Implementing machinery of government changes The Implementing machinery of government changes good practice guide has been developed jointly by the Australian Public Service Commission, the Department of Finance and Administration and the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, in consultation with the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and the National Archives of Australia. The publication provides a source of practical guidance to help APS agencies implement machinery of government (MOG) changes, and includes: an overview of the MOG process in the APS principles and approaches for planning and implementing MOG changes guidance on financial management and people management advice on managing physical relocations, records and taxation. The MOG changes publication was released online on 30 January 2007 and is available on the Commission's website. Hard copies were made available in February.

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Performance review : APS policy and employment services : Advice and support to Minister, Executive and agency heads
Output 1.2: Employment services

Advice and support to Minister, Executive and agency heads

The Public Service Commissioner’s (the Commissioner) role involves providing advice and reporting to the Minister on matters relating to the APS as well as advising and assisting agency heads on public service matters. The Australian Public Service Commission (Commission) provides support and advice to the Executive to develop, promote, review and evaluate APS employment policies and practices.

Table 2: Performance information - Output 1.1 Advice and support to Minister, Executive and agency heads

Target	Result
Quantity
1. Number of items to ministers:
responses to ministerial correspondence—estimate 20	Overestimated. 17 responses to ministerial correspondence.
question time briefs—estimate 23	Overestimated. 22 new question time briefs.
ministerial requests for briefings—estimate 63	Underestimated. 65 ministerial requests for briefings.
2. Number of reports and responses to requests for information and advice:
responses to correspondence—estimate 31	Underestimated. 12 responses to correspondence.
Commission Adviceline enquiries—estimate 3200	Overestimated. 2834 enquiries received.
reports, circulars and publications—estimate 18	Achieved. 6 circulars; 12 publications
advice and support to regional senior staff—estimate 132	Overestimated. 115
Quality
Percentage of items rated satisfactory or higher in terms of relevance, quality and timeliness – target is 100%.	Achieved. 100% of rated briefs at a satisfactory or higher standard.
Agencies satisfied with quality of advice.	Achieved. Agency feedback continues to indicate satisfaction with the advice provided.
Estimated price: $2.210 million	Actual: $2.414 million
^ For completeness and effectiveness of reporting of 'items to Ministers', all areas within the Commission are represented in this table.

Advice and support to the Minister

During 2006–07 the Commission continued to provide high quality support and advice to the Minister. This included 17 responses to ministerial correspondence, 22 new question time briefs and 65 ministerial briefings.

To measure the quality and timeliness of advice, the Minister is provided with the opportunity to assess briefs against a scale of one to five, with ‘five’ being ‘excellent’ and ‘one’ being ’poor’. In the first half of 2006–07, all briefs assessed by the Minister received a rating of satisfactory or higher. Soon after being appointed Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service in January 2007, the Hon. Joe Hockey MP, advised that this formal assessment process was no longer necessary.

Review of the Public Service Act 1999 and subordinate legislation

In August 2005, the then Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service, the Hon. Kevin Andrews MP, agreed that the Commission commence a review of the Act and subordinate legislation to ensure that the legislative framework meets the future needs of the APS. Work commenced on the review of the Act in 2005–06 and continued during the current financial year.

Following extensive consultations with Secretaries and other agency heads, a range of largely pragmatic improvements to the current framework were identified. Given the Act is currently operating effectively, the Government decided in October 2006 to defer the review until 2008 and focus on a range of other priority matters.

Disclosure of information

The 2005–06 annual report foreshadowed an amendment to the Public Service Regulations 1999, dealing with the obligations of APS employees not to disclose information received or communicated in confidence.

The revised Public Service Regulation 2.1 came into effect from 15 July 2006 and brings the law regulating disclosure of information by APS employees in line with community expectations and addresses the matters raised by the Federal Court decision in Bennett v The President, Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission [2003] FCA 143. Further information on the changes can be found on the Commission’s website at http://www.apsc.gov.au/circulars/circular063.htm

Provide advice and support services to the Executive

Advice and support to members of the Commission’s Executive includes research on public sector matters and potential reforms, the preparation of briefs, correspondence and speech writing services.

Speeches and presentations by members of the Commission’s Executive are important opportunities for engagement with agencies and external stakeholders. They enable the Commission’s Executive and staff to champion public service issues, to stimulate debate within the APS, as well as externally and to assess the Commission’s research and development work against international practice and academic study.

The Commissioner made many presentations during 2006–07, including 11 major speeches, one presentation to the senior staff of Comcoverand eight presentations to multi‑agency forums.

