Identifying and meeting central government's skills requirements
Start with well managed responsibilities UK Departments have invested heavily in skills development. Government estimates that expenditure on formal training, including salary costs of departmental learning and development staff, was £275 million in 2009-10. NAO identified weaknesses of the system which start with devolved responsibilities, lead to: weak data, mis-profiled trainings, doubtful personal decisions, lack of well-targeted evaluation - and finish at more expensive buying-in and retaining key skills...
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Australian Taxation Office: Administration of Australian Business Number Registrations
More elligibility and data integrity needed The Australian Business Number (ABN) and Australian Business Register initiatives were implemented as part of theGovernment's comprehensive reform of the taxation system in 2000. Their introduction involved challenging issues of technology and governance , including the imperative to process and register significant numbers of applications in a short time. Overall, the Australian SAI concluded that the ABN registration process is operating effectively. However, matters relating to the eligibility of some ABN applicants need to be reviewed. Further, some data integrity issues remain outstanding.
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Digital transformation in government
Support exemplars, provide consistent guidance... and do not lose focus As the NAO states: Government faces significant challenges in providing public services. While many government services are now available online, public administration is struggling to manage more complicated programmes and to improve the complex systems and processes that support public services.
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The Shared Services Centre
The necessary environment for the efficient management of the Shared Service Center is lacking The department's administration of the Shared Services Centre (SSC) has been effective for sharing resources between the departments and delivering selected back-office services to a small client base. However, the governance arrangements established to oversight the SSC have not positioned it well for the future and the departments have not yet determined if the arrangement is efficient and resulting in savings. ANAO found instances where the advisory board of SSC was not consulted or involved in decisions relating to the strategic direction, financial arrangements and expenditure priorities. Information reported to the board did not focus on areas of strategic importance and the quality and completeness of this information could be improved. The mechanisms established for setting out responsibilities and obligations and ensuring transparency for services delivered by the SSC was weak. Service standards and levels were not fixed and can change. The delineation of responsibilities between the SSC and its clients was not clear and there was no commitment by the SSC to certify the quality of its control framework.
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Performance measurement by regulators
Performance measurement for regulators Primary adressees of this good practice guide - by the British NAO - are regulators, the public institutions established for making sure that an industry or system works legally and fairly. But we are sure that many more can find this guidance useful - including auditors. NAO presents a comprehensible framework for performance measurement and hints how to focus on influence that regulators can use.
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Central government staff costs
Results of staff reductions The British NAO found that departments had significantly reduced numbers of their civil servants and of course salary costs at the same time. But they reduced staff numbers mainly by minimising recruitment, and the age profile of the civil service has changed. NAO pays a lot attention to what effect this has had on the future pipeline of talent and skills. It reminds also that the departments need long-term operating models to work efficiently with the staff reduced.
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