PGPA Newsletter 83

The Minister for Finance, Senator the Hon Katy Gallagher, has issued her delegation to accountable authorities of non-corporate Commonwealth entities under the PGPA Act and Rule; Public Governance, Performance and Accountability (Finance Minister to Accountable Authorities of Non-Corporate Commonwealth Entities) Delegation 2022. The new delegation commences on 1 September 2022 and will repeal and replace the delegation of the previous Finance Minister on 1 September 2022.

The existing sub-delegations made by accountable authorities will cease once the previous Finance Minister’s delegation instrument is repealed on 1 September 2022. Accountable authorities will need to make new sub-delegations for their entities that take effect from 1 September 2022 based on the new Finance Minister delegation. 

The only change in the new Public Governance, Performance and Accountability (Finance Minister to Accountable Authorities of Non-Corporate Commonwealth Entities) Delegation 2022 instrument is to the title of the instrument (i.e. 2022 rather than 2021), the name of the Finance Minister etc., and changes to entity names to recognise Machinery of Government changes that have recently occurred.  

A copy of the new delegation instrument, together with the current delegation instrument, is available on the Finance’s PGPA legislation, associated instruments and policies page.

Please contact PGPA@finance.gov.au if you have any queries. 

A reminder that the deadline for publishing 2022-23 corporate plans is 31 August 2022.

Commonwealth entities and companies are required to provide the corporate plan to the responsible Minister and the Finance Minister before it is published on the entity or company website.

It is not necessary for entities and companies to send copies of their corporate plans to the Office of the Finance Minister directly – the requirement to provide a copy of the corporate plan to the Finance Minister is met by emailing a copy to Finance at PGPA@finance.gov.au.

Guidance in relation to corporate plans is available in RMG-132 Corporate plans for Commonwealth entities and RMG-133 Corporate plans for Commonwealth companies. 

If you wish to discuss your 2022-23 corporate plan please email us at PGPA@finance.gov.au.

RMG-131 Developing Performance Measures has been refreshed and is available on the Finance website.

The guidance has been streamlined to focus on characteristics of performance measures requirements under section 16EA of the PGPA Rule. It discusses each of the characteristics and offers practical examples for each requirement. It also provides tools, techniques and considerations for developing performance measures.

This guidance is relevant for all Commonwealth entities and can be used by Commonwealth companies in meeting their requirements for performance reporting.

If you have any feedback on our RMGs or need further information in relation these updates, please contact us at PGPA@finance.gov.au.

Finance’s PGPA legislation, associated instruments and policies page has been digitally enhanced to support officials in accessing information and links to instruments and policies of the Australian Government that are currently in effect under, or support, the PGPA Act.

The page now also includes a link to the index of Resource Management Guides available on the Finance website to support you in meeting the requirements of the PGPA Act and Rule.

Please contact PGPA@finance.gov.au if you have any queries or feedback in relation to these updates.

A reminder for those authoring and contributing to entity 2021-22 annual reports of information to help you with your product.

Finance’s Annual Reports page provides guidance on requirements, tabling, Digital Annual Reporting Tool, policies, legislation, and links to relevant guidance. This includes RMGs 135-139 and RMG-214.

Digital Annual Reporting Tool

The annual report must be published using the Digital Annual Reporting Tool (DART). If you are interested in maximising the use of the DART, or you or your team are new to the DART, please take up the opportunity to book into an on boarding session or Financial and Data template session with the MasterDocs team by emailing support@masterdocs.com.au.

If you are new to annual reports, please sign up directly to the Digital Annual Reports community in GovTEAMS and email us for support at digitalannualreportproject@finance.gov.au.

Including Images

A reminder to provide alternate text for images in your online annual report. This text is not visible on the web page, but available for use by visually impaired people and is a mandatory requirement for Australian Government websites.

Tip: Capture your alternative text as your images are developed to save time when publishing. Below is an example of a complex image and with good text description from the Department of Health 2020-21 Annual Report – Outcome 3: Sport and Recreation:
 

Outcome 3: Sport and Recreation | Transparency Portal

Alternate text: 81.4% of adults participated in organised sport and physical activity once per week in 2020. The icon depicts a bicycle. Australia submitted a bid to host the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The icon depicts a trophy cup. In 2020, participation rates for physical activities like walking, cycling, swimming, tennis and yoga increased. The icon depicts a shoe running. Implementation of the Driving Social Inclusion through Sport and Physical Activity Program continued. The icon depicts a person swimming freestyle.

The Machinery of Government (MoG) Taskforce would like to thank entities for their work to date, with all material changes of the MoG now complete. The changes implemented include:

• creating two new departments, increasing the total number of departments from 14 to 16;
• renaming of five departments;
• 30 entities moving between portfolios;
• 90 programs moving between entities; 
• initially transferring $5 billion in annual appropriation funding under the 2022-23 Supply Acts; 
• moving 46 special appropriations, totalling approximately $7.8 billion; and 
• movement of staff between portfolios.

We are now seeking feedback on matters related to your experience with the implementation of changes, including content covered in the MoG guide and the coordination/support provided by the Taskforce throughout the process to date.

Entities can email feedback to MoGAdvice@finance.gov.au or contact us to setup up a time for a discussion. An online survey will also be distributed to key MoG contacts from affected entities in the coming weeks.

The 2022 Commonwealth Awards for Excellence in Risk Management (the Awards) are now open!

The Awards raise awareness of the significance of risk management across the Commonwealth by highlighting examples of best practice risk management. 

Entities can nominate in one or more of the following award categories:

• Enterprise Wide Risk Management: for excellence in implementing an entity’s risk management frameworks, practices and processes.
• Risk Initiative: for excellence in risk management demonstrated by a specific entity program/project, or service delivery initiative.
• Risk In Focus 2022 - Shared Risk: for demonstrated excellence by one or more entities in managing shared risk in a specific project or initiative.

Nominations for the 2022 Awards opened on Wednesday, 3 August 2022 and close on 21 September 2022.

Visit our Commonwealth Awards for Excellence in Risk Management page and if you have any questions or require further information please contact us on 1800 651 540 (option 4) or email riskawards@finance.gov.au.

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 remainder of 2022 are:

To enrol in the workshops and access more Comcover education opportunities please visit the Comcover Learning Centre 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.

Thank you to all who provided feedback on the revised Commonwealth Risk Management Policy. Subject to final approval, the Policy will be released in a soft launch on the Finance website in the following weeks. This will provide time for entities to implement any changes prior to it formally taking effect on 1 January 2023.

Supporting guidance is also being finalised to assist entities in embedding the Policy’s new enhancements to their existing frameworks. The guidance includes a resource management guide to implementing the Policy, case studies, information sheets and microbites on emerging risks, control effectiveness, and shared risk.

Did you know that Finance has a PGPA eLearning program available for new starters and as a refresher?

The program is a self-learning tool aimed at Commonwealth officials. The course will empower you with the knowledge to understand and work with the Commonwealth Resource Management Framework and to understand your responsibilities under the PGPA Act and Rule.