PGPA Newsletter 79

A new Flipchart and List of PGPA Act Commonwealth entities and companies was issued on 19 April 2022.

Both the Flipchart and the List have been updated as follows:

• National Disability Insurance Scheme Launch Transition Agency has been renamed National Disability Insurance Agency, reflecting amendments made to the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 on 8 April 2022.

Further detail on this update is available in the Table of Changes for 2021-22.

The List was also updated to change the accountable authority of the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) from the Chief Executive Officer of the APVMA to the Board of the APVMA. The update reflects amendments made to the Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals (Administration) Act 1992 on 4 March 2022, prescribing the Board as the accountable authority of the entity for the purposes of the PGPA Act.

Feedback on the Flipchart and List and how you use these tools are always welcome and can be sent to PGPA@finance.gov.au.

The 2022 PGPA Entity Survey (the Survey) was launched on Friday 29 April 2022 by ORIMA Research – our Survey service provider. The Survey will remain open until Monday 30 May 2022.

All Commonwealth entities and companies are invited to provide their feedback on the effectiveness of the resource management framework and the support we provide to assist you in meeting the framework requirements. ORIMA Research has provided the Survey invitation links to Chief Financial Officers (CFOs). To get involved in providing the feedback please contact your CFO team. If you experience any difficulties accessing the link or with any other technical issues please contact ORIMA directly via the contact details included in the invitation email.

Contact us at PGPA@finance.gov.au for any other queries related to the Survey. 

On 7 February 2022 the Finance Minister tabled in the Parliament the audit reports on the 2020-21 annual performance statements of:

• The Attorney-General’s Department
• The Department of Social Services; and
• The Department of Veterans’ Affairs 

These reports can be accessed on the Finance website Publications page and on the respective entity websites. 

On 21 April 2022 the Auditor-General tabled in the Parliament the report Audits of the Annual Performance Statements of Australian Government Entities – Pilot Program 2020-21. This report reflects on the outcome of the Australian National Audit Office’s (ANAO) annual performance statements audit pilot program and the ANAO’s preparation for the staged implementation of an annual performance statements assurance audit program.

The Commonwealth Evaluation Policy and associated Toolkit (Evaluation in the Commonwealth (RMG 130) | Department of Finance) has been refreshed and is available on the Finance website.

Following feedback from stakeholders, the Policy and Toolkit has been further enhanced with:

• a minor update to clarify and strengthen the wording for one of the Commonwealth Evaluation Principles – this reflects the importance of all evaluation activities being undertaken in a robust, ethical and culturally appropriate manner
• updates to content for a number of evaluation related policies and frameworks available at Why evaluate? | Department of Finance, including new and updated content on:
  • the Commonwealth Risk Management Policy, education and guidance
  • the Assurance Reviews Process
  • the AIATSIS Code of Ethics
  • Regulatory Impact Analysis
• updates to the resources available at Templates, tools and additional resources | Department of Finance, including:
  • elevation of guidance on culturally appropriate evaluations
  • more resources to assist with ensuring evaluations are conducted ethically
  • the addition of a new evaluation closure report template
  • new links and minor changes to enhance language, content and accessibility.

Staff of Commonwealth entities and companies are encouraged to familiarise themselves with the enhanced Policy and Toolkit.

We also welcome your feedback – if you have any questions or suggestions to further improve the Toolkit, please email us at PGPA@finance.gov.au.

The review of the 2022 Commonwealth Risk Management Policy is currently being finalised. The target date for the release of the Policy is 1 July 2022 pending the outcome of final consultation with the Chief Operating Officer’s Committee and entity Chief Risk Officers. Thank you to those that have taken the time to provide comment of the Policy over the past six months of consultation. The review team has heard from a wide range of stakeholders from across the Commonwealth and also experienced risk management professionals from the private sector, other governments, industry bodies and academia.

Key changes in the 2022 Policy include:

• consolidation and prioritisation of the existing elements;
• the introduction of an element on control effectiveness;
• the introduction of an element on emerging risks; and
• simplified and more straight forward language.

The Policy will be supported by a full suite of guidance on how to implement the elements of the Policy for those entities seeking further assistance. The guidance will include optional methodologies for entities to use or adapt to suit their operations and risk management frameworks.

For more information please contact riskpolicyreview@finance.gov.au .

Comcover Education Program

The 2022 Comcover Education Program is now open for enrolments.

Comcover’s risk education program has been developed to target four levels of desired capability for Australian Public Service officials:

• Foundation –Encourages all Commonwealth officials, regardless of level or role to understand the basic risk management concepts of how risk is managed in the Commonwealth;
• Generalist – Supports Commonwealth officials, regardless of level, whose role requires them to engage with and apply their entity's risk management framework to successfully deliver outcomes;
• Specialist – Assists job role specialists who are required to design, implement and embed an entity's risk management framework. Specialists facilitate generalists and executives to fulfil their risk management responsibilities; and
• Senior Executive Service – Help inform SES to recognise key and emerging risk management issues and demonstrate risk leadership by fostering a positive risk culture in their entity and across the Commonwealth.

Due to the success of our virtual workshops Comcover will continue running virtual workshops to allow everyone to participate across the country as well as our face to face workshops run in Canberra.

Our workshops for the first six months of 2022 are:

To enrol in the workshops and access more Comcover education opportunities please visit the Comcover Learning Centre at https://learningcentre.comcover.gov.au or call 1800-651-540 and select Option 2.

Remember next year the new Commonwealth Risk Management Policy will be rolled out so this is a great opportunity to engage with your Executive and entity staff and encourage them to prepare for the new policy by undertaking some valuable Risk Management Training.

Motor vehicle deep dive

Comcover is undertaking deep dives into particular risks to entities and the Comcover Fund. They are being undertaken in alternate years to the Risk Management Benchmarking program, with the first one focused on five of the top fund member motor vehicle claims over financial years 2019, 2020 and 2021 being recently completed.

In addition to providing entities with a better understanding of their incidents through the analysis of their claims data, they were also provided with specific recommendations for their consideration aimed at assisting them with the better management of their motor vehicle incidents. The deep dives have also identified opportunities for Comcover process improvements and ways to optimise Commonwealth Fleet management.

Nominations for the 2022 Awards are still open, but hurry as they close on Tuesday 31 May 2022!

Regardless of the scale of procurement activity, entities are encouraged to submit nominations in any of the Award categories. This is a great way to recognise, reward and promote the efforts of those undertaking procurement.

The Award categories are:

• Building Entity Capability
• Delivering Innovation through Procurement
• Engaging with Small and Medium Enterprises
• Procuring for Digital Services.

To download nomination forms for the Awards, or to see previous award winners for inspiration, please visit the Finance website.

The Centre of Procurement Excellence team are here to provide further information, guidance or support - please contact them at procurementexcellence@finance.gov.au.

Annual Reports must be published using the Digital Annual Report Tool. The Tool enables entities to draft content and publish annual reports to the Transparency Portal in a fully accessible HTML format, and generate a printed report for Tabling (using the Word export feature). The Tool is aimed at providing entities with a streamlined and more efficient annual reporting and publication process. You can visit the Transparency Portal to access all annual reports; to search and compare data across entities and view financial ratios.