NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet submission attached.
Download (134.81 KB)Independent Review of the
Australian Public Service
August 2018
NSW DPC Submission to Independent Review of the APS
NSW has a strong track record when it comes to public services, programs and implementation.
NSW is leading the way with innovative approaches to improve service delivery. We put our
customers first, to improve their experience of government and provide greater access to services.
We have implemented new approaches to measuring outcomes, tracking priorities and holding
government accountable. We are driving innovative methods to design and deliver better services,
including the use of real-time data and behavioural insights techniques to inform our policies and
programs. We are collaborating with the private and community sectors to tackle complex
challenges, including through new social impact investment approaches. We put our citizens at the
heart of everything we do.
However, federal-state relations are constraining the ability of public services in all jurisdictions to
collaborate efficiently and effectively, and to deliver benefits and accountability to Australian
citizens. States that are performing well and leading the way should be rewarded with greater
autonomy. This will help ensure the public sector in all jurisdictions has the ability to drive
innovation and productivity, tackle complex challenges and deliver outcomes that improve our
citizens’ experience of government.
NSW puts customers first to improve their experience of government
Service NSW has revolutionised the delivery of government services in NSW, changing the way
that customers and government interact. It has been shaped by our citizens, who told us what they
expect from government services: easier access, faster service, and a single point of contact so
they only have to “tell government once”.
Service NSW now delivers services to customers and businesses through 79 service centres, 32
council agencies and six self-service digital kiosks, a virtual contact centre with a single phone
number, a transactional website and the Service NSW app. Around 77 per cent of the network is
located in rural and regional NSW, so that customers and businesses in rural and regional areas
have access to the same services that are delivered in metropolitan areas. This means low wait
times, higher levels of customer satisfaction and greater access to more services at one location.
In only a few years since its inception, Service NSW has established a strong reputation for
delivering a high standard of customer service and has continually maintained a customer
satisfaction rating of 97 per cent. Customers and businesses can now access over 1,000
transactions from 40 government agencies in one location, and between 2014 and 2017,
Service NSW helped over 36 million customers to do so.
We have clear priorities and track outcomes to hold government and agencies to
account
The NSW Government announced the 12 Premier’s Priorities in September 2015. Each one is
supported by specific and time-limited targets for improved performance in a range of areas
important to citizens, including jobs, education, hospitals, child protection, domestic violence and
housing.
Responsibility for delivering a priority has been allocated to a Minister and senior departmental
executive. The Premier’s Implementation Unit was established in 2016 to support the lead agency
to deliver the priorities, applying a clear focus on citizen outcomes, and working with frontline
teams on data-led, evidence-based interventions to improve results. The Unit routinely tracks and
reports on progress against milestones and targets, taking a ‘try, test and learn’ approach to
continuous improvement.
Since 2015, NSW has driven significant progress across all 12 priorities, with real, tangible benefits
for our citizens. Achievements include:
• 167,700 NSW students are now in the top two NAPLAN bands;
• Fewer children have been re-reported to the child protection system;
• More than 550,000 Active Kids vouchers have been created, supporting a reduction in
childhood obesity;
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• More than half a billion containers have been returned through the container deposit scheme,
reducing litter in our environment by 37 per cent from a 2015 baseline; and
• More than 305,000 jobs have been created since September 2015, exceeding the job creation
target of 150,000 new jobs by 2019.
NSW is ensuring our policy and program responses are informed by real-time data
In a world of increasing complexity, population growth and rapid change, data analytics has the
potential to deliver innovation in service provisions and improve outcomes by generating new
perspectives on complex problems. In 2015, NSW established a Data Analytics Centre (DAC) to
facilitate data-sharing across government agencies and to facilitate more efficient, strategic, whole-
of-government evidence-based decision making. The DAC has since commenced delivery of
priority projects, working with agencies to share data and develop partnerships with external
specialists.