Speeches delivered during 2006–07 included:

• The context and challenges of policy advising, address to ANZSOG Executive Master in Public Administration Course, 12 June 2007
• Drawing Together—an art competition exploring reconciliation and promoting the employment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the Australian Public Service’, public launch speech, 9 March 2007
• Celebration of the 40th anniversary of the lifting of the marriage bar, launch speech, 20 November 2006
• Organisational reinvention—how can we keep up in a climate of rapid change and compliance?, CPA Congress on ‘Agility in the face of change’, 17 November 2006
• Looking to the future—directions in public sector reform, Crawford School Alumni, 8 November 2006
• Fashions and fads in public sector reform, CAPAM Biennial Conference, 24 October 2006
• Securing the Australian Public Service’s ICT workforce, Australian Government Information Office Better Practice Seminar on ‘ICT Skills in the APS—buying in a sellers’ market’, 27 September 2006
• Building the reputation of the Australian Public Service, Comcover’s 2006 Senior Executive Forum on ‘When our Risks Become Public: the challenging nature of reputation risk management’, 31 August 2006
• Employment of people with disability in the APS, launch of the sixth MAC Report, 30 August 2006
• Responding to demographic change in the Australian Public Service, 2006 Australian Social and Economic Policy Lecture Series, Australian National University, 22 August 2006

The Deputy Public Service Commissioner made 12 speeches and 19 other presentations, including a speech to over 700 APS graduates at the annual A Taste of Government seminar.

The Merit Protection Commissioner made 22 speeches during 2006–07, including:

• Making a Values-based public service a reality, Ethical Leadership and Governance in the Public Sector conference, 9 May 2007
• Why people and performance matter: the challenge for the Australian Public Service, presentation to Australian National University students, 11 April 2007
• The Australian reform experience, seminar on the modernisation of the Public Service, Noumea, New Caledonia, 18 August 2006.

Advice and support to agency heads

The Commission plays an important role in providing advice to agency heads on matters related to APS policy and legislation. This includes advice on complex matters arising in their agency which relate to employment and Code of Conduct issues and, on occasions, providing a representative on agency governance committees.

The Deputy Public Service Commissioner continues to support agency heads in her role as member of the Australian Taxation Office Integrity Advisory Committee and the Department of Immigration and Citizenship Values and Standards Committee.

Building better governance

The Commission is responsible for fostering leadership in the APS and a central responsibility of APS leaders is to ensure that sound governance policies and practices are instilled in their agencies. Over the past few years there has been growing interest in governance arrangements largely because of the recent inquiries and reports which have highlighted governance shortcomings in key private and public sector organisations. Encouraging and supporting good governance in the Australian public sector is a key contemporary government challenge.

Common themes about characteristics essential to successfully build better governance have emerged from a series of agency case studies being coordinated by the Commission. These themes include: strong leadership, culture and communication; appropriate governance committee structures; clear accountability mechanisms; working effectively across organisational boundaries; comprehensive risk management, compliance and assurance systems; strategic planning;performance monitoring and evaluation; and flexible and evolving principles-based systems. The Commission has used this work to develop a publication on building better governance.

The publication is expected to be released in October 2007.

Implementation of the Uhrig Review

Throughout 2006–07 the Commission continued to work in partnership with agencies moving into the APS as a result of the implementation of recommendations made by the Uhrig Review. The Commission met several times with agencies such as the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority, the Private Health Insurance Ombudsman and the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (regarding the Office of the Workplace Ombudsman and Workplace Authority) providing advice as they moved through the transition. Services provided included:

• advice on management of the change, including employment options and flexibilities
• help with preparing instructions to those drafting legislation on transitional provisions
• advice on the APS Values and Code of Conduct, the APS whistleblowing provisions and review of actions
• advice on new human resource policies and procedures resulting from Public Service Act coverage
• information sessions on recruitment and selection procedures for SES and non-SES staff.

Implementing machinery of government changes

In partnership with the Department of Finance and Administration and the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, the Commission completed the development of a good practice guide, Implementing machinery of government changes, in January 2007. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and the National Archives of Australia were also consulted. The guide was initiated by the Commissioner in response to the needs of Portfolio Secretaries.

The guide provides practical information to assist APS agencies implement machinery of government (MOG) changes and includes: an overview of the MOG process in the APS; principles and approaches for planning and implementing MOG changes; guidance on both financial and people management; and advice on managing physical relocations, records and taxation. The guide was released online on 30 January 2007 and distributed to all APS agency heads and SES in February 2007.

A copy of the guide can be accessed through the Commission's website at: www.apsc.gov.au/publications07/machineryofgovernment.htm

SES virtual team

A need for greater focus and better coordinated action in supporting the SES was identified during the year as a key priority, consistent with the Commission’s focus on the SES expressed in the corporate plan as promoting a leadership culture and a professional senior executive cadre in the APS. Building on the theme One SES—One APS, senior staff responsible for SES-related activities across the Commission formed the SES virtual team.

