Committee Details

COMMITTEE'S CONSIDERATION

In its Report No. 26, 57th Parliament - Annual Report 2021-22, tabled on 4 November 2022, the committee reported on its consideration of a number of Auditor-General's reports referred to it, including Auditor-General Report 12: 2021-22 – Health 2021. The committee determined to take no further review action in relation to the report and made no recommendations to the Legislative Assembly.

OVERVIEW

Role of the Auditor-General 

The role of the Auditor-General is to provide Parliament with independent assurance of public sector accountability and performance. This is achieved through reporting to Parliament on the results of its financial and performance audits.

About the Auditor-General Report

Auditor-General Report 12: 2021-22 – Health 2021 (Report 12) summarises the results of the annual audits of:

• Queensland Health entities, which include the Department of Health (department) and 16 hospital and health services (HHSs)
• 13 hospital foundations, 4 other statutory entities and 3 controlled entities.

Report 12 found that the financial reports prepared by all audited Queensland Health entities, hospital foundations and other statutory bodies are reliable and comply with relevant laws and accounting standards. 

The Queensland Audit Office (QAO) observed improvements in the systems and processes (internal controls) that these bodies and entities use to prepare their financial statements, including reporting that that they have resolved certain weaknesses identified in 2019-20 in relation to the implementation of a new finance system. However, the QAO also identified that it continues to find control deficiencies related to procurement and contract management processes within the department and HSSs. Further, none of the annual reports of the HHSs were tabled by the statutory deadline of 30 September – the third time in 4 years that this has occurred.

Report 12 contains 2 recommendations, the first of which is directed at strengthening procurement and contracting controls within the department and HHSs, and calls for improvements to systems, training and record-keeping, including ensuring all contract documents are kept in a central location. 

Recommendation 2, which is directed at the department only, advocates for the department arranging another entity to manage hotel quarantine debts, with the QAO observing that this would ‘allow the department to focus on the provision of health care’.

Queensland Health (comprising both the department and HHSs) has advised in response that:

• a range of initiatives and training are underway to support the continuous improvement and strengthening of systems and controls, and options for a more centralised contract register and storage system are currently under review
• it agrees that ‘Queensland Health’s resources are better directed toward the provision of health services’, and alternative possibilities for the management, invoicing and collection of quarantine fees are currently under review.

Referral to Committee 

Standing Order 194B provides that the Committee of the Legislative Assembly shall as soon as practicable after a report of the Auditor-General is tabled in the Assembly refer that report to the relevant portfolio committee(s) for consideration. 

The committee is responsible under section 94 of the Parliament of Queensland Act 2001 for assessing the integrity, economy, efficiency and effectiveness of government financial management by examining government financial documents and considering reports of the Auditor-General.

The Committee of the Legislative Assembly referred this Auditor-General report to the committee on 24 February 2022.

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