NSW has also established the Data Sharing (Government Sector) Act 2015 to enable the DAC to
fulfil its role and address both real and perceived barriers to the sharing of non-personal
information. The NSW DAC was the first of its kind in Australia, and serves as a useful model for
other jurisdictions to improve the use of data to ensure real-time information is used to inform
policy and program responses.
We have led the way to bring the private and community sectors into service
delivery
Social impact investment is an innovative and emerging approach to public policy and service
delivery, generating social impact alongside financial return. Social impact investment is unique in
using cross-sector partnerships to innovate, share risk and achieve outcomes. Under social impact
investment:
• Government identifies an outcome it seeks on a pay for success basis;
• Service providers have flexibility to use their experience and try new ideas to achieve the
outcomes; and
• Investors provide capital and commercial expertise to help service providers address the issue.
NSW is a market leader in social impact investment (www.osii.nsw.gov.au). At present, there are
six investments in NSW valued at over $200 million supporting better services for 16,000 people
and families in NSW. The investments are achieving benefits for citizens as well as investors. For
example, through the Newpin social impact investment:
• 260 families have been reunited;
• 63 per cent of children in care participating in the service have been restored safely to their
family, compared to 19 per cent of children in business-as-usual government services;
• The Resilient Families investment has similarly seen 32 per cent fewer children enter care.
Behavioural Insights is driving innovative approaches to design and deliver better
services
NSW was the first government in Australia to establish a Behavioural Insights Unit
(www.bi.dpc.nsw.gov.au). Our use of behavioural insights supports our commitment to put people
at the centre of government. Behavioural Insights draws on the behavioural sciences to understand
how people act and make decisions in everyday life – ways that are often different from those
assumed in standard economic models. This helps us design public services and policies in ways
that work with the way people actually behave and help people to make better decisions for
themselves and for society.
By focusing on how, why and when people make the choices they do, we can design and deliver
better services, with greater efficiency. Principles of behavioural insights continue to be embedded
in government processes, supporting our ongoing development of policies and programs that make
meaningful differences in the lives of the people of NSW.
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The Behavioural Insights Unit (BIU) works across the NSW Government helping to improve the
effectiveness of public services and policy by applying what we know about the way people think
and act. BIU develops and applies innovative interventions to improve public policy and services,
both breaking new ground and drawing on developments from other jurisdictions. Our
achievements using behavioural insights include:
• Fewer no-shows at domestic violence court hearings: using a behaviourally-informed text
message led to a 23 per cent reduction in no shows;
• Easier to understand domestic violence orders: we developed and rolled out a new
Apprehended Domestic Violence Order that is much easier to understand and incorporates
behavioural messaging;
• More student teachers opting for rural and remote placements: making the opportunities more
salient and easier to access and sending a range of behaviourally-informed communications
led to a threefold increase in student teachers opting for rural and remote placements;
• More fines paid on time with fewer late fees: clarifying and improving a range of fine and
enforcement notices has led to increases in people paying on time, with fewer late penalties
and drivers licence suspensions;
• Encouraging payment of rental arrears: sending social housing tenants a behaviourally-
informed text message when they fell into arrears led to a 9.4 per cent increase in them paying
off their debt; and
• More women attending cervical cancer screenings: changing a reminder letter led to an
additional 7,500 women each year attending their cervical cancer screening appointments.
We are working with the private and community sectors to tackle complex
challenges
The NSW public service is well-equipped to work in collaboration with the community, business
and citizens to tackle complex challenges. An example of this is our approach to social and
affordable housing. The Social and Affordable Housing Fund (SAHF) is a dedicated fund
established to help address the shortage of social and affordable housing in NSW. The SAHF will
support projects which deliver additional social and affordable housing stock through innovative
partnerships between community housing providers, non-government organisations and the private
sector. The SAHF fulfils the NSW Government’s commitment to introducing innovative financing
mechanisms into the social housing system. The SAHF will generate investment of over
$1.1 billion to deliver up to 3,400 new social and affordable housing dwellings and associated
services.
