Annual Report 2003–04
Output Group 2—Table Office
Outputs
- Provision of programming and procedural support to the Senate.
- Processing of legislation and maintenance of related information systems.
- Preparation and maintenance of the record of proceedings of the Senate, records of current and outstanding business, and statistical information on the business of the Senate.
- Processing of tabled documents and maintenance of safe custody of Senate records, and provision of a document distribution and inquiries service to senators, staff, government departments and the public.
- Provision of secretariat support to the Appropriations and Staffing Committee, Selection of Bills Committee and Senate and Joint Publications Committees.
| Performance indicators | Performance results |
|---|---|
| Quality | |
| The degree of satisfaction of the President, Deputy President, committee members and senators, as expressed through formal and informal feedback mechanisms, with the quality and timeliness of advice and support and the achievement of key tasks. | Feedback from senators who had used the services of the Table Office indicated continued high levels of satisfaction with the quality and timeliness of advice and support. |
| Key business documents are accurate and of a high standard. | Business documents remained of a high standard, and none was shown to be substantially inaccurate. |
| Timeliness | |
| Order of Business finalised and distributed prior to sittings and advice prepared proactively or as required. | The Order of Business was distributed
in advance of sittings in all cases. Advice was given proactively or as required. |
| Running sheets available as soon as practicable; proposed amendments distributed in accordance with requirements; schedules of amendments and prints of bills available in accordance with predetermined requirements. | Running sheets were available in all cases
to assist consideration of legislation. Amendments were distributed in accordance with requirements. Schedules of amendments and prints of bills were available in all cases to meet requirements. |
| Journals of the Senate for the previous day and Notice Paper for the current day available prior to sittings; statistical and other documentation available as required or in accordance with predetermined requirements. | The Journals of the Senate and
the Notice Paper were available prior to each sitting. Statistical information was published in accordance with agreed timeframes or provided on request as soon as practicable. |
| All inquiries answered and documents stored or distributed on a timely basis. | All documents were distributed in a timely
manner, and 94 per cent of inquiries were responded to within
five minutes. Feedback indicated continued high levels of satisfaction among senators who had used the inquiry service. |
| Meetings held, documentation provided and reports produced within timeframes set by the Senate or the committee, as relevant. | Committee meetings were held, and documents and reports were provided, within agreed timeframes. |
| Quantity | |
| As required to facilitate proceedings; quantities meet predetermined distribution requirements or are accessible electronically or both. | Feedback indicated continued high levels
of satisfaction among senators provided with documents by the
Table Office. All distribution and electronic publishing targets were met. |
Analysis
During 2003–04, the Table Office provided effective support for the Senate chamber by:
- providing accurate and timely procedural and programming advice to facilitate and expedite chamber proceedings
- promptly and accurately processing legislation, and producing documents to assist in its consideration
- preparing accurate and timely records of proceedings and of current and outstanding business
- processing and maintaining custody of tabled papers
- providing prompt and effective inquiries and document distribution services.
The office also contributed to the public awareness of the Senate and its work through the timely publication of key business documents and less formal sources of information, such as the on‑line statistical collection, and through the contributions of staff to the seminar program administered by the Procedure Office (see the report on Output Group 3). We also supported committees effectively, by providing secretariat support to certain committees, and by performing a liaison function with Senate and joint committee secretariats to facilitate necessary interaction between the chamber and those committees.
The office is divided into three functional areas, as shown in Figure 5. It is led by the Clerk Assistant (Table), who also performs duties as a clerk at the table in the Senate chamber, as do the two directors.
The average staffing level for the Table Office during the year was 16.5 staff years, down marginally from last year’s average of 16.7, as a result of our applying the Staff Numbers Management Policy and balancing tasks between sitting and non‑sitting periods.
