Output 5: Merit protection and other services

Output 5 is drawn from the Merit Protection Commissioner’s statutory role under the PS Act, which includes:

inquiring into whistleblower reports (section 16 of the PS Act)
conducting reviews of actions (section 33 of the PS Act).

The PS Act provides that staff necessary to assist the Merit Protection Commissioner must be made available by the Public Service Commissioner. The Merit Protection Commissioner and the Public Service Commissioner have in place a Memorandum of Understanding for the provision of staff necessary to assist the Merit Protection Commissioner in the performance of his functions.

To meet the requirements of Output 5, APS Commission employees undertaking work on behalf of the Merit Protection Commissioner:

provided assistance on matters relating to whistleblowing reports
conducted reviews of promotion decisions
conducted primary reviews, including reviews of determinations and sanctions with regard to breaches of the Code of Conduct
conducted secondary reviews of other employment actions
provided support services to the Merit Protection Commissioner, including in his role as Parliamentary Service Merit Protection Commissioner.

All items for this output are demand driven. A significant achievement in relation to Output 5 in 2003—04 was the effective management of an increased review workload.

Increases in the number of applications for primary and secondary reviews of action received and the number reviewed, as well as the complexity of the issues, contributed to some target times being exceeded. These issues are discussed in detail in the Merit Protection Commissioner’s Annual Report.

The total price for Output 5 for 2003—04 was $2.587m

A separate report by the Merit Protection Commissioner on his activities during the year, which support Output 5, is incorporated in Part 4 of this report.

TABLE 24: Performance information–Output Component 5.1 Reviews of Promotion Decisions

Target	Result
Quantity Number of applications for reviews of promotion decisions–estimate 195.	Below estimate–101 applications received.
Quality 90% of Promotion Review Committees are completed within the timeframe set by the Merit Protection Commissioner and published in the Service Charter.	Not achieved–74% of Promotion Review Committees completed within the timeframe of 6 weeks set by the Merit Protection Commissioner.

TABLE 25: Performance information–Output Component 5.2 Respond to Whistleblowing Reports

Target	Result
Quantity Number of responses to whistleblowing reports–estimate 20.	Below estimate–responses provided to 6 whistleblowing reports.
Quality 100% of whistleblowing reports receive an initial response within 6 weeks. Further investigations are conducted in a timely and objective manner.	Achieved–initial response times. However, one investigation proved to be particularly time consuming and expensive.

TABLE 26: Performance information–Output Component 5.3 Primary Reviews including Breaches of Code of Conduct

Target	Result
Quantity Number of applications for primary reviews including breaches of the Code of Conduct–estimate 65.	Exceeded estimate–81 applications received.
Quality 90% of primary reviews are completed within the timeframes set by the Merit Protection Commissioner and published within the Service Charter.	Not achieved–23% of primary reviews completed within the timeframe of 10 weeks set by the Merit Protection Commissioner.

TABLE 27: Performance information–Output Component 5.4 Secondary Reviews of Other Employment action

Target	Result
Quantity Number of applications for secondary reviews of other employment actions–estimate 115	Exceeded estimate–144 applications received
Quality • 90% are completed within the timeframes set by the Merit Protection Commissioner and published within the Service Charter • 90% of recommendations provided to agencies have been adopted	Not achieved–63% of secondary reviews completed within the timeframe of 8 weeks set by the Merit Protection Commissioner Achieved–99% of recommendations have been adopted

TABLE 28: Performance information–Output Component 5.5 Services to the Parliamentary Merit Protection Commissioner

Target	Result
Quantity Number of support services provided to the Merit Protection Commissioner, including in his capacity as Parliamentary Service Merit Protection Commissioner: • policy and advice services–estimate 100 • support for the Parliamentary Service Commissioner casework–estimate 4	Exceeded estimate for policy and advice activities–109 activities Below estimate for support for Parliamentary Service Commissioner casework–2 activities
Quality A high level of satisfaction of the Merit Protection Commissioner with the relevance, quality and timeliness of advice/support provided	Achieved–feedback from the Merit Protection Commissioner, including in his role as Parliamentary Service Merit Protection Commissioner, has indicated a high level of satisfaction with the support services provided in respect of his role.

Price for Output 5

The total price for Output 5 was $2.587m. This is higher than the estimated price of $1.447m published in the Additional Estimates in February 2004.

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