Palliative care

This audit assessed whether Victorians with a terminal illness have access to high‑quality palliative care that is timely, coordinated, and responsive to their needs and wishes. Summary Palliative care aims to improve the quality of life of people with terminal illnesses by managing pain and distressing symptoms.  With the population ageing and the need for palliative care on the rise, health services face increasing pressure to manage the often complex needs of patients, their carers and families, often in home settings. This audit assessed whether Victorians with a terminal illness have access to high‑quality palliative care that is timely, coordinated, and responsive to their needs and wishes. The audit examined the policies and procedures of the Department of Health & Human Services (DHHS) and four health services. The audit found that DHHS has set a clear and ambitious agenda for the palliative care sector but there is room for improvement. In recent years access to services has improved. However some metropolitan community-based services are struggling to cope with demand. Greater focus is also needed on supporting carers and families. While there have been improvements in areas such as after-hours support for carers and families, further work is needed to ensure carers and families can access support at critical times. In particular, respite provision and access to psychosocial support remain major priorities

Victoria’s consumer protection framework for building construction

This audit assessed the effectiveness of the consumer protection framework for domestic building construction. Summary The audit examined the performance of Victorian Building Authority, Building Practitioners Board, Consumer Affairs Victoria and Victorian Managed Insurance Authority as they provide functions key to building regulation and to the consumer protection framework in domestic building. The report makes recommendations to the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, Victorian Building Authority, Building Practitioners Board, Consumer Affairs Victoria, Department of Treasury and Finance and Victorian Managed Insurance Authority to improve the framework and its implementation. Prompt action is required to ensure domestic building consumers are appropriately protected

Universities: 2014 audit snapshot

This report sets out the key outcomes from financial audits of the eight universities and their 51 controlled entities for the year ending 31 December 2014. Summary Parliament, and the citizens of Victoria, can have confidence in the 2014 financial reports of the universities and their controlled entities, except for the following audit qualifications. Three entities, including the University of Melbourne and Deakin University, were qualified because of their incorrect recognition of Commonwealth Government grants. The qualifications on the universities have been in place for a number of years and are long standing issues that remain unresolved. Including an adjustment for these qualifications, the universities produced a net surplus of $537.1 million for the 2014 financial year ($446.5 million for 2013). This large net surplus, when combined with their strong liquidity position, means most universities are considered to be low financial sustainability risks. However, there are some emerging longer-term sustainability risks that need to be monitored relating to the replacement or renewal of their assets. Universities will need to respond promptly to any changes by the Commonwealth government to the funding model, so that they remain financially sustainable—as $2.7 billion of the universities\u27 revenue came from the Commonwealth in 2014 ($2.6 billion in 2013), excluding capital grants. As public bodies, universities are accountable for all public money spent and therefore must have the required documentation and support to demonstrate value for money was achieved. This was not the case when we looked at travel and accommodation spending by universities, which totalled $137 million in 2014. While there are frameworks in place to control this expenditure, these frameworks were not comprehensive, and our testing showed the policies and procedures were not routinely adhered to

Annual report 2014–15: auditing in the public interest

The Annual Report 2014–15 provides a summary of the performance of Victorian Auditor-General\u27s Office (VAGO) in 2014–15 in fulfilling our purpose to provide assurance to Parliament on the accountability and performance of Victoria’s public sector. This year, our annual report is divided into two volumes. Volume 1 contains our report on operations and financial statements (including the opinion of the independent external auditor appointed by the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee). It also: reports on our output performance measures as set in State Budget Papers reports on the implementation of our Annual Plan 2014–15 reports on our increasing impact reports on our organisation and people. Volume 2 contains a summary of common findings from the 34 reports on our audits tabled in Parliament in 2014–15

Operational effectiveness of the myki ticketing system

This audit examined the perational effectiveness of Victorian transport ticketing system, Myki, and whether the outcomes and benefits expected from its introduction are being achieved. Overview In July 2005, the state committed almost $1 billion to develop myki to replace the ageing Metcard system. The myki system was expected to deliver significant benefits to Victorians including more efficient, attractive and reliable transport services, and the best value solution at the lowest whole-of-life cost. Public Transport Victoria (PTV) is currently planning to retender the myki contract which expires in 2016. The audit found that that myki experienced significant delays and related cost increases that have compromised achievement of its original business case objectives and benefits. Poor initial planning resulted in myki\u27s original scope and contract being vaguely specified and overly ambitious. This produced significant delivery risks that were poorly managed because of shortcomings in the state\u27s initial governance and oversight of the project. Since its creation in 2012, PTV has improved oversight and management of the myki contractor. However, significant risks to the state remain due to weaknesses with the contract’s performance regime and the compressed time frames for the myki retender. PTV needs to urgently address these issues to avoid perpetuating past mistakes

