The Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) has found that the Australian Public Service (APS) has effectively implemented the Government’s priorities for responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In its first of five reports investigating the Management of the Australian Public Service’s Workforce Response to COVID-19 scheduled for the coming years, the ANAO said it focused on the effective, efficient, economical and ethical delivery of the Government’s response to the pandemic.
“From the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia, the APS workforce had to adapt within a short timeframe to a new operating environment and position itself to handle a surge in demand for Government services,” the ANAO said.
“Governance of the APS workforce response to COVID-19 has been the responsibility of the Secretaries Board, Chief Operating Officers (COO) Committee, APS Commissioner and Agency heads.”
It said the APS Commission and Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet also played central roles in managing the APS’s workforce response over the pandemic period.
The audit report found that management of the APS workforce in implementing the Government’s COVID-19 priorities had been effective.
“Arrangements established by the APSC and the COO Committee to oversee and monitor the workforce response were largely appropriate,” it said.
“Management of efforts to position the APS workforce to respond, through deployment of staff to critical functions and provision of guidance on workforce measures, was effective.”
The audit report made no recommendations, but identified key messages for Australian Government entities relating to governance, risk management and policy implementation.
“Various initiatives are under way to capture lessons learned from the response to inform planning for future operations,” the ANAO said.
The 73-page ANAO report can be accessed at this PS News link and the audit team was Daniel Whyte, Megan Beven, Alicia Vaughan, Se Eun Lee, Lily Engelbrethsen, and Deborah Jackson.
