The Victorian Auditor-General’s Office (VAGO) has found departments are failing to consistently uphold their obligations.

VAGO officials have assessed whether departments are measuring and reporting on their service delivery in a way that supports accountability and good decision-making.

It examined all eight departments and selected the following three for further analysis as case studies: the departments of Treasury and Finance (DTF), Education and Training (DET) and the former Health and Human Services (DHHS). 

It found that the departments “do not measure or report on their performance well”. 

They do not fully comply with applicable Frameworks, measure their service efficiency or effectiveness, nor do they present their performance information in a way that enables efficient and effective analysis. 

“It is also apparent that the process of adding new measures into the Budget papers is failing,” the report says.  

“The Framework requires departments to measure output delivery and outcome achievement. 

“However, there are too many input and process measures and poorly constructed output measures and objective indicators in the Budget papers. 

“This obfuscates departments' performance reporting and diminishes their accountability.”

The full report and its 11 recommendations are accessible here.