Outlook
The department receives a special appropriation to provide modest hospitality to school groups visiting Parliament House. School visits are coordinated by the Serjeant-at-Arms’ Office, working in partnership with the Parliamentary Education Office and Visitor Services.
In 2016–17 the administered appropriation for the schools hospitality program activity was $0.322 million, and expenditure (including accrued expenses) was $0.324 million. Results against performance criteria are summarised in the annual performance statement (page 22); staff levels are shown in Appendix 1.
Performance summary
In 2016–17, 117,582 school students participated in educational tours of Parliament House, up from 115,744 in the previous year. The number of students from the ACT, Queensland and South Australia decreased, while all other states recorded higher numbers than in the previous financial year (see Table 8).
Table 8 Students visiting Parliament House, by location and year, 2012–13 to 2016–17
|
Year
|
ACT
|
NSW
|
NT
|
QLD
|
SA
|
TAS
|
VIC
|
WA
|
Other
|
Total
|
|
2012–13
|
1,657
|
67,955
|
881
|
16,395
|
4,742
|
1,471
|
17,245
|
5,064
|
241
|
115,651
|
|
2013–14
|
1,859
|
62,597
|
835
|
18,193
|
5,390
|
1,581
|
17,766
|
5,488
|
–
|
113,709
|
|
2014–15
|
2,158
|
67,385
|
819
|
19,489
|
5,061
|
1,750
|
18,531
|
5,023
|
–
|
120,216
|
|
2015–16
|
3,004
|
64,438
|
654
|
16,056
|
5,849
|
1,621
|
18,950
|
5,159
|
13
|
115,744
|
|
2016–17
|
2,783
|
65,653
|
686
|
15,828
|
5,610
|
1,683
|
19,971
|
5,440
|
–
|
117,654
|
All visiting students participated in a guided tour and visited both chambers. Eighty-one per cent (95,887) received hospitality and 75 per cent (88,169) participated in the PEO program (see pages 43–4 for more information on the PEO’s activities).
Improving performance
From July 2016, bookings were taken on a rolling monthly basis for the following two calendar years. This process was developed in conjunction with stakeholders to bring our booking schedule into line with the schedules of other designated agencies on the visits program and has been well received.
Through the Venue Management System, an online calendar was introduced to allow schools and agents to view availability of school programs at Parliament House before making a booking. The school visits section of the website was updated to make it easier for users to access information and make bookings.
Outlook
By 30 June 2017, we had booked 112,383 students from 1,703 schools for the following 12 months. Last year at the same time we had 106,775 students booked from 1,671 schools.
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