A performance audit into how effectively the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (DPIE) and the Department of Regional NSW (DRNSW) managed their 2019 and 2020 Machinery of Government (MoG) changes has found that the achievement of benefits had not been monitored.
In her Report, Machinery of government changes, Auditor-General, Margaret Crawford said it was unclear whether the benefits of the MoG created by DPIE and DRNSW outweighed the costs.
“The anticipated benefits of the changes were not articulated in sufficient detail and the achievement of directly attributable benefits has not been monitored,” Ms Crawford said.
“The costs of the changes were not tracked or reported,” she said.
“The benefits and costs of the Machinery of Government changes were not tracked because the Department of Premier and Cabinet (DPC) and NSW Treasury did not require Departments to collect or report this information.”
Ms Crawford said the implementation of the MoG changes was completed within the set timeframes, and operations for the new Departments commenced as scheduled.
She said this was achieved despite short timelines and no additional budget allocation for the implementation of the changes.
“The rationale for establishing DPIE was not documented at the time of the 2019 Machinery of Government changes and the anticipated benefits of the change were not defined by the Government or the Department,” she said.
“For DRNSW, the Government’s stated purpose was to provide better representation and support for regional areas, but no prior analysis was conducted to quantify any problems or set targets for improvement.”
Ms Crawford said DPC and NSW Treasury advised that they did not define the purpose and benefits of the MoG changes, or request affected Departments to do so, because these were decisions of the Government and the role of the Public Service was to implement the decisions.
She made three recommendations to DPC and Treasury, to consolidate existing guidance on MoG changes into a single document available to all Departments and Agencies; provide guidance for Departments and Agencies to use when negotiating corporate services staff transfers as a part of MoG changes; and progress work to develop and implement common processes and systems for corporate services to support efficient movement of staff between Departments and Agencies.
The Auditor-General’s 34-page Report can be accessed at this PS News link.
