Audits in progress

The following audits are in progress:

The State of Victoria's Children: Performance Reporting

The State of Victoria's Children report (SVC) is an annual report, first published in 2006, with a stated aim to provide an overview of the wellbeing of Victoria’s children and young people (aged 0 to 17). The Department of Education and Early Childhood Devlopment (DEECD) prepares SVC under the auspices of the Children's Services Coordination Board which comprises the heads of key government agencies involved in developing policy and delivering services to children. These agencies are DEECD, the departments of Health, Human Services, Justice, Planning and Community Development, Premier and Cabinet, and Treasury and Finance, as well as the Chief Commissioner for Police.

SVC aims to guide future government policy development and help service providers, non-government organisations and communities to develop effective and practical responses to issues affecting children’s development. The audit is assessing the quality of information in the report, and whether it tells a clear and useful story.

The report is expected to be tabled by end of May 2013.

Management of Staff Occupational Health and Safety in Schools

The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (DEECD) employs over 40 000 teachers and principals in government schools in Victoria and is responsible for these school staff members’ health, safety and welfare in schools under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004. School health and safety practices and performance have a direct impact on their finances. During the 2011–12 financial year, DEECD’s standard WorkCover claims were in excess of $44 million with an average cost of $53 657 per claim. In 2009 DEECD began progressively rolling out an Occupational Health and Safety Management System (OHSMS) across its 1 543 schools.

This audit will examine how effectively schools manage health and safety. It will also examine the effectiveness of DEECD’s OHSMS and the support provided to schools by DEECD to help them to manage and prevent health and safety risks to their staff.
It will consider all staff working in schools including contract staff, casual relief teachers, integration aides and administrative staff and will examine whether health and safety in schools is improving.

The report is expected to be tabled by end of May 2013.

Environment and Sustainability Sector: Performance Reporting

The Department of Sustainability and Environment, Parks Victoria and the Environment Protection Authority use a range of public reports to externally communicate how well their programs and activities are performing.

Public reports normally compare performance against preselected performance measures and indicators or targets of satisfactory performance, and include agency annual reports as well as various forms of program and performance reporting.

The audit will determine the accuracy, reliability and representation of program and performance reporting in the environment and sustainability sector. It will examine agency annual reports and a selection of other external performance reports and their data sources.

The report is expected to be tabled by end of June 2013.

Infection Prevention and Control in Public Hospitals

Infections are the most common complication affecting hospital patients, and in many cases are preventable. Hospital-acquired infections prolong hospital stays and can cause significant harm to patients, some of whom die as a result.

It has been estimated that nationally, hospital acquired infections take up an additional 900 000 bed days, with 5 per cent of all admissions suffering a hospital acquired infection. The estimated economic burden of this is close to $1 billion per annum nationally.

This audit will examine the effectiveness of prevention, monitoring and control of hospital-acquired infections.

The report is expected to be tabled by end of June 2013.

Flood Relief and Recovery

Between September 2010 and January 2011, Victoria experienced extensive rainfall and subsequent flooding. The floods caused damage to agriculture, businesses and residential dwellings, community assets, transport infrastructure and the environment. Initial estimates of the damage costs were around $1.1 billion. This figure included the direct costs to the Victorian and Commonwealth governments, agricultural losses, repair and restoration costs, and other recovery measures.

Under the Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements, the Commonwealth Government supports states where there has been a natural disaster. This support is typically financial, and occurs through a combination of advance payments and reimbursements. The Commonwealth Government advanced Victoria $500 million under this arrangement for a range of disaster relief and recovery projects.

Victoria has established arrangements under a National Partnership Agreement with the Commonwealth Government to repair, replace or restore essential public assets, as well as support the recovery of communities and local economies. This audit will assess the effectiveness of the flood response and recovery arrangements in achieving these outcomes, with a particular focus on community relief and recovery programs

The report is expected to be tabled by the end of June 2013.

Organisational Sustainability of Small Councils

Organisational sustainability is councils having the capacity to function efficiently, effectively and economically to meet current and future needs to an acceptable standard.