The cost of providing this procedural and administrative support for the conduct of Senate business was $2.6 million, the greatest proportion of which was salary costs. This represents a marginal increase when compared with $2.4 million in 2002–03.
| Executive and Programming | |
|---|---|
| Richard Pye, Clerk Assistant (Acting) | |
| Procedural advice Business programming Production of the Senate Order of Business Secretariat services to the Selection of Bills Committee |
|
| Legislation and Documents | Journals and Notice Paper |
| Rosa Ferranda, Director | Peter Hallahan, Director |
| Processing of legislation Processing and custody of Senate records Inquiries and document distribution services Secretariat services to the Publications and Joint Publications Committees |
Production of the Journals of the
Senate and Notice Paper Processing of questions on notice and petitions Collection and dissemination of statistical information Secretariat services to the Appropriations and Staffing Committee |
Factors affecting the operations of the Table Office
Workloads and deadlines for the office’s activities are inevitably subject to political and practical considerations beyond the control of the office or the department. Factors affecting the operations of the office include:
- the days and hours of the sittings of the Senate, the nature of the proceedings undertaken in the Senate, and the scheduling of those proceedings
- the legislative workload, including the number of bills passed, the number and complexity of amendments to bills and the complexity of negotiations between the Houses on disputed legislation
- the number and complexity of questions and notices from senators
- the number of documents tabled
- the number and complexity of inquiries and requests for information from Table Office clients.
The workload across the office was at levels comparable to, and in some cases significantly higher than, levels recorded in the previous reporting period. The Senate sat on 71 days in 2003–04, having sat on 64 days in the previous year. On two sitting days, the Senate met jointly with the House of Representatives for ceremonial purposes, while on the last sitting days in December 2003 and June 2004 the sitting extended over two calendar days.
The familiar concentration of legislative activity on particular days, especially towards the end of sitting periods, and unpredictable peaks in the submission of questions on notice and notices of motion placed considerable pressure on staff. This workload was managed without additional resources, however, and without any reduction in the quality and timeliness of services provided.
Programming and procedural support
In providing programming and procedural support for the operation of the chamber, staff met clients’ needs for accurate and timely documentation and assistance by:
- providing procedural advice to the Leader of the Government in the Senate, other ministers, the Manager of Government Business in the Senate, government senators, committee chairs and party whips, in response to requests and proactively as required
- preparing a draft Order of Business (or daily program) for briefing the whips’ meetings in advance of each sitting day
- publishing and distributing the Order of Business, both on‑line and in hard copy, before the sittings commenced on all sitting days
- maintaining the roster of temporary chairs of committees at all times
- providing an accurate and timely broadcasting captioning service for Senate proceedings (known as Events in Progress) on the Parliament House television monitoring system and the internet webcast
- preparing an average of 19 procedural scripts per sitting day—slightly more than the 2002–03 average of 17 per sitting day—for the use of ministers, whips, committee chairs and other senators, often at short notice and in response to changing requirements
- providing accurate advice in the chamber as required
- liaising with committee secretariats to facilitate interaction between the Senate and its committees
- preparing a revised edition of the Standing orders and other orders of the Senate, incorporating changes made to 31 December 2003.
All documents were produced on or ahead of time to high standards, and none was shown to be inaccurate.
Providing advice to the Manager of Government Business and other senators to assist the efficient conduct of the business of the Senate is an important aspect of the Table Office’s role. During the year, we provided advice on a range of issues, including on arrangements for joint meetings with the House of Representatives; the recall of the Senate at the request of a majority of senators; restoring ‘rejected’ legislation for further consideration; the hours of meeting and the routine of business; the rescission of the disallowance by the Senate of regulations; arrangements for bringing on deferred business; and procedural options for handling certain bills and motions. Advice was also provided to the Selection of Bills Committee as required.
Legislation
The Table Office processed all bills considered in the Senate during 2003–04, meeting accuracy and timeliness standards in all cases.
There was an increase in legislative activity during 2003–04 compared with recent years. This was reflected in the number of bills considered by the Senate and—more significantly—in the numbers of amendments moved and agreed to. These increases, shown in figures 6 and 7, are in turn reflected in the number of schedules of amendments prepared by the Table Office.
Figure 6 Legislation considered by the Senate
Figure 7 Amendments moved and agreed in the Senate
Note: The figures for amendments also include requests for amendments and proposals to omit clauses or items from bills.
Staff produced 83 schedules of amendments (comprising 367 pages) during 2003–04; 43 schedules (169 pages) were prepared in the previous reporting period. There were numerous complex schedules, some of which were produced under severe time constraints. Nonetheless, all schedules accurately reflected the decisions of the Senate and all deadlines were met.
