Audits in progress
The following audits are in progress:
Effectiveness of Justice Strategies in Preventing and Reducing
Alcohol-Related Harm
Restoring the balance—Victoria’s Alcohol Action Plan
2008–13 (the VAAP) included initiatives and actions aimed at
preventing and reducing harm associated with alcohol misuse, and
combating the consequences of excessive alcohol consumption. The
Liquor Control Reform Act 1998 is the primary legislation
regulating liquor supply and consumption.
Recent amendments to the Act are intended to enhance the way
that agencies monitor and enforce licensees’ obligations to
encourage responsible and appropriate drinking. There has been a
greater focus on strengthening law and order by targeting sources
of violent and aggressive behaviour around licensed venues.
The issue of public drunkenness is complex and involves various
entities working in close cooperation to address the impacts. As
the VAAP is in the process of being replaced by a new strategy, it
is an opportune time to review the success of activities undertaken
to date.
The audit will assess the effectiveness of the government’s
initiatives and actions in enforcing controls on the sale and
marketing of alcohol, and in preventing and reducing the impact of
alcohol-related harm on the community. The audit will also examine
the strategies designed to reduce risky drinking and improve public
safety in and around licensed premises.
The report is expected to be tabled by end of June 2012.
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Management of Trust Funds in the Justice
Portfolio
The Department of Justice and agencies
within the Justice portfolio manage a significant amount of money
held in trust funds. The audit will examine two trust funds: the
Victorian Property Fund and the Public Purpose Fund.The Victoria
Property Fund is managed by Consumer Affairs Victoria. The main
sources of income for this Fund are interest on funds held in
real-estate agents' trust accounts and interest from investment of
the Fund. The Public Purpose Fund is managed by the Legal Services
Board. The main sources of income for this Fund are interest on
legal practitioners' trust accounts and interest from investment of
the Fund. The funds are used for a range of purposes, including
industry regulation and the provision of grants. At 30 June 2011
the combined balance of the two funds was $881 million.
The audit will examine whether Consumer
Affairs Victoria and the Legal Services Board are managing the
Victorian Property Fund and the Public Purpose Fund effectively, in
the interests of stakeholders and consistently with
legislation.
The report is expected to be tabled by
end of May 2012.
Science and Maths Participation Rates and Initiatives
Mathematical and scientific literacy are
part of the necessary skill set required by all citizens to
function well in a society underpinned by science and technology.
High quality education outcomes in science and mathematics are also
important in ensuring growth in new fields of science, technology
and innovation, all of which contribute to Victoria’s economic,
social and environmental goals.The audit objective is to assess the
extent to which Department of Education and Early Childhood
Development’s (DEECD) initiatives to improve student participation
and achievement in mathematics and science have been effective.
The audit will examine selected
mathematics and science initiatives implemented by DEECD central
and regional offices, and Victorian schools.
The report is expected to be tabled by
end of May 2012.
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Obsolescence of Frontline ICT
Information and Communications
Technology (ICT) asset management involves the acquisition, use and
disposal of ICT assets to maximise service delivery, while also
managing risks and costs over the technology lifecycle.
Frontline ICT assets include hardware
and software, network infrastructure, and supporting processes and
tools that help agencies achieve organisational objectives and
deliver services to the public.
The objective of this audit is to assess
whether obsolescence of frontline ICT equipment and software is
managed effectively and efficiently throughout the technology
lifecycle.
The report is expected to be tabled by
end of June 2012.
Fraud Prevention Strategies in Local Government
Municipal councils manage billions of
dollars in community resources. Recent surveys indicate that the
incidence and cost of fraud remains a significant concern for all
organisations, including councils. To protect their resources from
fraud, each council needs a robust control framework to effectively
manage and respond to fraud risks and incidents.
The 2008 VAGO report on the results of
audits in the local government sector identified a number of
weaknesses in council internal control frameworks critical for
managing the risk of fraud. The 2008 audit conducted a high level
review of fraud management practices and found that around
one-third of all councils did not have a robust fraud control
system in place.
This audit will assess the effectiveness
of fraud prevention strategies within selected councils.
This will involve examining the internal
control environment, including mechanisms for preventing, detecting
and responding to incidents of fraud.
The report is expected to be tabled by
end of June 2012.
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Visiting Medical Officer Payments in Rural and Regional Public
Hospitals
Visiting Medical Officers (VMOs) in
regional and rural health services are engaged on a fee for service
or sessional basis with payment reflecting each medical service
provided to public patients. VMOs can also receive a ‘standard’
payment for participation in teaching, governance or on-call roster
activities.
In 2009–10 public hospitals paid in
excess of $130 million to VMOs.
