tendering for NSW Public Hospital services), disability services (offering direct consumer funding and choice in WA disability services ), and courts (applying prices for court reporting services for Commonwealth Courts).

It also details the results of surveys covering developments in each case study area in other jurisdictions, to situate the reforms in a national context.

Please note: that some minor changes to data have been made since the original publication. These changes are noted in the document.

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  • Contents

Preliminaries
Copyright, Preface, Contents

1 Implementing Reform
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Review of Commonwealth/State Service Provision
1.3 Role of the case studies
1.4 Lessons from the case studies

2 Devolving Decision Making in Victorian Government Schools
2.1 This case study
2.2 The reform
2.2.1 Government objectives
2.2.2 Development of the Schools of the Future program
2.3 Reform environment
2.4 Key implementation issues
2.4.1 How reform was introduced
2.4.2 Decentralisation
2.4.3 Human resources issues
2.4.4 Funding arrangements
2.4.5 Measuring school performance
2.4.6 Measuring program performance
2.4.7 Managing underperforming schools
2.5 Future issues
2.6 Conclusions

2A Survey of Decision Making in Government Schools

3 Using Competitive Tendering for NSW Public Hospital Services
3.1 This case study
3.2 The reform
3.2.1 Incentives and disincentives
3.3 Reform environment
3.4 Managing the risks to service delivery
3.4.1 Overview of risk allocation for Hawkesbury Hospital
3.4.2 Creating incentives to improve performance
3.4.3 Creating incentives to manage supply
3.4.4 Creating incentives to provide the appropriate mix of service types
3.4.5 Creating incentives to maintain service quality
3.4.6 Creating incentives to maintain equity of access
3.4.7 Other issues for government
3.5 Other issues for the operator
3.6 Future issues
3.7 Conclusions

3A Survey of Competitive Tendering and Contracting Arrangements for Public Hospital Services

4 Offering Direct Consumer Funding and Choice in WA Disability Services
4.1 This case study
4.2 The reform
4.2.1 Objectives
4.3 Background to the reform
4.4 Key implementation issues
4.4.1 Introduction of service
4.4.2 Direct consumer funding
4.4.3 Service delivery
4.4.4 Improving coordination of other services
4.4.5 Maintaining and enhancing performance
4.4.6 Maintaining cooperation among competing providers
4.5 Future issues
4.6 Conclusion

4A Survey of Consumer Funding and Choice in Disability Services

5 Pricing Court Reporting Services for Commonwealth Courts
5.1 This case study
5.2 The reform
5.3 Reform environment
5.4 Key implementation issues
5.4.1 Determining the cost drivers
5.4.2 Sharing costs among litigants, courts and the community
5.4.3 Directly funding the community’s share of costs
5.4.4 Cost shares of courts and litigants
5.4.5 Transition issues
5.5 Conclusions

5A Survey of Court Reporting Services

6 Checklists for Effective Reforms
6.1 Timing program implementation
6.2 Decentralising decision making
6.3 Measuring and assessing performance
6.4 Measuring quality
6.5 Directly linking funding to performance
6.6 Charging users
6.7 Conclusions

References

Index

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