Service improvement measures

The department is introducing measures that will assist funded non-government organisations to improve their sustainability, efficiency and effectiveness.

These measures aim to:

• enhance and maintain the quality of service delivery
• reduce unnecessary red-tape for funded non-government organisations
• clarify the outputs to be purchased
• improve funding decisions
• reduce the cost associated with prescriptive reporting.

We are leading work on service improvement by:

• streamlining quality standards
• introducing output funding and reporting.

Streamlining quality standards project

The streamlining quality standards project aims to streamline quality standards and systems to reduce the administrative and reporting burden for non-government organisations.

Streamlining quality standards across the human services sector involves establishing a new and innovative policy framework which enables common standards across service streams, as well as recognising where evidence produced from one audit process is equivalent to evidence required under another.

Quality system standards and administrative processes have been mapped across the department's service areas to identify where streamlining can take place, and the department is engaging the non-government sector through inter-sectoral forums. 

Output funding and reporting project

Introducing output funding and reporting will provide greater clarity about what the department is purchasing from non-government organisations and what government organisations need to provide with that funding.

The department has developed an Outputs Catalogue which cross-references the National Classifications of Community Services. The national classifications are designed to assist with collecting nationally consistent quality data. Classifications have been developed in consultation with community services departments, the Bureau of Statistics, and representatives from non-government organisations.