❓ A WA parliamentary question sought details on outsourced payroll management within the Attorney General's portfolio, revealing various agencies use different providers (Ascender, Aurion, Department of Education) based in Australia, with costs and data types varying. No privacy breaches were reported.
AnsweredQoN 3589Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
In the 2017-18 financial year has any department, agencies, commissions or Government Trading Enterprises (GTE) within the Minister's portfolio of responsibilities utilised an outsourced payroll management company and if so: (a) What outsourced payroll company was used and in what country are they based; (b) What is the estimated cost of utilising this outsourced option; (c) What data is provided to this outsourced payroll company in order to process payroll (i.e. names, addresses, bank details); and (d) Is the Minister or Agency aware of any privacy breaches in relation to the data provided to this outsourced payroll company: (i) If so, what is the nature of that breach, including dates of released data and details of the data released?
AnswerView source ↗
Answered
20 September 2018
Response time
11 days
The Corruption and Crime Commission:
(a) - (d) No, not applicable.
The Department of Justice:
(a) Ascender Pay Pty Ltd, Australia. The contract for the Attorney General’s portfolio elements is an in-house payroll processing model where the Department updates and processes the payroll in-house, with Ascender providing software as a service (SaaS) database server hosting arrangements. The Department of Justice (the Department) currently has two Payroll and HR Management System contractual arrangements. The contract for Corrective Services elements of the Department is a largely outsourced model where Ascender updates the employee details, processes the payroll and provides software as a service (SaaS) database server hosting arrangements.
(b) $535,954 for Attorney General’s elements; $2,577,790 for Corrective Services.
(c) All required employee data is securely stored in the Ascender Human Resources Management System (HRMS) required to process the payroll and provide the Department of Justice with human resource reporting and analytics. This includes: names, addresses, bank account details, leave details, tax file numbers, salary information, contract details, superannuation information, emergency contacts and any salary packaging arrangements.
(d) There has been no reported privacy breaches.
(i) Not applicable.
The Equal Opportunity Commission:
(a) Aurion, which is based in Australia
(b) $26.08 excluding GST per employee processed per pay period
(c) Names, addresses, bank details, superannuation details, tax file numbers, salary packaging information,
(d) No
(i) Not applicable
LegalAid Western Australia:
(a) - (d) No, not applicable.
The Legal Practice Board will include the Legal Profession Complaints Committee (which is a Committee of the Board):
(a) - (d) None, not applicable.
The Office of the Commissioner for Children and Young People:
(a) - (d) CCYP utilises the HR management system of the Department of Education as its payroll provider. This is a WA Government department not a payroll management company.
The Office of the Information Commissioner:
(a) Ascender (Australia).
(b) $10,751.05.
(c) Names; addresses; tax information; bank account details (for deposit of salary); superannuation fund details for deposit of superannuation; HR MOIR information for agency reporting; and emergency contact information.
(d) No privacy breaches were reported to the OIC.
The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions:
(a) Aurion (Australia).
(b) $140,898.
(c) The Aurion HR System includes staff details (i.e. names, contact details, emergency numbers, qualifications, staff profile information, bank account/s, tax files number, superannuation fund, position held, salary classification, employment history, and leave records); and
(d) There have not been any privacy breaches of which the ODPP is aware.
State Solicitors Office, Solicitor General's Office:
Incorporated into the Department of Justice.
(a) - (d) No, not applicable.
The Department of Justice:
(a) Ascender Pay Pty Ltd, Australia. The contract for the Attorney General’s portfolio elements is an in-house payroll processing model where the Department updates and processes the payroll in-house, with Ascender providing software as a service (SaaS) database server hosting arrangements. The Department of Justice (the Department) currently has two Payroll and HR Management System contractual arrangements. The contract for Corrective Services elements of the Department is a largely outsourced model where Ascender updates the employee details, processes the payroll and provides software as a service (SaaS) database server hosting arrangements.
(b) $535,954 for Attorney General’s elements; $2,577,790 for Corrective Services.
(c) All required employee data is securely stored in the Ascender Human Resources Management System (HRMS) required to process the payroll and provide the Department of Justice with human resource reporting and analytics. This includes: names, addresses, bank account details, leave details, tax file numbers, salary information, contract details, superannuation information, emergency contacts and any salary packaging arrangements.
(d) There has been no reported privacy breaches.
(i) Not applicable.
The Equal Opportunity Commission:
(a) Aurion, which is based in Australia
(b) $26.08 excluding GST per employee processed per pay period
(c) Names, addresses, bank details, superannuation details, tax file numbers, salary packaging information,
(d) No
(i) Not applicable
LegalAid Western Australia:
(a) - (d) No, not applicable.
The Legal Practice Board will include the Legal Profession Complaints Committee (which is a Committee of the Board):
(a) - (d) None, not applicable.
The Office of the Commissioner for Children and Young People:
(a) - (d) CCYP utilises the HR management system of the Department of Education as its payroll provider. This is a WA Government department not a payroll management company.
The Office of the Information Commissioner:
(a) Ascender (Australia).
(b) $10,751.05.
(c) Names; addresses; tax information; bank account details (for deposit of salary); superannuation fund details for deposit of superannuation; HR MOIR information for agency reporting; and emergency contact information.
(d) No privacy breaches were reported to the OIC.
The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions:
(a) Aurion (Australia).
(b) $140,898.
(c) The Aurion HR System includes staff details (i.e. names, contact details, emergency numbers, qualifications, staff profile information, bank account/s, tax files number, superannuation fund, position held, salary classification, employment history, and leave records); and
(d) There have not been any privacy breaches of which the ODPP is aware.
State Solicitors Office, Solicitor General's Office:
Incorporated into the Department of Justice.
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.