Organisational sustainability is a significant concern for Victoria’s small regional and rural councils as they are affected by a range of external factors such as low population, remoteness and ageing resident populations. They also provide services, and develop and manage infrastructure, over large geographical areas in rural Victoria.

Small councils are heavily dependent on government grants, and have limited capacity to raise further revenue from rates and charges. Ineffective planning and implementation of strategies to address organisational sustainability could adversely affect their sustainability, and their ability to deliver services to an acceptable standard.

The audit will consider the effectiveness of internal planning processes and strategies to support the long-term organisational sustainability of selected councils, and support and guidance provided by the Department of Planning and Community Development. The audit will identify better practice examples that can help drive improvements across the sector.

The report is expected to be tabled by end of June 2013.

Operating Water Infrastructure using Public Private Partnerships

The Public Private Partnership (PPP) model can be an effective way of delivering water infrastructure projects because it draws on the strengths of the public and private sectors. However, gaining value-for-money is reliant on the delivery of services as intended and at the expected cost. It is also dependent on having sound contracts and contract management arrangements which give private operators continued incentive to perform at a high level.

Typically, around half of the cost of individual PPPs fund the operation of the facilities over the lifespan of the partnership, which range from 10 to 25 years. The operation of many of the facilities has been challenged in recent years by both long-term drought and exceptional flooding.

The audit will assess the operational effectiveness of PPPs for water and wastewater treatment. It will examine whether contracted services have been delivered as intended and represent value-for-money, and whether contracts have been managed effectively and are supported by sound governance.

The report is expected to be tabled by end of August 2013.

Asset Confiscation

The Asset Confiscation Scheme (the Scheme) commenced in 1998, following the introduction of the Confiscation Act 1997 (the Act). The main objectives of the Act are to:

deprive persons of proceeds of certain offences and of ‘tainted’ property
deter persons from engaging in criminal activity
disrupt criminal activity by preventing the use of ‘tainted’ property for further criminal activity.

The Act establishes the processes for the restraint and forfeiture of property that is tainted, or property reasonably suspected to be tainted. The types of property that can be restrained and forfeited under the Act are wide-ranging and include household items, houses, land, share portfolios, jewellery, motor cars and cash.

There are three key agencies that work together to achieve the objectives of the Scheme: Victoria Police, the Office of Public Prosecutions and the Asset Confiscation Operations, which is part of the Department of Justice.

The audit will assess how effective, efficient and economical the Scheme is in achieving the objectives of the Confiscation Act 1997. To address this objective, the audit will assess the arrangements in place to identify and restrain property, the arrangements in place to manage and dispose of forfeited property, and the Scheme’s governance arrangements.

The report is expected to be tabled by end of September 2013.

Prevention and Management of Drug Use in Prisons

Drugs are a significant factor at all stages of the criminal justice system, and the use of drugs is linked to criminal activities and an increased risk of reoffending. In addition, drug use by prisoners is linked to a range of negative health outcomes, and some of these health outcomes may be transferred to the broader community upon release.

While drug use in prisons can cause a range of prison-specific issues, imprisonment also provides an opportunity for prisoners to undergo rehabilitation, and deal with any drug addictions they may have. Effectively preventing drugs from entering prisons and managing prisoners’ drug use is therefore important for the safe and orderly management of prisons, and to rehabilitate prisoners with drug addictions to help break the cycle of reoffending.

The Department of Justice (DOJ), through the Victorian Prison Drug Strategy 2002, aims to 'prevent drugs entering Victoria's prisons and to minimise the harm caused by drugs to prison staff, prisoners and society.'

The audit will assess how effectively and efficiently DOJ has prevented the supply of, demand for, and harm caused by, drugs in prisons. This will include assessing how effectively DOJ prevents drugs from entering the prison system and detects drugs within prisons, identifies and treats prisoners with drug issues and evaluates, monitors and reports performance.

The report is expected to be tabled by end of October 2013.