Emergency service response times

Assessed how accountable emergency service organisations and the Departments of Health & Human Services (DHHS) and Justice & Regulation (DJR) are for their response time performance. Summary The audit assessed how accountable emergency service organisations and the Departments of Health & Human Services (DHHS) and Justice & Regulation (DJR) are for their response time performance. We found that while response time performance has been largely stable across the last three years, multiple problems with emergency response time measures, targets and data prevent Parliament and the public from holding agencies fully to account. Response time targets are outdated or not based on evidence or a clear rationale; agencies were often unable to explain the basis for their target times to arrive at an emergency. Reporting the percentage of cases that meet a target lacking evidence or rationale fails to describe agency performance in any meaningful way. Response time measures do not cover the full range of emergency responses. Some agencies exclude significant numbers of emergency responses, while others include lesser priority responses. Despite some weaknesses in how response time data is recorded and reported, public reports accurately represent actual performance in most instances.  However, external reports do not have enough information to allow readers to understand response time performance. DHHS and DJR have not appropriately reviewed response time measures to identify and address these issues. Although response times are a relevant part of performance measurement frameworks for emergency service delivery, they are not appropriate stand-alone measures for overall emergency service performance, and should be considered alongside information on outcomes, service quality, efficiency and cost effectiveness

Water entities: results of the 2013–14 audits

This report highlights some key financial challenges and risks for water entities in Victoria, including repaying growing debt and continuing to meet ongoing financial obligations to the state, such as taxes and levies. Overview This report covers the results of our financial audits of 20 entities, comprising 19 water entities and one controlled entity. The report informs Parliament about significant issues arising from the audits of financial and performance reports and augments the assurance provided through audit opinions included in the respective entities’ annual reports. Parliament can have confidence in the water entities financial reports and performance reports as all were given unmodified audit opinions for 2013–14. It is pleasing to note that both financial reports and performance reports met the legislated time frames and improvement has occurred in the quality of performance reporting during 2013–14. The sector generated a net profit before income tax of $318.2 million, an increase of$234.5 million. The increase is largely due to two metropolitan water entities reporting significantly higher profits as a result of higher water consumption and increased water, sewerage and other prices, as approved under the regulatory price setting model. This report highlights some key financial challenges and risks for the water entities, including repaying growing debt and continuing to meet ongoing financial obligations to the state, such as taxes and levies. It also highlights significant increases in total water and sewerage charges by the three metropolitan water retailers in 2013–14

Regional growth fund: outcomes and learnings

Overview This audit assessed the effectiveness, efficiency and economy of the Regional Growth Fund (RGF), the achievement of its intended outcomes and whether the Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport & Resources (the department) has applied the lessons learned from the RGF to the planning and implementation of the Regional Jobs and Infrastructure Fund (RJIF). Weaknesses in the design and implementation of the RGF mean that the department cannot fully demonstrate that value for money and the goals and objectives of the RGF have all been achieved to date. These weaknesses include a lack of transparency in pre-application processes and fundamental flaws in performance evaluation and reporting. Regional Development Victoria (RDV) has not effectively monitored and reported on all the outcomes of the RGF. The reported outcomes of jobs and investment leveraged are potentially misleading as they inflate the actual achievements of the RGF. Reported job numbers primarily relate to expected, rather than actual jobs created. Consequently, reported RGF figures do not provide an accurate picture of actual achievements. Going forward, the department is applying the lessons learned to the design and implementation of the new RJIF including a stronger evaluation framework. However, given RJIF\u27s recent implementation, it is too early to determine the effectiveness of these improvements

Education transitions

Overview: This audit assessed whether Victoria\u27s Department of Education and Training (DET), government schools and early childhood education and care providers are effectively supporting children to transition into Prep and from primary to secondary school. DET has improved access to high-quality kindergarten programs and has developed a comprehensive, well-researched framework to support early-years transitions. These actions have contributed to improved outcomes for children transitioning into Prep. However, DET does not have a similar strategy or framework for managing middle-years transitions and despite some pockets of improvement, engagement and academic outcomes continue to decline as children move into secondary school. In an environment where schools have high levels of autonomy, DET needs to provide strong leadership, including sound guidance, appropriate support and effective monitoring of schools. It does not consistently do so. Despite this, there are many examples of good practice among schools and early childhood education providers. These include innovative curriculum and teaching approaches, joint professional development forums with school and early childhood teachers, and schools that set and monitored academic achievement targets for transitioning students. System-wide change is required if consistent long-term gains are to be made, and if issues such as the uneven impact of transitions on male and female students are to be resolved. The report recommends a range of simple cost effective steps that DET could take to better support schools to improve middle-years transitions, and highlights some of the examples of better practice found in audited schools

Financial systems controls report: information technology 2014–15

This report summarises audits of 45 public sector entities\u27 information technology controls in Victoria. Overview This report summarises the results of our audits of 45 public sector entities\u27 IT controls performed in support of VAGO\u27s 2014–15 financial audits. This report is in its second year and builds on the inaugural ICT controls report 2014–15 to provide additional insight and increase visibility of our IT audit findings. It also summarises reviews undertaken over two areas—identity & access management (IDAM) and software licensing practices. Sixty-five key financial IT applications and their infrastructure were audited, with 462 associated audit findings used as the basis for this report’s analysis. Most IT audit findings identified were rated medium and high risk, with one audit finding rated as an extreme risk. Along with the specific IT audit findings, this report draws out the following three clear emerging themes: management of controls at outsourced IT environments requires improvement use of IT systems that are no longer supported or at their end-of-life IT security controls need improvement. Notwithstanding some deficiencies in IT controls, VAGO was able to rely on these controls for financial reporting purposes because other mitigating controls were identified and tested