Health services have a variety of
systems in place for paying VMO claims, and previous audits have
identified concerns around the rigour of internal controls relating
to VMO payments. There are substantial and ongoing public interest
issues in how regional and rural public hospitals manage VMO
arrangements.
This audit will review the
appropriateness and transparency of rural and regional health
service payments to VMOs.
The report is expected to be tabled by
end of May 2012.
Investment Attraction
The Department of Business and
Innovation is responsible for promoting Victoria as a world class
investment location. It provides investment and facilitation
services to attract new international or interstate investment, and
to encourage additional investment by businesses operating within
the state. The principal objectives in investment attraction are to
build the state’s business base and to assist local businesses to
grow and increase their exports.
Initiatives include facilitation
services that provide labour market information, planning advice,
access to industry networks and site location, as well as ‘in-kind’
assistance such as rate relief, land or other infrastructure
development, and direct cash payments.
The audit will evaluate the
effectiveness of investment attraction and facilitation programs in
achieving their stated objectives, and the adequacy of performance
monitoring and evaluation processes to determine program
effectiveness.
The report is expected to be tabled by
end of June 2012.
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Students with Special Learning Needs
There are over 540 000 students in Victorian
government schools. The Department of Education and Early Childhood
Development (DEECD) estimates that 20 per cent of these students
have difficulties learning. Many factors may contribute to the
difficulties faced by these students including disability, learning
difficulty, involvement with youth justice and culturally and
linguistically diverse backgrounds. The Victorian government
provides student welfare and support to these students with a
budgeted cost of $134.1 million in 2011–12.
Within this group is a subset of about 20 000 students with
moderate to severe disabilities. Students in this group receive
individual support from DEECD through the Program for Students with
a Disability (PSD). This audit will focus on students
experiencing a range of disorders and disabilities from reading and
language difficulties to profound physical or cognitive
impairment. This includes students accessing the PSD and
students with disorders and disabilities who are not eligible for
PSD funding. Students attending government primary, secondary
and specialist schools will be included.
The audit will not examine issues associated with transport,
issues solely attributable to cultural and linguistically diverse
backgrounds or disadvantaged backgrounds, issues attributable to
early childhood development services, or students with special
learning needs attending post compulsory education.
The report is expected to be tabled in Parliament by the end of
August 2012.
Fare Evasion on Public Transport
Fare evasion for Victoria’s public transport system has
escalated over the past two financial years. Surveys estimate that
fare evasion accounted for $94 million in 2009–10 and
$85 million in 2010–11. The 2010–11
figure accounts for 13 per cent of the $642 million in fare revenue
collected by the Transport Ticketing Authority.
Operational initiatives to minimise fare evasion are undertaken
by Victoria’s public transport operators but overseen and
influenced by the Department of Transport. From April 2012 Public
Transport Victoria assumed the department's responsibilities
covering fare evasion.
The audit will examine agencies’ effectiveness in managing
public transport fare evasion and provide assurance that programs
to address increased levels of fare evasion are having the intended
effect.
The report is expected to be tabled by
the end of August 2012.
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Carer Support Programs
The term carer describes a person who provides unpaid care to a
partner, family member or friend, who has a disability, chronic
health condition or mental illness. Carers can also include young
people caring for parents. Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)
data shows that in 2009 there were more than 703 000 informal
carers in Victoria. In 2010, Access Economics estimated that
informal carers provide $40.9 billion dollars in care services
nationally.
Carers perform a vital role supporting vulnerable persons in our
community. However, the care role is challenging and can affect the
carer’s health and wellbeing. In addition, our reliance on carers
is likely to increase as the population ages and disability
associated with chronic illness increases. For example, the number
of people of working age relative to those over the age of 65 will
fall from 5 in 2010 to 2.7 by 2050.
Effectively supporting carers to continue in their role not only
reduces pressure on public services, but also allows dependents and
carers to maintain family and community relationships.
An audit of relevant programs administered by the Department of
Health (DH) and the Department of Human Services (DHS) will
provide assurance regarding the effectiveness of services aimed at
assisting carers. Findings and recommendations will enable better
support for carers and efficient and effective allocation of
resources.
The audit will assess services and supports provided for, and
affecting, informal and kinship carers. The audit will include the
Disability Services and Children, Youth and Families divisions of
DHS and the Mental Health and Aged Care units of DH. Funded
community service organisations and carers will be included as
stakeholders.
The report is expected to be tabled in Parliament by the end of
August 2012.
Energy Efficiency in the Health Sector
The Victorian public sector uses around 1.5 per cent of
Victoria’s total annual energy consumption. The largest energy
users are healthcare providers. When government energy use was last
measured in 2008, they accounted for around 26 per cent of public
sector energy consumption. After Victoria’s water entities,
healthcare providers are the second largest emitter of greenhouse
gases, accounting for around 20 per cent of public sector
emissions.
