Role of Implementation Senior Officers Group (ISOG)

Delivering the actions

This Redfern-Waterloo Human Services Plan presents a strategy for improving human services delivery.
Implementation of this Plan will be led by a steering committee comprising Chief Executive Officers of the major NSW human services agencies working in Redfern and Waterloo.
To assist with implementation, the RWA will continue to chair an Implementation Senior Officers Group (ISOG).
The ISOG will also:

• establish taskforces and working groups to implement the actions in the Plan;
• invite representatives of the Australian Government, the City of Sydney and local service providers to participate on taskforces and working groups where appropriate;
• support the Human Services Ministerial Advisory Committee (HSMAC) which will serve as a reference point for community participation and client feedback; and
• undertake ongoing monitoring and review of outcomes delivered over the life of the 10 year Redfern-Waterloo Human Services Plan.

The key tasks for ISOG will be:

• ensuring the effective and speedy implementation of actions identified in Phase One of the Human Services Plan;
• developing indicators and evaluation methodologies against which the Human Services Plan’s progress can be measured over time;
• developing and implementing a more coordinated and integrated human services system which delivers improved outcomes for clients;
• strengthening government agency and non-government organisation accountability to clients, other residents and government;
• transparent planning and decision making;
• linking resources to program outcomes, administrative efficiencies, and more professional delivery of services;
• commitment to consumer participation, broader community involvement and accessibility;
• understanding of and respect for each other’s roles and responsibilities;
• embracing diversity through cultural appropriateness for all cultural and linguistic groups; and
• ongoing monitoring of implementation and evaluating results.

Negotiating change

The ISOG will initially focus on establishing service groups delivering youth services, services for Aboriginal people, family services, and health services to assist in implementing the actions. Service provider groups comprising relevant government agencies and non-government service providers will provide advice on criteria for:

• Service specifications for organisations within each service provider group which are relevant to Redfern and Waterloo and which include reference to:

        - target client groups;

        - service location;

        - outputs and outcomes;

        - delivery strategies; and

        - evaluation methodologies.

• Service quality benchmarks and value for money.
• Client outcomes.
• Coordination of joint training to achieve more consistent service delivery.

Integrating human services

All clients should be able to access services with ease and in a timely manner, without having to negotiate an unnecessarily complex service system.

The reform process will also involve:

• Piloting a model of shared administrative or “back office” services for nongovernment organisations in line with current NSW Government efforts to develop more efficient back office arrangements for funded organisations.
• Streamlining compliance and reducing associated costs for funded nongovernment organisations.
• Enhancing the capacity of local non-government services to utilise information technologies.
• Standardising and streamlining client intake, assessment and referral processes.

This will occur through:

• implementing common intake and assessment processes for all client groups, including young people, women and families;
• improving referral processes between providers;
• improving inter-agency communication about action taken on referrals between agencies; and
• supporting the introduction and operation of the ReferralLink component of the NSW Better Service Delivery Program in Redfern-Waterloo.

Evaluating results

The Human Services Plan also includes the development of evaluation measures and will involve:

• review and evaluation 18 months after the release of the final Human Services Plan and thereafter biennially;
• setting clear targets for improvements in each of the ten priorities over the first three years of the Plan and in subsequent years;
• measures of success against actions; and
• identification of benchmarks set by existing overarching government programs and strategies.

The ISOG will develop an evaluation framework by mid-2006 to assess the success of the Human Services Plan in delivering:

• better outcomes for clients;
• improved integration and coordination of the human services system;
• reduced demand for crisis and urgent intervention services to levels approaching those of other areas with similar population characteristics;
• improvements in broad indicators of social disadvantage; and
• return on public investment.

The ISOG will assess and report on progress against Human Services Plan priorities.

Measures of improvement in organisational capacity across government and nongovernment service providers will include:

• governance arrangements;
• progress towards more integration and better coordination of government and non-government services;
• the extent to which services have adopted common referral, assessment and coordinated case management processes;
• integrated service planning – with particular reference to the development of single service points;
• increased sharing of administrative resources;
• wider use of common reporting, monitoring and evaluation arrangements;
• physical and virtual co-location of services using modern communication technologies and out-sourcing arrangements;
• joint training and other professional development of staff;
• reduction in service duplication; and
• improvements to facilities.

The ISOG will also assess improvements in the cultural appropriateness of services, including to the Aboriginal community, by government and non-government organisations.

Other levels of government will be invited to participate in the evaluation process.