Chapter 5: The Values and relations with the Public
Improving service delivery
Over the last 25 years there has been a strong focus on public sector reform in Australia, with improvements in service delivery being an important part of this reform. Drivers of improved service delivery include a better informed, better educated and more demanding public, and improvements in technology, which have increased the capacity to provide more immediate and responsive services. Competitive pressures have also demanded increased productivity, and facilitated higher quality and effectiveness.
The increased focus on improving service delivery is reflected in the approaches of a number of agencies. One example is the Job Network, a system of non-government organisations, both profit and non-profit, which have won tenders to provide employment-related services to unemployed people on behalf of DEWR. The Job Network seeks to tailor services more to individual needs, and provides an element of choice for individuals over their service provider. Evaluations of the Network have concluded that the new system is substantially more cost-effective than the former employment services arrangements, and that the quality of service has improved.2
Another example of the focus on improving service delivery is the establishment of Centrelink in 1997. Centrelink was established as a specialist government service provider, delivering social security and other payments and benefits, and related services, on behalf of a range of departments. Centrelink’s main client is FaCS, with which it has a business partnership agreement that sets out the performance required of Centrelink in delivering social security payments. Similar agreements exist with a wide range of other departments at both Commonwealth and State levels. This multiplicity of partnerships and the associated range of services provided by Centrelink have allowed it to become more customer-focused, and to deliver more integrated services tailored to individual circumstances.3
Reflecting this focus on service delivery, there has been an increasing investment in customer-focused training and reinforcing behaviours that promote APS Values concerning the public. For example, Centrelink has invested heavily in skills development to enhance its customer focus. This includes the establishment of the Centrelink Virtual College in 2001, which acts as a broker of learning, enabling Centrelink's staff to access nationally accredited qualifications and technical training to provide them with high-level skills to deliver excellence in customer service. It has also developed an Expectations Statement that sets out how staff should interact with customers, which is incorporated into a mandatory induction program for new starters.4
The extent to which agencies are taking a more individualised approach to service delivery, and their level of investment in customer-focused training was not specifically assessed in the agency or employee surveys. Nevertheless, this area remains an essential activity for APS performance, and will be addressed in future State of the Service reports.
2 Evaluation and Programme Performance Branch, DEWR, Job Network evaluation: Stage Three effective report, May 2002.
3 See for example, S Vardon, Chief Executive Officer, Centrelink, ‘Moving service delivery forward—the practical and the tactical’, speech to the Lac Carling VII Conference, Quebec, Canada, 25 May 2003, http://www.centrelink.gov.au
4 See APS Commission, Embedding the APS Values, August 2003, for more details.