Corporate Plan

Message from the Clerk

This plan sets out a framework and key priorities within which the department’s annual business plans will be developed and work progressed from 2010 to 2013.

The department has important responsibilities in supporting the Australian Parliament, in particular the House of Representatives and its committees and members. As well as supporting day to day activities, the department is aware of its wider obligations. The development of this plan has been a good opportunity to look at longer-term responsibilities as well as those which must be discharged on a daily basis.

A key step in gathering ideas for the development of this plan was the annual planning day in 2010 in which a majority of staff participated. The ideas from the planning day, and from other sources, were picked up and refined to develop the final plan. Members were informed of the process and given the opportunity to contribute. Regard has also been had to the interests and plans of the Department of the Senate and the Department of Parliamentary Services so that a parliament-wide view could be taken.

The years 2010 to 2013 will offer many challenges for the House itself and for the department. I am confident that this plan provides a practical framework for the department’s work and I commend it to you.

The context of our Work

Since 1901 our Department’s people have been serving the House of Representatives, the Speaker, Members, and the Australian Parliament with professional and impartial support. Over time we have worked consistently to improve the value of our advice and services, through cost and time efficiencies, technological improvements, and by expanding the nature of our services and our range of clients. We seek to do more than to serve the House and Parliament efficiently. We seek to strengthen the Parliament through the excellence of our work and behaviour.

Externally, our operating environment is increasingly complex. We face the same scrutiny and calls for change that apply across the public sector generally, as well as budgetary pressures that have an additional impact on us as a small department. As always, we will respond to challenges with confidence, drawing on our leadership and technical skills and our strong professional relationships.

Our leaders, our people and our systems have undergone change and renewal, but our values remain constant. In keeping with the Constitution’s separate recognition of the House and the Senate within the Parliament, we will maintain our unique identity and culture as we build on our cooperative relationships with the other parliamentary departments to support the House and the Parliament.

The purpose of our work

To support the House of Representatives, and the wider Parliament, in the role of a representative and legislative body by providing advice and services of a high standard.

To achieve this purpose, we provide facilities, support, advice and information to ensure that:

• the Chamber and Main Committee operate effectively;
• parliamentary committees operate effectively;
• Members receive appropriate services to fulfil their parliamentary duties;
• international and regional relationships with other Parliaments, parliamentary bodies and organisations are maintained; and
• the community understands, and interacts with, the work of the House of Representatives and the Australian Parliament.

The way we achieve these objectives and measures of performance are set out in our annual Portfolio Budget Statements and business and other plans, and progress is reported in our annual report.

The values we apply to our work

We uphold and promote the Parliamentary Service values and adhere to the Code of Conduct set out in the Parliamentary Service Act 1999.

In providing advice and services, and in our interactions with each other, we will show:

Integrity and Impartiality	by demonstrating high ethical standards and being unbiased and non-partisan;
Professionalism	by providing high quality advice and services, promptly, effectively and efficiently;
Commitment to service	by striving to meet as best we can the needs of the House, the Speaker, Members, the public and others and always seeking to improve; and
Mutual respect	by treating all people with fairness, respect and courtesy.

The way we work

We recognise that our future success depends on the effort we make to improve and sustain our knowledge, skills and motivation. We give our people autonomy to achieve the best results they can while encouraging them to share their knowledge with others. We enhance their prospects to learn and develop and we value them for their contribution and diversity.

In return, our people have made the Department more efficient and effective through tested innovations. They have built a breadth of knowledge about the House and its related activities. Our people support and collaborate with each other, so that we achieve results with mutual respect and learning.

We are large enough to invest in training and rotate people internally to experience the range of the department’s work. We are also small enough to build strong internal relationships that support our capacity to do our work.

Our priorities for 2010-13

Our priorities for the next three years seeks to build on our capacity to serve our clients, develop our people, sustain our capability and work collaboratively with each other and other key people and organisations

Service

We seek to strengthen our culture of service to our clients – the House of Representatives, its members and committees, other parliamentary clients and the wider community.

We will encourage excellence in service provision and pursue improvements to services and greater efficiencies in their delivery.

We will do this by:

• providing targeted induction programs for new Members and tailoring our services to better respond to all Members as their needs change;
• promoting public knowledge of the parliamentary process and the role of the Parliament, and ensuring that the community is aware of and encouraged to participate in committee activities;
• fostering professional relationships with clients;
• gathering feedback from Members and other clients, and being responsive to requirements;
• seeking to use technology more efficiently and more creatively to deliver services;
• monitoring developments in parliamentary and public administration and applying as appropriate; and
• nurturing a flexible, integrated and cohesive department while recognising individual talents and responsibilities.

People

We work together to ensure our people have the capability to provide high quality service and that the Department is a good place to work.

We continue to enhance the capabilities and skills of our people to make our working environment better by:

• ensuring our culture complements our values;
• managing talent well;
• working co-operatively to achieve our goals and to recognise our achievements;
• promoting a shared responsibility for leadership and mutual support, and encouraging people at all levels to demonstrate leadership;
• being innovative and flexible to draw the best from all staff;
• reviewing and adopting strategies that attract and retain capable staff and encourage a mix of mobility and experience;
• continuing to support and encourage training and development, particularly in the parliamentary context, and continuing to develop our knowledge and skills in the application of parliamentary law, practice and procedure;
• supporting and recognising adherence to our values and the Parliamentary Service Values;
• adopting flexible strategies to support staff with varying workloads, sharing work experience through shadowing and fostering appropriate work life balance for people in all areas; and
• ensuring effective performance management through ongoing feedback, recognition of high performance and active management of underperformance.

Capability

We will ensure that our capability to support our clients and the parliamentary institution effectively continues by:

• identifying and seeking to obtain the resources needed to meet the requirements of the House into the future, based on the role of the House and the needs of our Members, opportunities for innovation and efficiency identified by our people, and enhanced measurement of departmental performance and capability;
• effectively managing our finances within a sound framework;
• supporting environmental sustainability in our work;
• having in place and applying a comprehensive risk management framework;
• nurturing the parliamentary institution to enhance the representative, legislative and scrutiny roles of the House;
• adopting flexible strategies in response to the workload variations of the parliamentary cycle, and where possible promoting flexibility through consistency of practice;
• enhancing departmental records management, including integrating electronic document management systems into our daily work practices;
• continuing to apply and develop information and communication technologies that improve our ability to meet the needs of our clients effectively and efficiently;
• ensuring that our governance arrangements remain current, and that compliance with associated policies and practice is promoted and monitored;
• ensuring that our business continuity strategies remain appropriate to known and emerging risks, and are understood and adhered to; and
• safeguarding the integrity of House and Committee records and documents for the benefit of future generations.
• strengthening communication and information-sharing across the department;

Collaboration

We will strengthen our collaboration, both in Australia and internationally, with parliamentary colleagues, other public sector agencies and organisations committed to the development of parliamentary institutions.
 
We will develop our services to Members of Parliament and the Australian community by:

• drawing on our relationships with each other to share knowledge and ideas across the department, to work together on projects of common interest and to pass on to colleagues the benefits of our tradition of professional support to the House;
• exchanging ideas with our parliamentary colleagues in Australia and beyond, and contributing to research organisations, non-government bodies and other groups committed to the study and strengthening of Parliaments;
• identifying and promoting opportunities for mutually beneficial collaboration with other organisations, including on ICT, shared services and cross-agency service delivery where appropriate;
• further developing our governance arrangements for such collaboration to ensure that it is sustainable and meets the needs of the House; and
• continuing to develop our information resources, and technology for their delivery, to enable the Australian community to be aware of and contribute to the work of the House.