About the Report

The State of the Service Report is an annual account of the operation of the ACT Public Service and the management of the ACT Public Sector during the reporting year. It provides a holistic overview of the ACT public sector including a detailed analysis of workforce data, notable achievements, challenges and priorities.

The report is presented in eight chapters with accompanying appendices. Chapters 1 to 6 focus on the ACT Public Service, Chapter 7 looks at the wider public sector and Chapter 8 reports on the Public Sector Standards Commissioner.

The report complies with the Annual Reports (Government Agencies) Act 2004 and the Annual Reports (Government Agencies) Directions 2019.

Workforce Composition

The ACT Public Sector workforce delivers a wide range of services to the Canberra community, including health, education, planning and urban renewal, transport, law enforcement and the maintenance of community infrastructure and facilities.

At June 2019 the ACT Public Sector consisted of eight ACT Public Service (ACTPS) directorates and twelve public sector bodies. The directorates were as follows.

On 1 October 2018, ACT Health transitioned to two separate organisations, Canberra Health Services and the ACT Health Directorate. Canberra Health Services is focussed on the delivery of high quality, safe, effective, person centred care. The ACT Health Directorate is responsible for the stewardship of the health system in the ACT.

There are a number of public sector bodies which have Head of Service management powers under section 152 of the Public Sector Management (PSM) Act 1994. These public sector employers are those statutory office holders or agencies whose establishing or other legislation prescribes that they may employ staff and that the staff are employed under the PSM Act. In effect, these bodies are a public sector employer that exercises the management powers in their own right and without reference to the Head of Service. These arrangements are appropriate as statutory office holders and these agencies are not part of the public service, but rather part of the broader public sector.

These public sector bodies are outlined below:

Approximately 90 per cent of the ACT Public Sector’s workforce is employed by the eight directorates. The remaining ten per cent fall within public sector bodies which operate independently of the ACTPS. Please note that this is not a complete list of the independent statutory bodies across the public sector, however, it does represent those bodies with Head of Service management powers.

ACTPS Workforce profile

The Workforce Profile information provides a holistic overview of the ACTPS and analysis of ACTPS workforce data. It includes data, analysis and commentary on employment and key demographics, including part time employment, employment growth, separation rates and diversity. Some tables and graphs are contained in the State of the Service Report while others are available online at our list of Annual Reports.

Further, Workforce Profile data provides a historical summary of indicators based on the ACTPS structure, including high-level time series information. This allows for time series comparison and incorporates retrospective updates that help to remove time lag in human resources data processing. Workforce statistics contained within the Workforce Profile data are based on information from the ACTPS payroll system and information provided by public sector bodies as at the final pay of June 2019 (‘June 2019’). Reporting notes are at Appendix 3.

Agency Survey

The 2019 Agency Survey is the method by which information on culture and behaviour is collected from ACTPS directorates and public sector bodies. The aim of the Agency Survey is to collect data on the outcomes delivered under the Respect, Equity and Diversity (RED) Framework and identify how the values under the ACTPS Code of Conduct are being embedded into workplace culture.

The Agency Survey provided respondents with the opportunity to provide information on significant achievements throughout the reporting year and actions or initiatives that their directorate or public sector body had undertaken during the reporting year. This allowed directorates and public sector bodies to support their data with contextual information and commentary.

All eight directorates and 12 of the 14 public sector bodies listed above completed the Agency Survey. The Principal Registrar, Courts and Tribunal and the Solicitor-General and Government Solicitor’s Office report through the agency survey prepared by the Justice and Community Safety Directorate, which has portfolio responsibilities for these bodies.

A full copy of the 2019 Agency Survey can be found at Appendix 4.

1 These public sector bodies have their own payroll system.

2 For the purposes of reporting, the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Principal Registrar, Courts and Tribunal and the Solicitor-General and Government Solicitor’s Office are included in the workforce profile data of the Justice and Community Safety Directorate, which has portfolio responsibilities for these bodies.