By June 2007, the team had overseen the drafting of a range of discussion papers, developing an approach to obtain views of the SES group on their needs and piloting a new e-newsletter for SES staff. By early 2007–08, the SES component of the Commission's website will be upgraded to improve its usefulness and accessibility of information to SES employees.

Guide to official conduct

In consultation with key stakeholder agencies, the Commission reviewed Chapters 10 (Gifts and Benefits) and 14 (Working overseas) of A guide to official conduct for APS employees and agency heads (the guide). These chapters were subsequently amended to clarify APS employees’ obligations in relation to receiving or offering bribes and of reporting behaviour of other employees they believe may amount to a breach of the Code of Conduct, including the bribery of foreign officials.

The guide reinforces the requirement under the Act that APS employees observe the highest standards of ethical behaviour. Amendments to the guide followed recommendations made by the OECD Working Group on corruption in January 2006 in its report on Australia’s application of the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials.

Revised policy guidelines on declarations of personal interests

The Commission undertook a review of the requirement for SES and other senior staff to annually declare their personal financials and any other items of interests to the head of their agency. The purpose of this policy is to help identify and manage any actual or potential conflicts between the personal interests of senior decision makers and their respective work responsibilities.

The review, which was undertaken in consultation with Portfolio Secretaries, reaffirmed the importance of declaring personal interests. It has also resulted in sharpening the focus of declarations policy with an emphasis on: identifying those personal interests that are directly relevant to the employee's work responsibilities; the importance of updating declarations on an ongoing basis as personal and work circumstances change; and the need to consider and apply the declarations policy to non-SES staff in sensitive positions.

The revised guidelines were released in June 2007.

Employment Policy advice to regional senior staff

The Commission’s Employment Policy Adviceline (the Adviceline) provides information to agencies on a range of matters relating to APS employment policy. Callers from an agency’s human resource area can seek advice on the legislative framework including: recruitment; termination of employment; redundancy; the APS Values and Code of Conduct; performance management; and better practice advice.

While most APS employment matters are the responsibility of agency heads, the Adviceline assists in clarifying issues and helping agencies to find the most relevant publicly available information, including on the Commission’s website.

There was a reduction in the overall number of enquiries to the Adviceline during 2006–07, with the service answering a total of 2,834 enquiries. This represents a monthly average of 236 calls: a decrease of 38 calls per month compared to the 2005–06 average. The reduction was mainly due to an adjustment to the telephone service in February 2007 to re-direct non-policy inquiries to appropriate areas within the Commission and other central agencies. Previously, the Adviceline received a significant number of queries which where not related to the Public Service Act 1999, as well as queries from APS employees which were better dealt with by their respective agency human resource areas.

There was a slight increase (1%) in the number of requests for advice made by email, compared to the previous year, with 31 per cent of enquiries in 2006–07 being emailed to: employmentadvice@apsc.gov.au

Table 2 identifies the main categories of enquiries received by the Commission’s Employment Policy Adviceline. As with previous years, calls relating to obtaining APS employment and the selection, movement and placement of existing APS employees, continued to dominate the range of advice sought.

Table 3: Main categories of Employment Policy Advice calls, 2004–07

Subject	2004–05	2005–06	2006–07
Staffing matters	812	935	1103
General legislative issues	298	416	138
Separations	234	261	259
Conditions/entitlements	251	259	235
Review matters	270	233	111
APS Values/Code of Conduct	187	212	204
Workplace diversity issues	40	80	47
SES matters	46	54	60
Mobility/reciprocal mobility	16	48	29
Competencies/qualifications	10	48	20
Other	1305	743	567
Total	3469	3289	2773

Commission staff in regional offices continue to play an important role in providing advice and support to senior regional staff in APS agencies on the role and services of the Commission. This includes advice and support with matters related to the APS Values and Code of Conduct, capability development, better people management, employment policy and employment services. Where this advice is time consuming, or relates to complex matters, the details are recorded for accountability purposes and in case of subsequent action. During the year, advice was provided to senior regional staff on 115 occasions.

Circulars

During 2006–07 the Commission issued seven circulars, notifying agencies of legislative changes, policy developments and the release of new publications:

• circular No 2007/2: The Privacy Act and employee information concerning Code of Conduct matters
• circular No 2007/1: Declarations of personal interests: revised policy guidelines
• circular No 2006/7: Planning for influenza pandemic issues — APS employment issues
• circular No 2006/6: Use of special measures to fill employment opportunities for people with intellectual disability
• circular No 2006/5: Engagement of persons who have received a redundancy benefit from Commonwealth employment—impact of Telstra (3) sale
• circular No 2006/4: APS staff selection exercises – use of external providers
• circular No 2006/3: Amendment to the Public Service Regulations 1999 concerning the disclosure of information.

Further information on these topics can be found on the Commission’s website at: http://www.apsc.gov.au/circulars/ and http://www.apsc.gov.au/publications/