Introduction

In 2017–18 the Chief Operating Officer Division comprised the Chief Finance Officer Branch, the People and Governance Branch, and the Parliamentary Experience Branch.

The division provides advice and services to DPS on governance, strategy, finance, procurement, and human resources. This ensures that DPS complies with its responsibilities under the PS Act, the PGPA Act and a range of other legislative obligations, including human resources-related legislation. The division also provides visitor programs, catering and events services, art services, legal services, communication/marketing services, risk and auditing services, planning and performance reporting and manages licences and contracts for building occupants.

Divisional highlights

Chief Finance Officer Branch

The Chief Finance Officer Branch provides financial advice and services to the department.

The branch is made up of four sections, which report to the Chief Finance Officer:

• Financial Accounting and Business Operations
• Management Accounting
• Procurement and Contract Management, and
• Corporate Systems Program and Support

Key highlights of the branch include:

• facilitated in-house Certificate 4 training in Government Procurement & Contract Management across the department
• implementation of the DPS Enterprise Agreement 2017 the Enterprise Human Resources System, and
• increased use of the Sucess Factors Learning and Development module for online course delivery.

People and Governance Branch

The People and Governance Branch provides people, governance and legal advice services.

The branch is made up of five sections which report to the Assistant Secretary:

• Communications
• HR Services and Strategy
• Central Rosters Unit
• Legal Services, and
• Risk, Audit, Planning and Performance Reporting.

Key highlights of the branch include:

• the successful bargaining of the DPS Enterprise Agreement 2017. The ballot, held in October 2017, had a participation rate of 80 per cent, with 75 per cent of participants voting in favour of the agreement. This followed a series of 26 bargaining meetings over the course of nine weeks. The agreement was approved by the Fair Work Commission in January 2018
• creation of the Central Rosters Unit, to plan for the implementation of new rostering arrangements across a number of DPS work groups, and
• the development of additional performance measures for inclusion in the 2018–19 Corporate Plan, to ensure that relevant aspects of DPS’ performance are measured and reported. The additional performance measures relate to catering, Hansard and broadcasting. Performance against these performance measures will be reported in the 2018–19 Annual Performance Statements.

Parliamentary Experience Branch

The Parliamentary Experience Branch is responsible for the development and delivery of a broad range of experiences and services for parliamentarians, visitors and all building occupants. The branch works closely with stakeholders across the Parliament.

The branch is made up of four sections, which report to the Assistant Secretary:

• Art Collection and Exhibitions
• Contracts and Licences
• Visitor Experience, and
• APH Catering and Events

Key highlights of the branch include:

• the introduction of pharmaceutical services for parliamentarians and their staff in February 2018 and the continuation of eight established retail services within the building
• support by APH Catering and Events of 658 events attended by 97,717 people (see Table 20). Aside from slight reductions in the number of people attending events and the number of people dining in the Members and Guests Dining Room, the results for other outlets have shown growth exceeding 10 per cent
• the movement of more than 340 artworks to facilitate building and construction projects across Parliament House, including major commissions like The Great Hall Tapestry. The tapestry is currently off display to undergo an extensive conservation and cleaning program for the first time in almost 20 years
• the acquisition of 88 works of art for the Parliament House Art Collection. Fifty-seven were purchased for the Rotational Collection and 20 gifted to the Rotational Collection, six were added to the Historic Memorials Collection and five archival works were acquired
• the delivery of specially designed seasonal and thematic tours—the ‘spring glory’ courtyard tours attracted 831 participants over 31 days, while the Democracy in Design tours attracted 375 participants over twelve days
• the production of more than 75kg of honey by the Parliament House beehives. The first honey was harvested at a launch attended by the Presiding Officers in the Great Hall in December 2017. The beehive initiative has allowed us to form a number of partnerships while promoting the importance of bees and how they are critical to our environmental sustainability, and
• continued growth in product range and revenue in The Parliament Shop, including product collaborations in conjunction with temporary exhibitions. Revenue increased by 8.1 per cent, from $1,173,488 (exclusive of GST) in 2016–17, to $1,268,009 (exclusive of GST) in 2017–18. This was due to the introduction of new, quality product lines and special events, including book signings with parliamentarians and guest appearances by popular authors including Mem Fox.

Table 20: Total number of meals/beverages served at Parliament House

Area	APH FY 2017–18 (75 sitting days)	APH Jan–June 2018 (39 sitting days)	APH Jan–June 2017 (37 sitting days)	2018 compared to 2017
Functions and House Services
Number of people attending	97,717	41,537	45,040	-8%
Members and Guests Dining Room
Number of people attending	6,320	3,293	3,544	-7%
Members Club
Number of people attending	866	507	508	0%
Staff Dining Room
Number of transactions	276,303	145,956	132,117	10%
Queen’s Terrace Cafe
Number of transactions	98,208	50,648	45,441	11%
Schools Hospitality
Number of people attending	96,575	39,886	40,928	-2%
Coffee Cart
Number of transactions	64,750	34,666	29,831	16%