A special unit has been established within Treasury to monitor the performance of Government Trading Enterprises (GTEs).
The Water Authority, SECWA, R&I Bank, SGIO and Westrail are among the State's high profile GTEs. Others include the Port Authorities, TAB, the Lotteries Commission and the WA Meat Commission.
Minister Assisting the Treasurer Geoff Gallop said today that the Performance Monitoring Unit (PMU) would play a key role in the Government's plan to improve the performance of GTEs.
It would also co-ordinate the State's participation in the National Performance Monitoring arrangements of public trading enterprises that was established by the Special Premiers' Conference.
"The monitoring unit will scrutinise the performance of GTEs in a bid to obtain maximum results for the Government and taxpayers," Dr Gallop said.
"There are substantial community resources invested in the State's GTEs. It is in everyone's interests that the returns from this investment are optimised, while also ensuring that service standards are maintained.
"The monitoring unit will also provide strategic advice to the Government on matters that influence GTEs' performance."
Dr Gallop said the PMU would focus on performance targets to be agreed annually with the GTEs, and the actual performance relative to these targets.
To adequately assess performance, the monitoring unit would require detailed information from GTEs on at least a quarterly basis.
This information, provided through the appropriate Minister, would be akin to the performance data that was required by a holding company from its subsidiaries.
"Performance indicators can be broadly classified as economic, financial and operational," Dr Gallop said.
"Data requirements for determining these indicators will be considerable and GTEs will be committed to developing the necessary data bases.
"The source data supporting the annual performance indicators of all GTEs will be audited by the Auditor General as part of the usual audit process."
The Minister said the monitoring process, by its very nature, would be flexible and dynamic. It was possible that it would need to be reassessed in some cases and developed further on the basis of experience.
