The Office of the Secretary is responsible for Treasury’s strategic oversight and policy development. It also provides secretariat services and executive support to the Secretary, Deputy Secretaries, other senior managers, and major Departmental Committees, including the Executive Committee, the Corporate Management Group and the Audit and Risk Management Committee.

The OTS also has responsibility for coordinating the Department’s relationship with the Treasurer, Executive Council, Cabinet Office and Parliament.

OTS staff are responsible for coordinating the Department’s Corporate Planning processes. This includes developing the Corporate Plan, reviewing performance against the Corporate Plan and reporting outcomes. Our Corporate Plan for 2008–09 was endorsed by the Treasurer in September 2008 and placed on our website shortly thereafter.

OTS also coordinates the preparation and publication of the Department’s Annual Report. Our 2007–08 Annual Report was tabled in Parliament and published on our website on 30 October 2008.

All Freedom of Information requests received by Treasury are managed by OTS. This involves liaising with Branches to ensure the preparation of accurate and timely responses to all requests. During the year, the Department of Justice undertook a review of the FOI Act. Treasury’s submission to that review, which was coordinated by OTS, can be viewed on the Department of Justice’s website.

During the year, the OTS also coordinated the CMG’s consideration of the stakeholder survey that had been conducted by Wise, Lord and Ferguson during 2008. Branch Heads were required to develop and implement strategies to ensure that stakeholder expectations of the Department’s performance can be maintained or exceeded. The results of these deliberations are published on our website.

Under the State Service Act 2000, the Financial Management and Audit Act 1990, and other relevant legislation, the Secretary of the Department of Treasury and Finance has specific responsibilities in relation to the management of Treasury. In 2008–09, the OTS commenced work on development of a Corporate Governance Policy to more formally address these responsibilities.

To us, corporate governance describes the processes and structures for overseeing the direction and management of an enterprise so that it effectively achieves its objectives. Good corporate governance practices have the potential to enhance agency performance, improve risk management and augment our integrity and reputation with stakeholders and the wider Tasmanian community.

In Treasury’s case, corporate governance is also about our agency’s interaction with the Treasurer, the Premier, other Ministers and Parliament in matters of stewardship and accountability.

What next?

In 2009–10 the OTS plans to:

• coordinate the 2010 Departmental Stakeholder Survey;
• coordinate preparation of the
  2010–11 Corporate Plan;
• submit the draft Corporate Governance Policy to the Corporate Management Group for consideration. Once endorsed, this document will be placed on our website along with our Corporate Plan;
• continue to monitor the membership of all statutory boards; and internal and external committees administered by the Department, as part of a whole-of-government review of boards and committees; and
• continue to provide secretariat services in liaison and monitoring systems between the Department, the Treasurer and his Office, Executive Council, Cabinet Office and Parliament.