Relations with the Parliament

This year’s agency survey asked agencies to report on the measures they had in place to ensure that SES employees understand their rights and responsibilities in relation to the Parliament.

All of the 77 agencies that reported having some or all of their SES employees appear before parliamentary committees indicated that they had at least one measure in place to ensure that SES employees understand their rights and responsibilities. The great majority (86%) of these agencies indicated that they had three or more measures in place.

The most common measures reported by agencies with SES employees appearing before committees were learning through attendance and observation (96% of relevant agencies), self-nominating attendance at training courses or presentations (95%) and internal briefing of employees prior to attendance (92%).

The results indicate that the APS has shifted its focus slightly over the last three years. Figure 3.5 shows that generally there has been an increase in the proportion of agencies relying on the measures outlined below to ensure SES employees understand their accountability obligations to the Parliament.

Figure 3.5: Agency measures to ensure SES employees understand parliamentary accountability, 2002–03 to 2004–05

Source: Agency survey

Consistent with the slight improvement this year in the proportion of agencies using training as a means of equipping their SES employees, information on overall training attendance at courses on parliamentary accountability run by the Department of the Senate, the Department of the House of Representatives and the Commission shows that attendance at such training has also improved slightly this year. Table 3.3 shows that over the last five years attendance at relevant training courses has fluctuated; however, overall attendance continues to be well below the figure recorded in 2000–01.

The overall decrease in attendance since 2000–01 can be largely attributed to the high number of participants in the ‘accountability, rights and responsibilities’ course in that year. This course was designed by the Commission in 1998–99 in response to an Order of the Senate regarding the training of SES officers in their accountability, rights and responsibilities to the Parliament. The high level of uptake in 2000–01 reflects agencies’ commitment to ensure that all new SES officers and those officers who had not attended in the previous year received training in their accountability, rights and responsibilities to the Parliament.

The Commission also deals with the accountability framework in its ‘Orientation to the SES’ training course but not in as much depth as in the ‘accountability, rights and responsibilities’ programme. The orientation course was redeveloped during 2004–05 as a three day ‘SES Orientation’ course specifically aligned with the capabilities identified in the ILS. It includes the governance requirements for senior executives and explores the relationships with Ministers and the executive arm of government. During 2004–05, a total of 67 participants attended the SES orientation course. Chapter 10 includes a more general discussion of leadership development.

Table 3.3: Attendance at parliamentary accountability training, 2000–01 to 2004–05

Notes: Courses are generally open to APS and other Commonwealth employees. (a) The Public Servants’ Accountability, Rights and Responsibilities course run by the Commission, which is open to SES and EL employees, addresses rights and responsibilities as well as the procedures and expectations of parliamentary committee members. NB: This course was not conducted in 2004–05. (b) The Preparing to Appear Before a Parliamentary Committee course run by the Commission is open to SES and EL employees. It builds upon the Public Servants’ Accountability, Rights and Responsibilities course. (c) The Parliament, Privilege and Accountability seminar run by the Department of the Senate is open to SES employees and focuses on the accountability of public servants to the Parliament. (d) Senate Committees is a seminar run by the Department of the Senate, which provides a detailed examination of the structure and operation of the Senate committee system. It is aimed at those who may be required to write submissions for committees, to appear as witnesses before committees, or to monitor the progress of committee inquiries. NB: This seminar was not conducted in 2001–02. (e) About Committees, a seminar run by the Department of the House of Representatives, provides detailed information on all aspects of committee work, including types of committees and how they conduct their investigations.

Sources: (a) and (b) Australian Public Service Commission; (c) and (d) The Department of the Senate; (e) The Department of the House of Representatives

The employee survey asked SES and EL employees whether they had ever received formal training in accountability, rights and responsibilities to the Parliament. One-quarter (24%) of SES and EL employees reported that they had received training in this area at some time during their career (67% of SES). When asked about training on this issue in the last 12 months, 16% of SES and EL employees had received such training (11% of SES).

To establish a clearer picture of the need for training, SES and EL employees were asked whether they had appeared before a parliamentary committee during 2004–05, with 5% indicating that they had (37% of SES had). More importantly, of those who had appeared before such a committee in 2004–05, 37% of relevant SES and ELs had not received any training in accountability, rights and responsibilities to the Parliament at any time during their career (25% of relevant SES).

Those who had appeared before a parliamentary committee in 2004–05 were asked how well-equipped they felt they were to appear before the committee. Overall, three- quarters of relevant SES and EL employees felt well-equipped to perform before the committee (80% of SES). The remaining quarter of SES and EL employees felt that they were reasonably equipped to perform before the committee (20% of SES). Overall, these results are largely consistent with those reported in 2002–03.⁹

Previous State of the Service reports suggested that agencies have not been giving sufficient attention to training their SES employees in parliamentary accountability. Evidence outlined above points to a slight improvement in the overall focus on training by agencies and future reports will monitor whether this upwards trend continues. All new SES employees and relevant EL employees should undertake appropriate and adequate training.

9 The questions that examine parliamentary accountability were not included in the 2004 employee survey.

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