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1.3 ACECQA's operations

Organisational structure and staffing

As at 30 June 2018, ACECQA's Executive comprised:

• Chief Executive Officer - Gabrielle Sinclair
• Chief Operating Officer - Angela Buchanan
• General Manager Strategy, Communications and Consistency - Michael Petrie
• National Education Leader/General Manager Educational Leadership - Rhonda Livingstone
• General Manager Policy and Strategic Programs - John Mason. [1]

[1.    Following an internal reorganisation in 2018, a new business group was established in March to deliver ACECQA's policy and second tier review functions and strategic programs. In 2017-18 this included a separately funded program focussing on service quality in NSW.]

The Board and Governance team supports our Board and manages legal governance, planning, and reporting and accountability requirements across the organisation, including our participation in inter-governmental environments. Leading this team is the Board and Company Secretary, Michelle Edwards.

The Business Services group is led by Angela Buchanan and delivers corporate services functions including:

• Finance
• Human resources and facilities
• IT, information and records management.

This group also includes ACECQA's education and care systems team, which provides maintenance and development of the National Quality Agenda IT System (NQA ITS) for the NQF, including sector and regulatory authority support.

The Strategy, Communications and Consistency group is led by Michael Petrie and:

• develops and implements engagement and communication strategies to inform stakeholders, the community and families about the benefits of early childhood education and care, and the role that the NQF plays in providing positive outcomes for children
• delivers information to stakeholders who contact us about the NQF
• undertakes research, audit and analysis activities which contribute to overseeing and reporting on the administration of the NQF, including that positive outcomes are being delivered for children
• approves educator qualification courses being offered by institutions, and determining the equivalence of individuals' qualifications who may want to work in the sector, particularly those with overseas qualifications
• in collaboration with stakeholders, works to develop and support a high quality early childhood education and care workforce.

The Educational Leadership group is led by Rhonda Livingstone and:

• works collaboratively with regulatory authorities and peak organisations to develop and deliver presentations, workshops, articles, training, guidance materials and resources to build a shared understanding of the requirements and expectations of the NQF for authorised officers, educators, approved providers and interested others
• assesses and promotes excellence in the delivery of early childhood and school age care services and supporting continual quality improvement
• provides advice on quality programs, practices and policies in early childhood education and school age care services and contributes to national reform processes.

The Policy and Strategic Programs group is led by John Mason and:

• leads our national policy and strategic programs to support governments, regulatory authorities and the sector
• works with governments and the sector to provide strategic advice and support in the effective implementation of the NQF, including operational policy advice
• manages our quality rating second-tier review function and development of new programs and services.

The number of FTE staff at 30 June 2018 was 96 inclusive of employees on parental and unpaid leave. A breakdown of the workforce profile by FTE, headcount and gender is at Table 1.

Table 1: Workforce Profile - FTE and headcount by gender 30 June 2018

	Female	Male	Total
FTE	58.74	32.57	89.71
Headcount	64	32	96
% of workforce (headcount)	67%	33%	100%

Our organisational structure as at 30 June 2018 is outlined in Figure 1.

Human Resources

Our HR team continued to support the organisation strategically and operationally, including assisting staff through training programs to promote and enhance engagement, development and performance.

Figure 1: Organisational Structure, 30 June 2018

 

In 2017-18, these initiatives and programs included:

• developing integrated compliance and induction training programs for commencing staff members and managers, as well as refreshing onboarding and induction materials to provide new starters with the best opportunity to make an effective contribution as quickly as possible
• refreshing our performance planning and review system to increase overall engagement with the process and improve the system's contribution towards the organisation's commitment to a high performance culture
• progressing the implementation of technology-enabled HR systems to reduce the administrative overheads for HR and management, providing for a stronger focus on adding value to our strategic and operational objectives.

The HR team also supported a number of significant organisational initiatives in 2017-18, including the establishment of the Quality Support Program and consolidation of ICT functions.

Information and Communication Technologies

Our IT team continues to support the wider organisation on information and communication technologies and has delivered a number of projects to enhance organisational ICT capabilities in 2017-18, including:

• conducting a full ICT Disaster Recovery test, simulating a failure of resources in the primary data centre and successfully confirming access and use of the secondary facility
• replacing all printer and multi-function devices, providing increased functionality, considerable cost savings, and improved energy efficiency
• guiding major projects across the organisation, including the implementation of our new website and selection and implementation of a new eLearning platform.

The IT and Education and Care Systems Teams were consolidated to form the ICT Team which resulted in streamlined management and better use of skill sets across the ICT systems.

Records and Information Management

We continue to maintain a strong focus on implementing best practice records and information management.

In 2017-18, major work was undertaken on progressing the implementation of an Information Security Management System (ISMS), aligned with the ISO 27001 framework. Work will continue on the review of existing policies and procedures to ensure alignment with our Information Security Policy.

Funding

In 2017-18, the majority of our funding was provided by the Australian Government and the state and territory governments under the National Partnership Agreement (NPA) on the National Quality Agenda for Early Childhood Education and Care.

