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2002 - 2003 Portfolio budget statement
PART B
Departmental Overview
DEPARTMENTAL OVERVIEW
The Department of the House of Representatives (the Department), is one of the five parliamentary departments supporting the Australian Parliament. |
The Department's purpose, as set out in its Corporate Plan, is:
To support the House of Representatives and the Parliament by providing advice and services of the highest standard.
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The Department provides services to support the efficient conduct of the House of Representatives, its committees and certain joint committees, as well as a range of services for Members in Parliament House. The Department also undertakes activities to promote the work of the House in the community and is responsible for the conduct of the Parliament's international and regional relations.
The Speaker, the Honourable Neil Andrew, MP, has accountability obligations to the Parliament for the Department. The Clerk of the House of Representatives, Ian Harris, is responsible for managing the Department.
The Department acts in partnership with the Department of the Senate, other parliamentary departments, the Office of the Governor-General and relevant government agencies to ensure the outcomes of parliamentary proceedings are processed and recorded accurately and on time. In addition, the Department also works with government and non-government agencies to promote awareness of the Australian Parliament and its operations within the community. It also works in partnership with other parliaments and parliamentary associations around the world to promote and support democratic parliamentary processes.
Major Demands
In the coming year, the Department faces several major demands that could impact on its financial outcome and performance.
An increase in security requirements following the events of 11 September 2001 in the United States will place pressure on the Department's resources. The Department will try to fund these additional expenditures from its existing budget, but this could lead to pressure in the future.
The parliamentary cycle has an impact on the demands made on the Department's budget. Parliament and its committees will be increasingly active during the forthcoming year as the parliamentary cycle reaches its peak, imposing significant demands on resources.
The House of Representatives increased the number of general purpose standing committees from nine to 13 in the 40th Parliament taking the number of investigatory committees the department supports from 17 to 21. The department has decided initially not to seek additional funding for this purpose but to absorb the additional workload this creates within existing resources.
The Department continues to ensure that Members have all the facilities and services they require to properly perform their representative duties in Parliament House. As a consequence information technology (IT) equipment and support provided by the Department has increased. Members' offices will have an increased number of IT work stations and the Department also assists Members with using and maintaining other equipment they have received from other departments. These initiatives are also to be internally funded with a consequent additional pressure on the Department's resources.
To enable the Department to employ highly qualified and capable staff to support the House of Representatives, competitive salaries are provided to staff. The funding of the salary increases necessary to ensure the Department maintains its competitive position will have an impact on the budget in the future.
Similarly to last budget year, a major concern is the possible departure of many experienced staff. In a department of some 250 staff there are 50 who are over 53 years and provisions for these staff total $1.55 million. Planning is underway to minimise the impact of these separations in the coming years.
CONTRIBUTION TO THE OUTCOME
The Department has a single outcome:
The House of Representatives fulfils it role as a representative and legislative body.
The outcome is supported by three output groups as discussed in detail in Part C of this statement. The Department's organisational structure and output structure are regularly reviewed to better align the two structures and to assist with comparisons to previous years' information. The contribution made by organisational units to the outcome and outputs is shown in chart 1 on the following page. The breakup of resources is shown in chart 2.
Chart 1: Organisational contribution to the outcome
Chart 2: Resource usage
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