Disability Services Commission Annual Report

1.1 Executive Summary
human services sector is making it increasingly difficult for the Commission and its
partner non-government organisations to recruit and retain employees in key
operational areas. Establishing and maintaining an optimal workforce, especially in
the area of direct care, is one of the major challenges facing government and nongovernment
disability service providers.
In the Commission’s 2006–2007 Annual Report, the signing of a fourth
Commonwealth State Territory Disability Agreement was foreshadowed. While this
agreement is yet to be signed, late in 2007–2008 advice was received about the
allocation to WA of Commonwealth Government growth funding for disability
services over the next four years. Detailed planning is now proceeding to ensure
that the combination of State Government and Commonwealth Government funds
will be appropriately directed to programs and services for the benefit of people with
disabilities, their families and carers. Strong engagement and collaboration between
the Commission and its non-government partner organisations will be required to
ensure that the growth funding provided by government is used wisely. There is no
doubt that the non-government disability services sector will need to expand
significantly over the next few years to meet the increasing demand for services.
An important development of the relationship between the Disability Services
Commission and the non-government disability services sector occurred during
2007–2008 with the establishment of the Chief Executive Officer Round Table. This
important body enables an exchange of information between the Commission and
the non-government sector and provides a forum for discussion and debate about
broad strategic issues facing the WA disability services sector. The Round Table will
promote better planning by the Commission and by individual non-government
organisations.
I would also like to take this opportunity to mention the new format of our annual
report. We made a decision to remove some of our consumer demographic data
collected as part of the Annual Client and Services Data Collection (ACDC). This
information will now be provided in more detail in a separate publication to be
produced annually.
And finally, if 2007–2008 was a year of significant planning, then 2008–2009 will be
a year of significant ‘doing’. Twelve months from now I look forward to reporting on
the successful implementation of key Commission and sector initiatives which
emerged from the planning processes of 2007–2008.
Dr Ron Chalmers
DIRECTOR GENERAL
DISABILITY SERVICES COMMISSION
Disability Services Commission Annual Report 2007–2008 7