Governing the City State - Chief Minister and Treasury Directorate ...

consultations with staff that they are not generally well understood or explained down theline.For these priorities to drive performance, and to be meaningful, they need to be fewer innumber and to be made public (except where there are grounds for confidentiality). TheReview recommends that future annual Government Priorities be published in the Budgetpapers or in a separate formal Statement of Intent along the lines of the Statement ofGovernment Intentions prepared by the Victorian Government under former PremierBrumby.While the annual priorities are currently settled through a Cabinet process involving allChief Executives, this process must be better integrated with the annual Budget process.Priority setting also needs to be more closely linked to the preparation of formal Statementsof Intent where they are required by legislation. In the past, statements of intent have beendeveloped without the benefit of a coordinated process involving the central agencies andtaken to Cabinet in a compressed process. In a fully integrated and coherent system, theseformal statements would align seamlessly with the Government’s planning hierarchy andincorporate agreed priorities.Government strategic planning is currently coordinated by central agencies and the ChiefExecutives’ Strategic Planning Committee (in which all agencies participate). The role ofthis Committee includes:• preparing information and evidence to inform strategic planning;• identifying and advising the Government of strategies to enhance delivery of services andinfrastructure, minimise risk, and improve integration of government activity; and• coordinating development of the ACT Infrastructure Plan.These functions should be discharged by the ACTPS Strategic Board in the future (SeeChapter 3).The Directorate LevelEach directorate’s strategic planning should focus on its individual contribution to theGovernment’s priorities and long term goals. Key outputs of this planning are:• strategic objectives – what impact, or difference, the Directorate aims to make in thecommunity;• strategic indicators – measures of achievement against these objectives through assessingprogress of outcomes or community impact of actions; and• high level strategies for achieving these objectives.These elements are currently summarised in agency corporate plans and in the annual budgetpapers, but more detailed information is presented in strategic service and asset plans. Theseplans look to the medium term and include:• strategic objectives and indicators and their linkages to government priorities and goals;• integrated service delivery and asset management strategies to achieve objectives;Strategy, Resource Allocation and the Vacant Middle Ground: 218