Reports on own motion investigations
Planning for children in care: An Ombudsman’s own motion investigation into the administration of the care planning provisions of the Children and Community Services Act 2004
The Western Australian Ombudsman reviews investigable child deaths, identifies patterns and trends arising from these reviews and makes recommendations for improvement designed to prevent or reduce investigable child deaths.
In undertaking this role, the Ombudsman identified a need to undertake an investigation of planning for children in the care of the Chief Executive Officer of the Department for Child Protection – a particularly vulnerable group of children in the community.
The investigation involved the Department for Child Protection, the Department of Health and the Department of Education and considered, among other things, the relevant provisions of the Children and Community Services Act 2004, the internal policies of each of these departments and the recommendations arising from the Review of the Department for Community Development undertaken by Ms Prudence Ford.
In the five years since the introduction of the Children and Community Services Act 2004, these three agencies have worked cooperatively to operationalise the requirements of the Act. In short, the investigation found significant and pleasing progress on improved planning for children in care had been achieved, however, there was still work to be done.
The findings of the investigation and the 23 recommendations for improvement are detailed in the Ombudsman’s report Planning for children in care: An Ombudsman’s own motion investigation into the administration of the planning provisions of the Children and Community Services Act 2004.
Click here to read the Executive Summary
The Management of Personal Information - good practice and opportunities for improvement
Personal information can be defined as information that identifies an individual or could identify that individual. State Government agencies properly require individuals to provide a range of personal information about themselves in order to deliver services, carry out law enforcement, administer regulations and perform other statutory functions. In short, effective and efficient service delivery, including the protection of the well-being of individuals and groups of people, may require an agency to disclose or share personal information it has collected.
Inappropriate use of personal information is, however, as a matter of principle, wrong. Practically, it can compromise an individual’s privacy leading to undesirable outcomes.
Alleged inaccuracy and inappropriate use of personal information is a source of complaint to the Ombudsman’s office. These complaints provided an important base of evidence to suggest that the Ombudsman should review the management of personal information by State Government agencies.
The findings of the review are detailed in the Ombudsman’s report The Management of Personal Information – Good Practice and Opportunities for Improvement.
Click here to read the Executive Summary
The Effective Administration of Complaint Handling Systems
In June 2010, the Ombudsman’s office reported on a survey of all public authorities within the Ombudsman's jurisdiction to gain an overview of their complaint handling practices. This was the third such survey conducted by the office over the past ten years. The survey questionnaire asked organisations to assess their complaint handling processes and practices against a series of principles based on, and consistent with, the Public Sector Commissioner’s Circular 2009-27: Complaints Management and the Australian Standard (AS ISO 10002-2006: Customer Satisfaction - Guidelines for Complaints Handling in Organisations). The survey addressed ten principles for complaint handling, as set out below:
The findings of the survey are detailed in the Ombudsman's Report 2009-10 Survey of Complaint Handling Practices in the Western Australian State and Local Government Sectors.
Further information
Further publications and resources giving guidance to agencies is available on the Guidelines and Information Sheets page or contact the office for assistance:
08 9220 7555
mail@ombudsman.wa.gov.au