Home > The Values and relations with the Public > Conclusions

CONCLUSIONS

Improving service delivery continues to be a major theme for the APS. With 57% of APS employees directly involved in the delivery of services to the general public or managing employees who do so, the importance of those APS Values that set out how the APS interacts with the public is paramount. The increased focus on improving service delivery is reflected in the approaches of a number of APS agencies. The use of service charters is widespread, and most agencies have taken on board the need to monitor and review the effectiveness of their service charters. There is still room, however, for more small agencies to focus on this issue.

The majority of agencies appear to have developed effective mechanisms for receiving and responding to feedback from the general public, and many are becoming quite sophisticated in their approaches, drawing on private sector experience. Over three-quarters of APS employees involved in service delivery agree that they received appropriate training or had access to information that enabled them to undertake their client service responsibilities.

The use of client surveys is widespread, especially among larger agencies. The sample of surveys assessed for this report suggests that some agencies have quite mature survey methodologies, whereas others are steadily improving, and some are just starting to recognise the need to focus on and monitor client perceptions of service delivery rather than regard their interactions with clients purely from a regulatory role.

Agencies are presenting current and comparative client satisfaction data in their annual reports thereby making this information publicly available and the agency more accountable. Most agencies within the sample show an upward trend in client satisfaction.

There is some evidence that the results of surveying are being used actively to improve service delivery. There is still opportunity to do better, however, with some agencies needing to place greater focus on obtaining feedback from their clients and more actively addressing survey results. In addition agencies could consider how they might be able to better engage clients, staff and providers through the provision of information on survey findings.

Implementing best practice in e-government is a challenge for government agencies to address in an environment where e-government and ICT continues to evolve and the expectations and IT skills and access of citizens, business users and clients continue to grow. The demand for governments to provide more integrated and interactive information and services continues to rise and agencies need to respond by developing mechanisms to share information across agencies, jurisdictions and with the private sector.

Information provided by the Ombudsman indicates that many larger agencies have established effective mechanisms for reviewing decisions, handling complaints and obtaining customer feedback to facilitate improvements to services. There are some continuing themes emerging from complainants, however, relating to insufficient reasons provided by agencies or flawed decisions. These are still often complicated by poor record keeping of both written and oral advice by agencies. Evidence from ANAO reports suggests also that agencies need to have systems in place to promote the quality and transparency of service delivery. These are issues that agencies need to focus on as they review their systems into the future.

Consultation and engagement with stakeholders continues to grow in importance. Involvement of the public in government administration is seen as a two way exercise to ensure comprehensive and effective implementation of government policies and programs. The agency survey shows that consultation in the making of policy and program decisions is widespread among APS agencies. Agencies would benefit by considering how they might better manage consultation with members of the public and other stakeholder groups. For example, agencies could be more proactive in community consultation particularly with the general public, recognising that some care is needed to ensure such consultation is appropriately used to support informed decision-making in the public interest. For consultative processes to be effective agencies need to develop and maintain close networks with all relevant stakeholders and ensure that they develop relevant capabilities such as expertise in communication.