Part 4 Report on activities

Chief Operating Officer Division

Introduction

In 2016–17 the Chief Operating Officer Division comprised the Chief Finance Officer Branch (previously known in 2015–16 as the Finance and Procurement Branch), the People and Governance Branch (previously known in 2015–16 as the People, Strategy and Governance Branch), the Parliamentary Experience Branch and the Enterprise Agreement Project Team.

The division provides advice and services to DPS on governance, strategy, finance, procurement, human resources and records management. This ensures that DPS complies with its responsibilities under the PS Act, the PGPA Act and a range of other legislative obligations, including human resources-related legislation. The division also provides visitor programs, catering and events services, art services, legal services, communication/marketing services, risk and auditing, planning and performance reporting and manages licences and contracts for services for building occupants.

Divisional highlights

Chief Finance Officer Branch

The Chief Finance Officer Branch provides financial advice and services to the department.

The branch is made up of four sections which report to the Chief Finance Officer:

  • Financial Accounting and Business Operations
  • Management Accounting
  • Procurement and Contract Management
  • Corporate Systems Program and Support

Key highlights of the branch include:

  • Updated Procurement and Contract Management Framework was implemented and aligned with the Procure to Pay (P2P) module for SAP.
  • Implemented APH Catering and Events financial framework and reporting systems.

People & Governance Branch

The People and Governance Branch provides people, governance and strategic advice services.

The branch is made up of four sections which report to the Assistant Secretary:

  • Communications
  • HR Services and Strategy
  • Legal Services
  • Risk, Audit, Planning and Performance Reporting

Key highlights of the branch include:

  • Support and information for parliamentarians in the early months of the 45th Parliament, including specially designed brochures introducing new and returning senators and members to the full range of DPS services.
  • Continued focus on strengthening good governance, particularly through the creation and updating of policy documentation. This has included updating our complaint management and conflict of interest procedures, updating core human resources policies, including recruitment and leave policies and the release of a new DPS Privacy Policy.
  • Additional KPIs were developed for inclusion in the 2017–18 DPS Portfolio Budget Statements, to ensure that relevant aspects of DPS’ performance are measured and reported. The additional KPIs include Security KPIs and Parliament House Works Program KPIs. Performance against these KPIs will be measured throughout 2017–18 and reported in the 2017–18 Annual Performance Statements.
  • In July 2016 DPS implemented a risk management software system, Riskware, to capture, manage, monitor and analyse our enterprise and fraud risks. This system enables DPS to continue to further improve our risk management practises. A review of DPS’ enterprise risks commenced in April 2017, which will be completed in the second half of this year. The initial review has resulted in a number of enterprise risks being devolved to operational risks or merged.
  • Work has continued on the development, exercising and reviewing of business continuity procedures throughout 2016–17. Annual exercises of the strategic and tactical plans were undertaken in August and September 2016 and will be undertaken again in August 2017.

Parliamentary Experience Branch

The Parliamentary Experience Branch is responsible for the development and delivery of a broad range of experiences and services for parliamentarians, visitors and all building occupants. The branch works closely with stakeholders across the Parliament.

The branch is made up of four sections which report to the Assistant Secretary:

  • Content, Art Collection and Exhibitions
  • Contracts and Licences
  • Visitor Experience
  • APH Catering and Events

Key highlights of the branch include:

  • The establishment of an in-house catering and events operation in the latter part of 2016 to commence operations from late December transitioning from a contract arrangement with IHG was a tremendous achievement. The new operation has delivered high quality food and beverage services to parliamentarians, building occupants and visitors. The first six months of operations achieved over 240,000 sales and the team supported 320 events attended by 34,664 people, this shows an increase in the overall delivery of services as shown in Table 20.
Table 20: Total number of meals/beverages served at APH (data based on six month period)
Area APH Jan–June 2017 (37 sitting days) IHG Jan–June 2016 (24 sitting days) 2017 compared to 2016 IHG Jan–June 2015 (39 sitting days) 2017 compared to 2015
Functions, and using House Services
Number of people attending 45,040 27,551 63% 40,321 10%
Members and Guest Dining Room (MGDR)
Number of people attending 3,544 2,316 53% 3,111 12%
Members Club*
Number of people attending 508 571 -11% 591 -16%
Staff Dining Room
Number of transactions 132,117 96,744 37% 111,795 15%
Queen’s Terrace Café
Number of transactions 45,441 38,389 18% 37,136 18%
Schools Hospitality
Number of people attending 40,928 40,545 1% 40,200 2%
Coffee Cart
Number of transactions 29,831 27,537 8% 26,658 11%

* Note: An area to area comparison for functions, the MGDR and Members’ Club is not straightforward as IHG included some events in adjoining rooms in MGDR data; DPS has counted each area separately.

  • Following the 2016 federal election, DPS Art Collection & Exhibitions installed 895 artworks in 180 suites. To service parliamentarians concurrently as a result of the double dissolution election, was a first for APH.
  • During 2016–17 a total of 60 works of art were acquired for the Parliament House Art Collection (PHAC). New acquisitions included 26 works by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists from across Australia. In December 2014 the Presiding Officers approved an additional allocation of $200,000 for the purchase of artworks over the period 2014–2018 to mark the Centenary of Anzac; four works were purchased from this funding allocation in 2016–17.
  • In December 2016, DPS commenced a significant program of conservation work on the Parliament’s copy of the 1297 Magna Carta. The project is being delivered in four phases over an 18 month time frame.
  • Tourists ranked APH ninth on TripAdvisor’s list of Australia’s most popular attractions.

‘Informative, interesting—and has inspired us to learn more about our national parliament (both the building and the people who work there as our elected representatives) Just wanted to say thanks for a great service. We will recommend the tour to any of our friends going to Canberra.’

Participant, Public Tour

  • In 2016–17 the Visitor Experience section hosted over 3,310 visitors at public programs in Parliament House. Highlights included:
    • Spring Glory program—attracting 676 visitors.

‘Tour guide was excellent in breadth of knowledge and information provided about both garden design and the individual plants.’

Spring Glory tour participant, September 2016

  • Enlighten festival—495 people attended events prepared by the new APH Catering and Events team. The DPS Art Collection & Exhibitions team collaborated with lighting contractors Electric Canvas and artists of works from the PHAC, to produce seven new images that were projected onto Parliament House.

‘Lovely evening; food and wine excellent; loved your happy staff.’

Sunset on the Roof patron, March 2017

  • Autumn Tours—received 333 visitors over 12 days, reaching 93 per cent capacity.

‘Have visited Parliament house several times but this was exceptional. The commentary was extremely interesting and professional. Great !!!’

Autumn tour participant, April 2017

Autumn tour participants in one of APH’s private courtyards

  • The Parliament Shop continued to grow its product range and increase revenue over the last year. Revenue has increased by 5.8 per cent, from $1,108,520 in 2015–16, to $1,173,488 in 2016–17 due to new quality product lines. At the start of July, The Shop implemented a new point of sale system, which offers a more streamlined customer service experience and includes additional features to monitor stock control and back room processing.

A selection of the wide range of products available from The Parliament Shop