The NSW Action Plan on Dementia was the catalyst for the Unit’s work with a range of government and non-government agencies including the Ageing and Disability Department, Alzheimers Association and NSW Young Lawyers to develop strategies for community and legal education about dementia. Outcomes included a “Dementia Awareness Day” which featured a community awareness program and legal education program during Law Week in May 2000.

Other achievements for CDT include:

· developing a number of Senior Manager and Executive Development programs in consultation with the Director General and Management; and
· coordinating a number of management conferences in which approximately 180 senior managers and executives participated.

THE YEAR AHEAD

The key priorities for Corporate Human Resources in the coming year are to:

· develop and implement strategies to address issues identified in the employee survey, particularly in the areas of merit recruitment and selection, staff training and development and performance management;

· implement the Senior Executive Service Performance Management System; and

· implement the Human Resources Strategic Plan.



EXECUTIVE AND STRATEGIC SERVICES

Established in October 1999, Executive and Strategic Services incorporates corporate communications, disability strategy coordination, Internet and Intranet services and corporate strategic planning.

Goal: Continuously improve our services and increase satisfaction among our diverse clients.
A Strategic Framework for Court Services was developed in 2000 to provide direction for NSW court services over the next four years. The framework identifies initiatives currently planned for the courts, tribunal services and the Department and serves as a guide to planning future initiatives and reforms. Developed in partnership with the judiciary, the framework will:

· improve coordination between justice system agencies;
· improve court environments and court access in areas of high demand; and
· improve court services and procedures for court users.

Performance of court services will now be monitored through the introduction of key performance indicators and improved national benchmarking.

As part of the Department’s Disability Strategic Plan 1997-2000 (which aims to ensure that people with disabilities have full and equal access to our justice system), a Flexible Service Delivery Project was piloted and the first phase completed in June 2000. This Project was proposed as a way of providing the environment, skills, resources and authority for frontline staff to respond to individuals with a disability within the current service provision framework.

A key achievement of the project was staff training in disability awareness and flexible service delivery strategies. Twenty per cent of staff have now received general disability awareness training and a physical access audit of all courthouses has been completed. Other achievements include the increased provision of information in alternative formats, such as enlarged print and audio. Hearing assistive devices are now available for court hearings and more information is provided to people with disabilities and support organisations about options for communicating.

The Disability Strategic Plan was reviewed this year and a new plan developed for 2000–2002. Building on the successes of the previous plan, the new plan aims to deliver more practical outcomes for people with disabilities.

Development of a Justice Portfolio Disability Action Plan was initiated in coordination with other agencies in the Justice and Human Services portfolios.

The Department’s Internet web site Lawlink NSW was rated the most popular legal web site in Australia in May 2000 and is regularly rated as one of the top ten most visited government web sites. The number of pages viewed on Lawlink NSW has substantially risen this year to an average of 1.9 million visits per month compared to 220,000 last year. Twenty-three per cent of web site visitors are from within rural and regional NSW. The most visited site is the NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages which registers approximately 500,000 page views per month. Key achievements for Lawlink NSW this year were:

· the addition of a history of the NSW legal system for students and historians, a resource that maps the NSW legal system from colonial times and its influence on the Australian legal and political landscape;
· a fully searchable database is now available on the NSW Law Reform Commission site which has over 100 full text reports and papers dating back to 1968;
· the judgements database CaseLaw NSW was launched and now contains over 4,000 judgements from various NSW courts. These databases are sourced directly from participating courts and tribunals enabling decisions to be available more quickly than on any other free to air service in Australia. CaseLaw NSW was a semi-finalist for an Australian Internet Award for best professional/industry web site in 1999;

· access to daily court lists were introduced to service the legal profession and the public on matters listed for hearing in NSW courts and tribunals;

· the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages now includes an online genealogical index site, which records an average of 20,000 searches each day; and
· an online resource centre for professionals working in the domestic violence sector, called DV Link was launched in March 2000.