Staff also continued to prepare running sheets to assist the Senate’s consideration of amendments to bills. The running sheets were generally produced in consultation with the senators, or members of the staff of senators, who circulated amendments.
There was an increase in the number of running sheets and a decrease in the total number of pages of running sheets, as shown in Figure 8. These figures reflect the increased reliance on running sheets, which are now provided for virtually all bills for which multiple sets of amendments are circulated, regardless of the number or complexity of amendments involved.
In 2003–04, an average of just over 2.8 bills was passed per sitting day, which can be compared with just over 2.5 bills in 2002–03. The numbers of bills (or messages considered in relation to bills) dealt with on the last days of the Spring 2003, Autumn 2004 and Winter 2004 sittings were 15, 16 and 30 respectively (14, 19 and 26 were dealt with in the equivalent periods last year). Although these high concentrations of legislative activity stretched the resources of the section, all deadlines and accuracy standards were met.
The Table Office produced 225 messages relating to the passage of bills (187 in 2002–03) and 10 messages of an administrative nature (28 in 2002–03). These were also processed accurately and promptly, in time for use in the House of Representatives.
Figure 9 shows the number of government bills introduced in the Senate and the number of third reading prints prepared when such bills were amended in the Senate. Printed copies of third reading prints of bills were available in all cases to meet requirements.
Figure 9 Government legislation introduced in the Senate
Bills Lists and Daily Bills Updates indicating the progress of legislation were produced to satisfy inquiries received from clients, including senators, ministerial and departmental advisers, parliamentary liaison officers, members of the press and members of the general public. These documents were published in accordance with agreed timeframes and made available through the BillsNet page on the internet.
Staff also provided part-time research and administrative support to the Scrutiny of Bills Committee (see Output Group 3).
The Journals of the Senate and Notice Paper
The Table Office prepared and maintained the record of the proceedings of the Senate, records of current and outstanding business, and statistical information on the business of the Senate.
Staff met clients’ needs for accurate and timely documentation and information by:
- producing the Journals of the Senate and the Notice Paper, and providing procedural advice on the contents of those documents
- producing and disseminating statistical information relating to the Senate, including the Business of the Senate and the Senate Statistical Summary
- processing and providing procedural advice on questions on notice and their answers
- maintaining information systems to assist with the preparation and publication of Table Office documents.
Records of the proceedings and outstanding business of the Senate were promptly and accurately produced and disseminated for each sitting day in the reporting period.
The Journals of the Senate continued to provide an accurate and comprehensive record of proceedings. Proof editions were produced for each sitting day, and final editions were produced following thorough checking of relevant material. In 2003–04, 69 editions were produced, at an average of just over 25 pages for each journal, representing an increase on last year’s average of 23 pages. Final journals and bound volumes were produced promptly throughout the year.
The Notice Paper, the formal agenda of Senate proceedings, continued to provide a valuable, up-to-date source of information for clients on the progress of business before the Senate and on committee matters.
Printed daily Notice Papers, averaging 79 pages, were produced for each sitting day. The full Notice Paper—averaging a hefty 288 pages—was also maintained, updated and made available daily on the internet and the ParlInfo database. The average figures for the previous reporting period were 64 pages for the printed document and 163 pages for the on‑line version.
The Notice Paper increases in size during the life of each parliament, as unfinished business accumulates and numbers of questions of notice increase. Despite the additional work involved in maintaining the larger document, we ensured that the Notice Paper remained accurate throughout the reporting period.
In all cases the Journals of the Senate and Notice Paper were available and distributed to senators each day prior to sittings, and they were usually available on‑line within one hour of the adjournment of the Senate.
Questions on notice lodged by senators were edited for consistency with standing orders and published in the Notice Paper for the next sitting day. In non-sitting periods, the on‑line Notice Paper was updated on a weekly basis to provide for the timely publication of questions on notice. During non-sitting periods, questions were also forwarded to ministers’ offices and departments.
Figure 10 illustrates the number of questions placed on notice. The figure for 2003–04 was the largest in any reporting period. Despite the significant increase, which may be attributable to the electoral cycle, all questions were processed accurately and within agreed timeframes.
