Merit protection and other services

The Merit Protection Commissioner’s statutory role under the Public Service Act 1999 (the Act) includes inquiring into whistleblower reports (section 16) and reviewing actions in relation to APS employment (section 33).

The Act provides that the Commissioner will make available staff necessary to assist the Merit Protection Commissioner in performing his statutory functions through a memorandum of understanding. Commission staff members undertake several activities on behalf of the Merit Protection Commissioner, including in his role as Parliamentary Service Merit Protection Commissioner. These activities include:

conducting reviews of promotion decisions, primary reviews including reviews of determinations and sanctions with regard to breaches of the Code of Conduct and secondary reviews of other employment actions
providing assistance on matters relating to whistleblowing reports
providing support services, such as preparing management reports.

During 2006–07, Commission staff conducted 123 reviews and received 10 whistleblowing reports on behalf of the Merit Protection Commissioner and Parliamentary Service Merit Protection Commissioner. All activities performed on behalf of the Merit Protection Commissioner are demand driven.

Table 8: Performance Information: Output 1.4—Merit Protection and other services
Target	Result
Quantity
1. Conduct reviews and respond to whistleblowing reports. Estimated number of:
reviews—260	Overestimated. 214 review applications received.
whistleblowing report responses—15	Overestimated. 11 whistleblowing report responses.
2. Policy and advice services provided to the Merit Protection Commissioner, Parliamentary Service Merit Protection Commissioner and Parliamentary Departments—estimate 80 activities.	Underestimated. 96 activities for policy and advice services

Quality
1.
Review processes accepted as being impartial, fair and effective.	Achieved. Feedback from agencies and employees indicates a high level of acceptance of processes as being impartial, fair and effective.
90% of reviews completed within published timeframes.	Not achieved. 59% of reviews completed within published timeframes.
100% of whistleblowing reports receive an initial response within 6 weeks, with any further investigations conducted in a timely and objective manner.	Achieved. 100% of whistleblowing reports received a response within 6 weeks.
2. A high level of satisfaction of the Merit Protection Commissioner and Parliamentary Service Merit Protection Commissioner with the relevance, quality and timeliness of advice and 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.


Estimated price: $3.089 million	Actual: $2.930 million

A separate, detailed report has been prepared by the Merit Protection Commissioner on his activities during the year and is available at Part Four.