Output 1—Core department: Description
Page contents:
- Service Delivery—Policy and Strategy Division
- Delivery Analysis and Corporate Division
- Comprehensive Work Capacity Assessment Division
- Legal Branch
The core department is small and strategic. Our role is to improve the delivery of social and health-related services to the Australian people. We do this by introducing new service approaches and by overseeing and improving the performance of existing services.
The department does not duplicate the expertise or resources of the agencies; instead, we foster a high level of collaboration. We recognise the individual characteristics of the agencies and draw on their collective expertise.
The core department, Output 1, ensures a whole-of-government approach to delivering social and health-related services.
The core department consists of three small divisions and a small legal branch. The divisions are Service Delivery—Policy and Strategy; Delivery Analysis and Corporate; and Comprehensive Work Capacity Assessment.
Service Delivery—Policy and Strategy Division
The Service Delivery—Policy and Strategy Division consists of three branches: Delivery Strategy and Coordination; Service Delivery—Policy; and Marketing and Communication. The division is responsible for:
- ensuring that service delivery implications are taken into account when new government policies are being planned or considered
- providing advice on existing service delivery issues as part of strategic reviews of government policy
- ensuring an effective, efficient cross-agency and customer-centred approach in Human Services and its six agencies in relation to information technology capabilities, general procurement and property
- ensuring that key technology trends are understood and exploited within Human Services and its agencies where appropriate
- coordinating independent reviews of significant information technology, property and procurement initiatives in Human Services agencies as required
- developing and implementing a cross-agency service delivery strategy, including improving the delivery of online services
- improving service delivery for members of parliament, senators and their constituents through the Local Liaison Officer Program
- ensuring that new policy, program rollout and service delivery changes are effectively communicated to stakeholders.
Delivery Analysis and Corporate Division
The Delivery Analysis and Corporate Division consists of two branches—Delivery Analysis and Corporate. The division is responsible for:
- focusing on the performance of Human Services agencies and the services they provide
- providing management and support services to the department
- meeting a range of government reporting requirements—for example, parliamentary and ministerial, financial, governance and people management.
Comprehensive Work Capacity Assessment Division
The small Comprehensive Work Capacity Assessment Division was established in June 2005 to lead the implementation of a single service for assessment of work capacity. The division has policy responsibility for Comprehensive Work Capacity Assessments, allocating service delivery elements to capable providers, and overseeing the delivery of these services.
The main priorities of the division are to:
- streamline and speed up the assessment process
- administer an assessment process which facilitates the direct referral of individuals to support services where appropriate
- develop policy guidelines for the Pre-vocational Assistance Participation Account, a new stream of funding announced in the 2005–06 Budget’s Welfare to Work package. The Pre-vocational Assistance Participation Account will provide a funding stream for comprehensive work capacity assessors to refer people to assistance programs that address their barriers to work
- ensure that all comprehensive work capacity assessors provide a customised report for service providers, one that can also assist Centrelink to determine the appropriate income support payment for an individual where required.
Legal Branch
The Legal Branch is responsible for:
- providing legal services to the core department and the Minister
- managing the Department of Human Services’s legislative program
- providing advice on information-related issues to the core department and the Minister and participating with the six Human Services agencies and other departments on information-related issues.