The number of petitions presented in each of the past four financial years is also shown in Figure 10. There is no discernible trend in the number of petitions lodged. All were processed promptly and reported in the Senate on the first sitting day after their receipt.
Figure 10 Questions on notice and petitions
Statistical information on the business of the Senate
The collection of statistics relating to the Senate chamber was maintained and enhanced during the year. Statistical summaries of business conducted by the Senate were produced at the conclusion of each sitting week and the biannual compilation of statistics, Business of the Senate, was presented to the Senate in accordance with agreed timeframes.
The enhanced, on‑line version of these statistics was updated after each block of sittings, providing timely access to the most commonly sought statistics on the work of the Senate. Staff continued to extend the collection of statistics available on‑line. Of note was the development of a new section on the days and hours of Senate sittings, and a new consolidation of statistics showing trends from 1991 to 2000 and from 2001.
Ad hoc requests for statistics were in all cases met within the delivery times negotiated with inquirers.
Statistical information on questions was provided to senators on demand and published in the Questions on Notice Summary, which was tabled in the Senate in accordance with agreed timeframes.
Documents and inquiries
The Table Office processed all documents presented to the Senate during 2003–04. Details of documents presented on any sitting day were recorded in the Journals of the Senate for that day. The documents were forwarded to the Table Office after being tabled, and copies were made publicly available.
The original documents presented were added to the records of the Senate, which the Table Office continued to maintain. The record archives include all documents presented to the Senate since its first meeting in 1901.
The documents and inquiries workload is affected by the number of documents presented. Approximately 9,358 documents were presented to the Senate in 2003–04, a substantial increase compared with the total for the previous reporting period, in which approximately 8,180 documents were presented.
All processing and distribution requirements were met. For example, staff continued to distribute government documents to senators’ Parliament House offices, usually within one hour of documents being tabled, or within one hour of receipt of a request, in accordance with agreed timeframes.
More than 7,300 inquiries were recorded during 2003–04 (Figure 11). This was significantly more than in the previous year, in which over 4,460 inquiries were recorded. Despite the increase, staff maintained their excellent response record, as indicated in Figure 12.
Figure 11 Inquiries—number recorded
Figure 12 Inquiries—percentage dealt with within five minutes
Microfilming project
The Table Office’s microfilming project, commenced in 1994–95 to conserve and film all original documents tabled in the Senate since 1901, continued. Conserving, filming, electronic indexing and archiving has been completed for papers tabled between 1901 and late 1999. In 2003–04, more than 490,000 pages of tabled documents were filmed, making it comparable to the previous reporting period, in which more than 507,636 pages were filmed.
Secretariat support for various committees
During the year, the Table Office provided secretariat support for all meetings and reports of the Selection of Bills Committee, the Standing Committee on Appropriations and Staffing, the Senate Publications Committee and the Joint Publications Committee.
All meetings were held, and documents were provided, within agreed timeframes.
Evaluation
The principal medium for evaluating Table Office services is the biennial survey of senators’ satisfaction with the services provided by the department, due to be conducted next in early 2005. As reported previously, the survey conducted in 2003 revealed high levels of satisfaction among senators with the advice, documents and services of the office, and did not suggest any areas of major concern.
The office also monitors its own performance—for example, by keeping track of response times for inquiries. This monitoring indicates that the high level of service noted in recent surveys continued during 2003–04.
Much of the work of the office involves frequent direct contact with senators, their staff and other clients. This presents an ongoing opportunity for feedback in relation to the office’s services. This informal feedback continued to be very positive.
One area of negative feedback involved our inability to provide multiple copies of some large tabled documents. This reflects an increasing trend among other agencies to resist supplying sufficient copies to meet the Parliament’s needs, often on the basis that the document is available on‑line, regardless of whether the format and accessibility of the document meets the Parliament’s requirements. While every effort is made to ensure that senators have access to copies of such documents, the office is not always in a position to satisfy all clients.
