An audit of the measures taken by the Department of Health to streamline its operations as part of a Government requirement that it achieve savings of $1.2 billion has prompted the Auditor-General to publish a set of key learnings for all Government entities.
In his report, The Design, Implementation and Monitoring of Health’s Savings Measures, Auditor-General, Grant Hehir said the Department was to make its savings by abolishing two small Agencies, returning funds from some administered programs and by increasing its own efficiency.
“While administered savings were effectively implemented and monitored, the Department lacked appropriate arrangements to monitor the implementation and impact of Departmental efficiency savings,” Mr Hehir said.
He said the design of measures was consistent with guidance provided by the Department of Finance and the Department’s own internal budgeting processes.
“Health’s monitoring of Departmental savings measures focused on high-level information about implementation activities and did not include information about reductions in operating costs or the achievement of specific benefits,” he said.
In his Key Learnings for Agencies, Mr Hehir advised on policy design, governance and risk management, and performance and impact measurement.
He said that savings measures should be costed using information on cost drivers, desired levels of performance and baseline data and review and evaluation arrangements should be identified in the design phase.
“Entities should prepare project plans that outlined savings and benefits, identifying implementation risks,” Mr Hehir said.
He said trends in performance against baseline data should be monitored to assess whether objectives were being achieved, and to identify and share successful examples of implementation or new approaches.
The Auditor-General’s 50-page report, which contains the Key Learnings, can be accessed at this PS News link and the audit team was Judy Lachele, Jillian Blow, Meg Byrne, Dr Shay Simpson and Mark Rodrigues.
