Overview of Performance Framework

The performance framework for measuring the department’s success is presented as follows:

• overall effectiveness indicators in achieving the Outcome
  
• departmental indicators in delivering each Output
  
• administered item indicators in delivering specific government programs and their subsequent contribution to Outputs.

Departmental indicator – All Outputs

High quality policy advice as measured by:

 - meeting a standard agreed with the Minister. The target for this indicator is 90 per cent.

Departmental systems do not collate information by Output on the information provided to Ministers and the Parliamentary Secretary therefore this indicator is reported for the whole of the department. 

Activity and performance
This key department-wide indicator relates to the quality, quantity and timeliness of our policy advice. During the year the department made further progress in implementing more rigorous performance information and targets relating to its indicators.

The Ministers and Parliamentary Secretary, and their staff, have expressed formally and informally to the department’s Executive their satisfaction with the quality and timeliness of policy advice and program administration. They provide regular feedback through annotations to paperwork and weekly portfolio business meetings with the Executive. The Executive subsequently briefs the department’s business managers following these meetings.

There was a large increase in ministerial workflow in 2002-03. Staff provided the Ministers and Parliamentary Secretary with 3450 briefs (including Question Time briefs), 11 draft Cabinet submissions, and 161 draft speeches.

The department processed 7794 items of ministerial correspondence and prepared 4093 draft replies and 9074 individually addressed draft replies to ‘campaign style’ correspondence.

The department has made a commitment to the Ministers and Parliamentary Secretary to reduce the turnaround time for responses to correspondence. Before 1 January 2002, the target for responding to correspondence from Australian Government and state/territory ministers or parliamentarians was 12 working days. On 1 January 2002, the department reduced this target to five working days. For all other types of ministerial correspondence, the department reduced its target from 20 working days to 15 working days from 1 January 2002, and to 10 working days from 24 June 2003.

Staff prepared draft responses to 221 parliamentary Questions on Notice during 2002-03, and the Minister tabled 168 responses to Questions on Notice at Senate Estimate hearings.

Comparison of Ministerial workflow since 2001-02