The Department’s Quality Program facilitated an audit of data collections across all business centres and assisted in the development of Data Improvement Plans as part of the business planning process.

Managing By Fact, a course designed to assist officers collecting, managing and interpreting data, was also commissioned and launched as a result of the data review program.

The Quality Council commissioned and launched the video “Getting Better All the Time” as an introduction to the Quality Program for all staff. The video has been widely shown throughout the Department, is used as a training resource, and shown in inter-departmental forums.

A proposal to establish a Legal Helpline service was developed in partnership with the NSW Bar Association, the Law Society of NSW and the NSW Legal Aid Commission. To be established in the coming year, Legal Helpline will provide free information, advice and referral services and act as the first point of contact for those in the community needing legal assistance.

ESS’s corporate communications area continued to provide a communication consultancy service to the Department. Advice and assistance was provided to a number of business centers to develop publications, including brochures, newsletters and reports.

ESS has worked in partnership with the Supreme, District and Local Courts, and the Community Relation Division, to implement the Courts Information Project. This client service initiative focuses on providing plain language information about court procedures and the justice system to the public, including information sheets and precinct maps which provide directions on how to access court houses. A series of information sheets on apprehended violence orders have already been developed under this project.

ESS coordinated a pilot communication survey across three business centres during year. The results of the survey provide a snapshot of communication practices across the three different operational areas and include a rating of staff satisfaction with current communication practices, and a list of key issues requiring priority attention in order of importance. The participating business centres have developed action plans to address the opportunities for improvement identified by staff. The methodology devised by the pilot will be used to review communication practices more broadly across the Department.

Other achievements during the year include:

· the collection of NSW data for the Courts Administration chapter of the Productivity Commission’s Report on Government Services 2000;
· improved corporate and business planning processes for the Department aimed at providing a clearer, more compact reporting framework;
· streamlining internal data collection processes in order to avoid duplication of effort; and
· the coordination of plans to ensure continuation of service throughout the Olympics period for each Departmental business centre.

THE YEAR AHEAD

The key priorities for Executive and Strategic Services in the coming year will be to:

· continue to monitor, review and enhance the Strategic Framework for Court Services;
· continue to develop and implement key performance indicators for NSW courts;
· facilitate the establishment of Government Access Centres (in conjunction with Legislation & Policy and member agencies of the Government Access Program Steering Committee);
· initiate a review of judicial workloads with respect to resources;
· develop the Department’s Corporate Plan 2001-2003;
· drive, monitor and review the implementation of the Disability Strategic Plan 2000 - 2002 and complete development of a Justice Portfolio Disability Action Plan;
· extend the range of services and information available on the LawLink NSW Internet and the InfoLink Intranet web sites;
· facilitate establishment of the Legal Helpline in partnership with the Legal Aid Commission, the Law Society of NSW and the NSW Bar Association;
· establish and implement a new direction for the Department's quality program;
· in conjunction with Corporate Human Resources, conduct annual reviews of Senior Executive Service officers performance agreements with respect to business centre plans;
· facilitate and coordinate the data collection for the Courts Administration Chapter of the Productivity Commission’s Report on Government Services 2001 and improve national benchmarking through development of improved statistical measures;
· monitor and report on progress against Olympic Service Delivery Plans, in accordance with Premier’s Department requirements; and
· develop enhanced community education programs.

MANAGEMENT SERVICES

Management Services comprises Financial Services, the Capital Works Unit and Information Technology Services.

Goal: Continuously improve our services and increase satisfaction among our diverse clients

Information Technology Services continued to expand the Department’s computer network by increasing the number of computer locations and with access to the network and providing increased access to e-mail, Intranet and Internet facilities.

An E-Commerce Facilitation Committee has been established to examine appropriate options for acquisition of technology to support real time transactions across the Internet, such as electronic filing of court documents which is being trialed within the Land and Environment Court, and online birth certificate validation with the Roads and Traffic Authority and the Westpac bank.