In addition to this operational funding, additional streams in 2017-18 also included:

• fee revenue under the National Regulations relating to our functions of assessing qualifications and undertaking second tier reviews
• 10 per cent of NQF related transaction and annual fees levied by the state and territory governments for calendar year 2017 in accordance with the NPA
• operational funding from the Australian Government and states and territories for administering, maintaining and upgrading the NQA ITS, and
• one-off project funding for delivering specific projects for governments, including funding received in advance from the NSW Government to deliver a program to build quality in education and care services.

Financial performance 2017-18

We operated in accordance with the Board approved budget to deliver on the strategic priorities contained in the Letter of Expectation for 2016-18 from the Education Council. The operating result for the 2017-18 financial year was a surplus of approximately $2.9 million. The surplus was largely due to recognising the funding received in advance from the NSW Government for a program to be delivered in 2018-19.

Funding from governments received in 2017-18 was approximately $16.4 million. We also received own source revenue of approximately $0.8 million, mainly from services delivered under the National Regulations on a fee for service basis, the sale of NQF educational resources and interest income.

The Financial Statements report a $16.2 million accumulated surplus as at 30 June 2018. This includes approximately $6.7 million funding received in advance from the Australian Government and $2.2 million net funding received in advance from the NSW Government, which will be progressively spent in 2018-19, as well as required working capital to remain solvent. As an independent statutory authority, adequate working capital is crucial to our financial viability to ensure the agency can arrange supplier contracts, declare solvency and cover any funding shortfall or funding delays.

The total expenditure for the 12 months was $14.3 million. The main expenditure items were:

• salaries and on-costs (approximately 69 per cent)
• ICT costs (approximately 9 per cent)
• occupancy costs (approximately 6 per cent).

At 30 June 2018, ACECQA's total financial assets were approximately $17.8 million, increased by $3.3 million compared with the previous financial year of $14.5 million. The increase was mainly due to the once-off funding received in advance for services to be delivered in 2018-19.

WHS and work environment

We remain committed to providing and maintaining a strong WHS management system that delivers a sound framework of WHS policies and procedures and other initiatives that support staff across the organisation. During 2017-2018, a comprehensive review of the WHS Policy was completed to ensure currency and compliance with better practice guidelines. In the workplace, ergonomic assessments are regularly utilised by staff to reduce and eliminate hazards, systems are in place to regularly check key risk areas and information and training sessions are regularly attended by staff to increase awareness of their safety responsibilities.

During 2017-2018, our Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) working group progressed the development of our 'Innovate' RAP. This is our second RAP. It builds on the previous 'Reflect' Plan and demonstrates our commitment to reconciliation and our continued support of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and perspectives within Australia.

We also continue to maintain a strong commitment to a supportive workplace through initiatives and events that engage staff and build community awareness. Our social committee held events to support International Women's Day, Reconciliation Week, NAIDOC Week, R U OK Day, Movember and Chris O'Brien Lifehouse. We are proud of the efforts of our staff to engage and support charities throughout the year. Through fundraising endeavours over recent years, our staff have donated more than $21,000 to a number of charities.

Freedom of Information

Freedom of information requests

Table 2 shows the status of Freedom of Information applications for access to information for the period 1 July 2017 to 30 June 2018.

Applications considered	Number
On hand as at 1 July 2017	0
Received	4
Granted in full	0
Granted in part	2
Access refused	0
Withdrawn	2
Transferred	0
On hand as at 30 June 2018	0
Internal reviews	0
Appeals to the National Education and Care Services Freedom of Information Commissioner	0
Appeals to the relevant Administrative Tribunal	0

Information Publication Scheme

The National Law and the National Regulations apply and modify the Commonwealth Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act).
As an agency subject to the FOI Act, we are required to publish information to the public as part of the Information Publication Scheme (IPS). Our IPS is on our website and includes the Information Publication Plan and details of our:

• organisational structure
• governance
• statutory appointments
• functions and powers
• reports
• consultative arrangements
• operational information.

 

Privacy

ACECQA must comply with the Privacy Act 1988 as applied by the Education and Care Services National Law and Regulations.

Our Privacy Policy sets out relevant information on the way personal information about staff and stakeholders is collected, handled, used and disclosed, as well as how it can be accessed and corrected. The Privacy Policy was updated in 2017-18 to reflect new requirements for notifiable data breaches. Both the policy and our Privacy Statement are located on our website.

During 2017-18, we did not receive any privacy complaints. In addition, no investigations of ACECQA were undertaken by the National Education and Care Services Privacy Commissioner.

An internal audit on our compliance with the Australian Privacy Principles and Privacy Act was conducted by RSM in December 2017, assessing compliance over the following key areas:

• consideration of personal information privacy
• dealing with personal information
• integrity of personal information
• access to, and correction of, personal information.

The overall findings indicated that adequate controls are in place and operating effectively at ACECQA.

Privacy training was provided during the reporting period for staff dealing with personal information.

Education and Care Services Ombudsman

The National Law and the National Regulations apply and modify the Commonwealth Ombudsman Act 1976.

The Office of the Education and Care Services (ECS) Ombudsman is responsible for independently examining complaints and concerns about the administrative actions of ACECQA.

In 2017-18, we worked with the Office of the ECS Ombudsman to resolve any matters raised with the Ombudsman, with no formal investigations instigated.

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