Productivity is not well understood by most entities in the NSW Public Sector, a recent audit found.

The audit of productivity in NSW departments said that the lack of understanding resulted in insufficient information on progress being made available to Parliament.

Acting Auditor-General Tony Whitfield’s report, Identifying Productivity in the Public Sector, looked at services including primary and secondary public education, acute inpatient care in public hospitals, CityRail, NSW Police and the Local Court.

Mr Whitfield said that while productivity is usually defined quite simply as the amount of output per unit of input, productivity in the Public Sector is not well understood or reported.

“All of the Agencies examined had an understanding and reported on the input, output and quality indicators that could be used to track their productivity,” Mr Whitfield said.

But, he said, they did not track productivity because they did not have clear guidance or direction about ways that the information would be used.

“Using our methodology, we found that from 1 July 2008 to 30 June 2013 productivity for secondary school education decreased, while productivity improved for public hospital acute inpatient care and the NSW Police Force,” Mr Whitfield said.

He said that the NSW Local Court had seen improved productivity from July 2011 to June 2014, but productivity trends could not be identified for primary school education and CityRail.

Mr Whitfield recommended that the Department of Education and Communities, NSW Health, Transport for NSW and the NSW Police Force install new productivity and efficiency goals, combined with a framework of metrics and methodologies to better track trends.

He also suggested the departments should report on productivity and efficiency trends to Parliament if they were not already doing so.

Mr Whitfield recommended that by June 2016, NSW Treasury should review the Guide to Economic Performance Measurement to provide more up-to-date guidance to Agencies on how to measure and report on productivity and efficiency.