The Department of Education has released its final report on a review of its Employee Performance and Conduct (EPAC) directorate to make it more efficient and transparent.
Conducted by former Crown Prosecutor, Mark Tedeschi QC, the report has been welcomed by the Secretary of the Department, Mark Scott who said implementation of its recommendations had already begun.
Mr Scott said the recommendations would all be acted upon by mid-2020.
He said the review had been commissioned to examine and make recommendations on how employee performance and conduct functions were managed.
“The review confirmed the importance of the functions of EPAC as an internal unit of the Department within the new Division of People and Culture,” Mr Scott said.
He said stakeholders had expressed concerns over delays in the completion of investigations and had called for greater transparency and communication with all people involved.
“The review recommends immediate action by the Department to address the workload issues which have contributed to delays in the completion of investigation and to implement a number of actions to enhance transparency of the process,” he said.
“The review has identified how operational efficiency can be improved, how matters can be dealt with in a more timely fashion, and how EPAC’s independence and procedural fairness can be made clearer to stakeholders.”
Mr Scott said that earlier this year, stakeholders were invited to make submissions and a submission form was published on the Department’s website for contributions from the general public.
He said Mr Tedeschi reviewed more than 100 submissions, met key stakeholders and examined how similar investigative functions are managed by other agencies within and outside NSW, in educational and other professional settings.
Mr Tedeschi’s 177-page report can be accessed on the Department’s website at this PS News link.