Communities Plus is a new and innovative partnership with government that harnesses the
expertise and capacity of the private and not-for-profit sectors to deliver integrated communities
and improved social outcomes. The NSW Government has committed to a significant building
program through this model to fast track redevelopment of its social housing portfolio. In
partnership with the private and non-government sectors, these sites will be transformed into
sustainable communities of mixed social, affordable and market housing. This will include
developments with pilot programs that link housing assistance to education, training and local
employment opportunities. The $22 billion program will deliver up to 23,000 new and replacement
social housing, 500 affordable and 40,000 private housing dwellings over the next 10 years.
The NSW public service is also working to raise the quality of regulation
NSW’s recent Independent Review of the NSW Regulatory Policy Framework identified
opportunities for the public service to improve citizens’ experience of regulation. The review’s
recommendations will raise the quality of regulation in NSW. The review found a need for better
stewardship, clearer governance and better use of digital services and data. This will require a
change in the culture and capabilities within agencies to support new approaches and new
regulatory environments, particularly with regard to making greater use of digital and data-driven
options and responding to future technologies. Government agencies will need to ensure their staff
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are able to incorporate new tools and considerations in the decisions around when and how to
regulate.
There is a an opportunity to improve the effectiveness of federal financial relations
As the examples above demonstrate, NSW is driving innovative approaches to improve service
delivery, putting our citizens at the heart of everything we do. However, federal financial relations
between the Commonwealth and the States are not serving the citizens or the governments of
Australia well. Reform is needed to ensure the APS, and the public service in each state and
territory, are able to collaborate efficiently and effectively, drive innovation, and deliver benefits and
accountability to citizens.
Currently, there are too many agreements under the Intergovernmental Agreement on Federal
Financial Relations (IGA FFR). Negotiation processes are wasteful, and agreement conditions are
not enabling local innovation or service improvements. Federalism discussions are too heavily
focused on the distribution of funds and accountability between governments, and are not
sufficiently focused on improving accountability or outcomes for citizens.
Our federation is diverse, and so are the challenges governments face in delivering outcomes for
citizens. What works in one jurisdiction may be counterproductive in another. Strong performance
is not recognised with greater autonomy for states. Instead, overly prescriptive agreements
continue to stifle innovation and limit the ability of the public sector to deliver efficient policy
solutions that are appropriate for each jurisdiction and responsive to changing circumstances.
The time and resourcing spent by the public services of all jurisdictions in negotiating and
administering agreements is also wasteful and unsustainable. This restricts the ability of the public
sector to be agile and efficient, and to drive policy and implementation.
A more dynamic federalism would drive outcomes and accountability for citizens
There is an opportunity to reform federal financial relations to decrease the administrative burden
for all jurisdictions, and open the space for public services to work collaboratively to drive policy
and implementation in areas of shared interest and responsibility. A more dynamic federation
would see the number of agreements rationalised and the conditions refined to enable innovation.
This would in turn streamline the negotiation process.
Conditions would be limited to when they are essential, and would have a more consistent focus
on citizen benefit and accountability. A more dynamic federation would also structure conditions to
stimulate reform by reflecting the diversity and autonomy in our federation. States that are
performing well and leading reforms should be rewarded with increased autonomy, and
incentivised to continue driving innovation and delivering outcomes for Australian citizens.
Reform is being progressed through the Council of Australian Governments
In response to a proposal from NSW in 2017, COAG has agreed to pilot these reforms in the
health portfolio. The pilot will rationalise current agreements under the IGA FFR into a single health
agreement with streamlined conditions and a better balance between accountability and autonomy.
NSW is working with the Australian Government and states and territories to progress this pilot.
Following the pilot, the reform should be expanded to include all other portfolios. There are
currently over 70 agreements nationally. This should be rationalised to no more than 10.
The reform presents a significant opportunity to improve the efficiency of federal financial relations
to ensure the public services of all jurisdictions are able to collaborate in an effective way. The
NSW Government urges the APS Review to consider the benefits of reform to federal financial
relations and opportunities to progress a more dynamic federation.
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