As large energy users, health services and hospitals face
increased energy use and costs. This is in part because of
projected price increases and also because of increasing demand for
health care. Improving energy efficiency in health services and
hospitals provides an opportunity to both reduce these costs and
avoid future ones, and to reduce environmental impacts.
The audit will assess whether the Department of Health and
health services have been effective in improving energy efficiency
in hospitals.
The report is expected to be tabled in Parliament by the end of
September 2012.
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Collections Management in Cultural Agencies
The National Gallery of Victoria, Museum Victoria, State
Library, Public Record Office Victoria, Arts Centre Trust and the
Australian Centre for the Moving Image are custodians of important
state collections acquired and developed over 150 years. These
collections have heritage, cultural, educational and economic
significance and were valued at around $4.9 billion at 30 June
2011. The statutory mandates of these organisations require the
effective development, management, conservation and utilisation of
the collections to assure accessibility for current and future
generations.
Arts Victoria, a division of the Department of
Premier and Cabinet is responsible for advising and supporting the
Minister for the Arts on arts policy, and providing funding,
support and oversight for state owned arts and cultural
agencies.
The agencies receive government funding to
enable them to perform their collection management roles and it is
important that appropriate policies, systems and practices are in
place and that Arts Victoria is providing appropriate leadership,
support and oversight.
This audit will examine the collection
management policies and practices of:
- Museum Victoria
- National Gallery of Victoria
- Public Record Office Victoria.
Arts Victoria’s leadership, oversight and
support for these three agencies together with the Australian
Centre for the Moving Image, State Library of Victoria and the
Victorian Arts Centre Trust will also be examined.
The report is expected to be tabled by
the end of October 2012.
Effectiveness of Compliance and Enforcement Activities:
Department of Primary Industries and Department of Sustainability
and Environment
The Department of Primary Industries
(DPI) and the Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE)
are responsible for the sustainable management of the environment
and natural resources. This includes water resources and
catchments, parks and other public land, forests, fisheries,
agriculture, companion animals, and earth resources. Together,
these departments administer 90 Acts of Parliament, with DPI
responsible for 39, and DSE responsible for 51.
Environmental protection and the
sustainability of natural resources are important to the overall
prosperity of the state. In addition many regional Victorian
communities are reliant on the sustainable economic and social
contributions made from the tourism, timber and fishing industries.
The strength and security of these benefits depends on the
sustainable management of ecosystems and effectiveness of related
regulations.
The audit will inform the Victorian
community and Parliament on whether public sector entities are
appropriately administering legislation. It will also provide
assurance that those being regulated are compliant, and that
appropriate enforcement action occurs where non-compliance is
detected. In addition, the audit will provide assurance that those
authorised to regulate use their powers appropriately and
transparently.
This audit will examine the
effectiveness and efficiency of DPI’s and DSE’s compliance
monitoring and enforcement and activities.
The report is expected to be tabled by
the end of November 2012.
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Consumer Participation in the Health System
The ability of consumers to have direct input to decisions about
their healthcare is a fundamental human right. This is reflected in
legislation, such as the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and
Responsibilities, as well as legal requirements concerning informed
consent to medical intervention.
Consumer participation in health can enhance health outcomes by
improving quality and safety, designing services that meet consumer
needs, and providing important feedback to allow service
improvement.
The audit will assess the effectiveness of consumer
participation strategies in the health system, and identify areas
for improvement in consumer participation, which could improve
health service planning and service delivery, and ultimately,
patient outcomes.
The report is expected to be tabled in Parliament by the end of
November 2012.
Management of the Provincial Victoria Growth Fund
Provincial Victoria is an important
contributor to Victoria’s economic prosperity and liveability. In
2008–09 regional and rural Victoria contributed $62.6 billion
towards the state’s economy. The sustainable growth of regional and
rural areas of Victoria is dependent upon strong economies,
communities and infrastructure.
In 2005, the government introduced a $502
million plan for rural and regional Victoria called Moving
Forward: Making Provincial Victoria the Best Place to Live, Work
and Invest. A key component of the plan was the Provincial
Victoria Growth Fund, a $100 million five-year (2005–2010)
initiative, that aimed to support regional communities to drive
economic and population growth, create new opportunities in
business and industry, and manage the impacts of growth and
change.
This audit will examine a sample of funded projects to determine
whether intended project and overall fund outcomes have been
achieved. The audit will also examine Regional Development
Victoria’s planning and oversight of the fund, and its role in
providing support to funded projects.
The report is expected to be tabled in Parliament by the end of
November 2012.
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