New and upgraded telephone systems have been installed in several locations including the Anti Discrimination Board, Office of the Legal Services Commissioner, the State Coroners Office, Worimi Children’s Court, and Courthouses in Albury, Kiama, Coffs Harbour, Katoomba, Moss Vale, Taree and Tweed Heads.

Several court rooms in the Supreme and District jurisdictions have now had a range of technologies including videoconferencing, specialist document management software and real time computer assisted transcription installed. These technologies were utilised in the Thredbo Inquiry and are currently being utilised to support the Glenbrook Rail Accident Special Commission of Inquiry.

Enhancements to the Supreme Court Case Management application have commenced to enable both the monitoring and reporting on the progression of court cases, which will make a significant contribution to the court’s ability to manage and improve performance in relation to case disposals.

Y2K preparation was completed on schedule and there were no significant Y2K related issues.

The Department’s 2000–2003 Information Technology Strategic Plan has been completed and published.

A significant upgrade of the Department’s financial accounting system was finished this year. This also included upgrading the system to cater for the introduction of the new Goods and Services Tax.

A new Accounting Policies and Procedures Manual was developed along with a revised accounting policy for Victims Compensation Fund Debtors.

Other achievements for Management Services this year include the introduction of centralised payment of Jury Fees and the successful transition to the Year 2000 of the Department’s financial system.

The Department has continued to consolidate occupation of leased accommodation over the last year by way of a number of lease initiatives. Mainly, these have involved the consolidation of tenancies within the Goodsell Building and Downing Centre and those premises located between the Phillip Street and Goulburn Street legal precincts.

Whilst there were no major relinquishment of leased accommodation over the last twelve months the Department has continued with the consolidation of its leased portfolio in the Central Business District.

There has been an increase in the amount of leased accommodation under the Departments control brought about by the acquisition of additional leased premises by a number of trading enterprises under the administration of the Attorney General’s Department, ie Office of the Protective Commissioner and State Debt Recovery Office. The Anti Discrimination Board at Newcastle was relocated into a larger area upon expiry of its previous lease and additional floor space was acquired at 815 George Street for the Industrial Relations Commission.

This added one additional private lease and six crown leases to the portfolio, increasing the rental commitment by $0.6 million. A summary of the Department’s leased portfolio over the last six years is as follows:

Date	m2 (Area)	$ (Rental)
April 1996	57,040.75	15.1M
April 1997	53,602.00	14.1M
April 1998	60,181.70	15.1M
April 1999 April 2000	67,414.29 69,026.37	16.9M 17.5M

A state-of-the-art court complex was built in Toronto this year at a cost of approximately $4.5 million. Significant extensions were completed to Waverley and Bega Courthouses and Court 3 at Darlinghurst and the District Court Criminal registry at the Downing Centre and the Land and Environment Court were fully refurbished.

The Department’s Strategic Office Accommodation Plan has highlighted a number of strategies for continuing the consolidation and increased efficiency of the Department’s leased portfolio. The Plan will call for a further relinquishment of floor space and further reductions in floor space ratios across the Department.


THE YEAR AHEAD

Key priorities for Management Services in the coming year are to:

· investigate the application of emerging technology to improve efficiency and productivity in transaction processing, banking, reporting and access to financial information;

· examine accommodation standards for leased premises with a view to improving those standards in line with current Government practices;

· place a high priority on continuing the extension of technology infrastructure in the Courts around NSW, particularly with the Court Administration System and the Criminal Histories project;

· take a leading role in joint initiatives within the justice sector to achieve service and efficiency benefits in information sharing and exchange between agencies through projects such as the Justice Agency Data Exchange (JADE) project;

· ensure all courts throughout NSW have access to the Department’s Intranet, e-mail facilities and network applications by the end of 2000;

· deploy an additional 300 personal computers throughout NSW courts with existing computer facilities and extend current court applications to a further 30 Local Courts; and

· continue the expansion of electronic service delivery and electronic commerce potential throughout the Department.

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