Annual Report 2001–02

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Ministerial and parliamentary services

Performance

FaCS delivered services to both ministers and to the Parliamentary Secretary on behalf of the Family and Community Services portfolio, including the Child Support Agency (CSA), CRS Australia, Centrelink, Social Security Appeals Tribunal and the Australian Institute of Family Studies.

Performance

Client satisfaction

Through regular informal feedback, ministers and their offices have indicated they are satisfied with the overall timeliness and quality of ministerial correspondence and other briefing material.

Ministerial correspondence

Ministerial correspondence fell from around 17 600 letters in 2000–01 (excluding campaign letters) to 13 864 in 2001–02.

Of the total items:

• FaCS core received 9956
• the Child Support Agency received 1131
• Centrelink received 2777.

Forty-seven per cent of correspondence was provided to ministers or other signatories within the standard of 21 days.

The Minister for Family and Community Services has asked that replies to correspondence from members of parliament be provided to her within 14 days. This standard is being met in 20 per cent of cases.

One factor affecting timeliness performance has been the number of campaign letters where responses had to await decisions on the broad approach to be taken. Although the number of campaign letters fell from around 7000 (2000–01) to around 3000 (2001–02) they still had a large impact on our overall ability to meet standards. Most campaign letters in 2001–02 related to a range of disability issues.

The department is undertaking a review of its procedures to identify areas of potential improvement, including the ministerial correspondence management systems.

Ministerial briefing and policy advice

1716 briefing submissions were provided to the ministers.

Of these, ministers or their staff requested 315 (18 per cent) and departmental staff initiated 1401 (82 per cent) to advise ministers on matters of policy or program administration.

Table 86 Ministerial and parliamentary services—number of briefings, submissions, ministerial correspondence and questions on notice

Output group	Ministerial correspondencea	Question-time briefingsb	Briefingsc	Submissionsd	Questions on notice
1.1 Family Assistance	1 085	110	92	123	7
1.2 Youth and Student Support	768	118	22	128	3
1.3 Child Support	1 131	13	16	36	4
1.4 Child Care Support	413	117	29	142	11
2.1 Housing Support	270	95	13	60	3
2.2 Community Support	703	71	36	185	3
3.1 Labour Market Assistance	546	109	7	82	6
3.2 Support for People with a Disability	53	35	18	101	2
3.3 Support for Carers	2464	97	3	10	2
3.4 Support for the Aged	1674	86	6	32	3
Not directly attributable	1980	132	55	270	16
FaCS subtotal (rounded)	11 087	983	297	1169	60
Centrelink	2777	139	18	232	15
Total	13 864	1 122	315	1401	75
a These figures exclude campaign letters. b New Question Time Briefings and each significant revision. c Written submissions requested by the ministers, the Parliamentary Secretary or their staff. d Written submissions initiated by departmental staff, for the attention of the ministers or the Parliamentary Secretary.

Parliamentary questions on notice

Table 87 Ministerial and parliamentary services—response time to questions on notice

		Portfolio standard: 23 days to ministers
	Number processed	Met	Not met	% met
Senate	19	14	5	74
House of Representatives	56	42	14	75

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