An ongoing, internal review of services provided by the office also affords the opportunity to seek feedback from clients on specific aspects of our work. During 2003–04 this included:
- consultation with the Presiding Officers’ Information Technology Advisory Group, senators and senators’ staff about proposed changes to the broadcast captioning facility, Events in Progress
- consultation with senators to improve and streamline certain procedural documentation
- consultation with departmental colleagues to improve the efficiency and timeliness of the communication of resolutions affecting Senate and joint committees.
The achievement of individual performance targets was evaluated under the performance communication scheme, as required by the department’s certified agreement. All Table Office staff were assessed as being ‘effective or better’.
Significant changes in functions and services
In the past, the inquiries area of the Table Office remained open until at least 8 pm on nights when legislation committees met to consider estimates. Following a review of this service, which showed that it was infrequently utilised, it now operates to 6 pm on estimates nights, at a small saving in overtime costs.
Factors, events and trends influencing performance
The workload of the office is determined in large part by the sittings of the Senate and the volume of Senate business, and specific factors noted above.
The office again approached the uneven sitting calendar in a practical manner, restricting staff numbers by leaving vacancies unfilled during long adjournments and during much of the second half of the year, which contained fewer sitting days than the first half. The limitations of this approach were apparent, however, on those days when the volume of business peaked—including during the now routine concentration of business on the last days of sitting periods—and on days when record numbers of questions from senators were placed on notice.
The contradiction inherent in a ‘light’ sitting pattern was also again evident. The Senate faced increased pressure to deal with more business in less time, which placed considerable pressure on the staff and resources of the office, as did measures such as extra hours of sitting, without breaks, agreed to by the Senate to expedite the consideration of business.
Despite these factors, the timeliness and accuracy of our key business documents remained high, and our other services were delivered promptly and efficiently.
Information technology issues continued to be of considerable importance in the Table Office. Last year’s move to a new platform for the parliamentary network continued to cause difficulties in loading the Journals of the Senate and the Notice Paper into the ParlInfo database, and in relation to the document production system used by the Table Office. That system has required ongoing software modifications to ensure that it continues to work effectively. Where appropriate, costs have been shared with the other parliamentary departments.
The Table Office relies heavily on the computer infrastructure provided by the Department of Parliamentary Services, and on its own computing systems, to produce timely and accurate documents. This year saw the most sustained disruptions to the parliamentary computing network experienced since its introduction, with services being unstable—and, in some cases, unavailable— for a number of sitting days during February 2004.
This disruption provided a major test of the backup systems that were put in place as the office’s document production system was developed. These contingency provisions proved to be successful, and the production of the key business documents was not substantially affected. Nonetheless, the disruption was a reminder of the extent to which the efficiency of modern offices now depends on reliable computing services, and the need for sound contingency planning.
Performance outlook
The Table Office will continue to provide effective procedural, practical and documentary support to the Senate chamber. Demand for these services will depend largely on the sittings of the Senate and the business it conducts. Workloads are expected to be largely comparable with those in 2003–04. Although the forthcoming election will involve a break from programmed sittings, staff will be fully occupied during that period carrying out ‘end of parliament’ and long-term tasks, and in preparing for the opening of the forty-first parliament.
Last year’s annual report described the commencement of a project to redevelop, in conjunction with the other parliamentary departments, the Events in Progress captioning system, which provides procedural captions to accompany the broadcast of Senate proceedings. That project has been substantially completed. Testing of the new product is expected to occur early in the next reporting period. The production version is expected to be released in conjunction with other enhancements to the in-house broadcasting system during the forthcoming election break.
Staff have also begun work on a project to develop a new information product, related to the Senate Daily Summary (see Output Group 3), which updates an on‑line Senate Order of Business to indicate the progress of business during each sitting day. That project will be pursued during the next reporting period.
Last year’s report also drew attention to the increasing volume of tabled papers and the requirement that tabled documents not be taken from the chamber or Senate offices. This continues to place pressure on the Table Office’s storage space. In November 2002, the office made submissions to the then Joint House Department, under the Capital Works Program, to have storage space in the Parliament House basement reallocated and redeveloped accordingly. The project is now on the Capital Works Program for 2006–07.
The microfilming of documents tabled since 1901 will continue. It is expected that in 2004–05 documents tabled up to 2001 will be filmed, indexed and archived. The Table Office will also explore the options available for digitisation and on-line provision of the tabled paper archive.
