❓ A WA parliamentary question sought details on government employee attendance at privately organised events since July 2014. Responses varied, with some agencies providing detailed data, others citing system limitations, and one claiming the question didn't apply.
AnsweredQoN 4966Legislative Assembly
Asked
16 February 2016
Member
Portfolio
Treasurer; Minister for Energy; Citizenship and Multicultural Interests
QuestionView source ↗
Since 1 July 2014, have any officers or board members of a department, agency, Commission or Government Trading Enterprise (GTE) within the Minister’s portfolio of responsibilities attended a conference, seminar or workshop organised by a private organisation for which attendance was paid for by the department, agency, Commission or GTE, and if yes: (a) what was the name of the event attended by the officer or board member; (b) on what date was the event; (c) where was the event held; (d) how many officers or board members attended; (e) what is the name of the organiser or facilitator of the event; and (f) what was the ticket or entry cost of attendance for each officer or board member, and the cost of any travel or accommodation as part of the officer or board member's attendance?
AnswerView source ↗
Answered
17 March 2016
Response time
30 days
Department of Treasury
Yes.
(a-f) [Please see tabled paper no.]
Economic Regulation Authority
Yes.
(a-f) [Please see tabled paper no.]
Government Employees Superannuation Board
Yes.
(a-f) [Please see tabled paper no.]
Horizon Power
Yes.
(a-f) [Please see tabled paper no.]
Note: the attached list includes only those events where staff attended, not those events where staff were invited to speak. Given the timeframe provided, Horizon Power has answered this question on a best effort basis.
I have requested that Horizon Power put appropriate systems in place to capture this data going forward.
Independent Market Operator
The IMO Board and officers are not public sector employees under the Public Sector Management Act s3 and therefore the definition of an ‘officer’, does not apply to the IMO Board and officers.
(a-f) Not applicable.
Insurance Commission of Western Australia
Yes.
(a-f) [Please see tabled paper no.]
Office of Multicultural Interests
(a) Public Sector Women in Leadership Western Australia Summit
(b) 28 and 29 October 2015
(c) Novotel Langley Perth
(d) Three
(e) Liquid Learning Group Pty Ltd
(f) $856.35 per person
Office of the Auditor General
Yes.
(a-f) [Please see tabled paper no.]
Public Utilities Office
Yes.
(a-f) [Please see tabled paper no.]
Synergy
(a-f)
Due to changes made to Synergy’s finance system as a result of integrating the two systems that existed under the former Synergy and Verve Energy into one shared platform during the period in question, Synergy’s leger is structured to include cost items outside the scope of the question.
The ledger does not distinguish between events that are coordinated and hosted internally and those run by external third parties, which means the figure will not be a true reflection of what is being requested by the member.
Other factors include conferences are booked months in advance of the event so linking travel and accommodation costs to an event is very difficult; over the timeframe requested there have been many personnel changes so it is impossible to accurately reconcile accommodation/travel costs to specific events; often, conferences are attended by multiple people on a shared ticket and there may not be accurate visibility on the actual attendee.
To manually extract all data for the required categories of the question would take considerable time and resources away from core Synergy business.
I have requested that Synergy put appropriate systems in place to capture this data going forward.
Western Australian Treasury Corporation
Yes.
(a-f) [Please see tabled paper no.]
Western Power
Yes.
(a-f) [Please see tabled paper no.]
Note: Western Power does not keep records on the number of employees who attended conferences, as it regularly shares tickets between staff. Given the timeframe provided, Western Power has answered this question on a best effort basis.
I have requested that Western Power put appropriate systems in place to capture this data going forward.
Yes.
(a-f) [Please see tabled paper no.]
Economic Regulation Authority
Yes.
(a-f) [Please see tabled paper no.]
Government Employees Superannuation Board
Yes.
(a-f) [Please see tabled paper no.]
Horizon Power
Yes.
(a-f) [Please see tabled paper no.]
Note: the attached list includes only those events where staff attended, not those events where staff were invited to speak. Given the timeframe provided, Horizon Power has answered this question on a best effort basis.
I have requested that Horizon Power put appropriate systems in place to capture this data going forward.
Independent Market Operator
The IMO Board and officers are not public sector employees under the Public Sector Management Act s3 and therefore the definition of an ‘officer’, does not apply to the IMO Board and officers.
(a-f) Not applicable.
Insurance Commission of Western Australia
Yes.
(a-f) [Please see tabled paper no.]
Office of Multicultural Interests
(a) Public Sector Women in Leadership Western Australia Summit
(b) 28 and 29 October 2015
(c) Novotel Langley Perth
(d) Three
(e) Liquid Learning Group Pty Ltd
(f) $856.35 per person
Office of the Auditor General
Yes.
(a-f) [Please see tabled paper no.]
Public Utilities Office
Yes.
(a-f) [Please see tabled paper no.]
Synergy
(a-f)
Due to changes made to Synergy’s finance system as a result of integrating the two systems that existed under the former Synergy and Verve Energy into one shared platform during the period in question, Synergy’s leger is structured to include cost items outside the scope of the question.
The ledger does not distinguish between events that are coordinated and hosted internally and those run by external third parties, which means the figure will not be a true reflection of what is being requested by the member.
Other factors include conferences are booked months in advance of the event so linking travel and accommodation costs to an event is very difficult; over the timeframe requested there have been many personnel changes so it is impossible to accurately reconcile accommodation/travel costs to specific events; often, conferences are attended by multiple people on a shared ticket and there may not be accurate visibility on the actual attendee.
To manually extract all data for the required categories of the question would take considerable time and resources away from core Synergy business.
I have requested that Synergy put appropriate systems in place to capture this data going forward.
Western Australian Treasury Corporation
Yes.
(a-f) [Please see tabled paper no.]
Western Power
Yes.
(a-f) [Please see tabled paper no.]
Note: Western Power does not keep records on the number of employees who attended conferences, as it regularly shares tickets between staff. Given the timeframe provided, Western Power has answered this question on a best effort basis.
I have requested that Western Power put appropriate systems in place to capture this data going forward.
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