• Contents
• Letter of transmittal
• User guide
• Part 1: Overview
• Part 2: Highlights of 2010–2011
• Part 3: Performance
• Part 4: Horizon scanning
• Part 5: Corporate governance
  • 5.1 Governance structure
  • 5.2 Planning and service delivery
  • 5.3 People management
• Part 6: Financial management and accountability
• Appendices

Part 5: CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

5.1 GOVERNANCE STRUCTURE

The National Blood Authority senior executive management team comprises the following staff:

• General Manager and Chief Executive Officer, Dr Alison Turner
• Principal Medical Officer, Dr Chris Hogan
• Deputy General Manager, Sector Coordination, Systems and Corporate, Ms Stephanie Gunn
• Deputy General Manager, Fresh Blood and Clinical Development, Mr Andrew Mead
• General Counsel and Deputy General Manager, Commercial Contracts, Mr Michael Stone.

Brief biographies of these staff are given in Appendix 8.

Figure 5.1 NBA’s organisational structure as at 30 June 2011

Governance

Three formal governance committees—the Senior Executive Managers’ Committee, the Executive Managers’ Committee and the Audit Committee—help the NBA executive plan and manage core strategic projects and stakeholder concerns. See Appendix 9 for further details.

The committees are actively involved in:

• maintaining our rigour in reporting and measuring performance against our operational plan
• improving our focus on internal and external performance indicators
• driving strategies, concepts and ideas for continual improvement.

In addition, the NBA has two formal cross-team functional committees to provide opportunities for staff to discuss strategies, issues, and processes and share experiences on issues of common relevance. These cross-team functional committees are a key element in our internal knowledge network, ensuring that work priorities and models relating to demand forecasting and supply coordination are effectively linked and that data and systems development activities are prioritised to best meet internal and external priorities.

Audit Committee

The Audit Committee’s work program progressed well during 2010–11. Activities included:

• reviewing and making minor recommendations to the CEO on the 2009–10 annual financial statements
• reviewing and making recommendations to the CEO on the Certificate of Compliance
• reviewing and providing advice on the Strategic Risk Management Plan, specifically in relation to financial risk management strategies
• reviewing and making recommendations on the development of the internal audit work program and monitoring the progress of implementation activities to address findings
• providing advice on business continuity planning, financial management, risk management, the Fraud Control Plan and accountability issues
• providing an overview of the effectiveness of the NBA control framework including consideration of testing against the business continuity plan, fraud risk assessment and the new fraud risk management plan and risk against the risk management plans of projects.

The committee met six times in 2010–11.

Internal audit

The NBA’s internal audit program, guided by the Audit Committee, plays a key part in ensuring that risk is managed appropriately.

A review of the NBA’s policies and procedures for the verification of goods ordering and receipting was completed in November 2010. The NBA is now implementing key recommendations, including ensuring a more comprehensive accountability framework for contracts.

The internal auditor conducted a review of the IDMS including an assessment of risks, evaluation of controls, assessment of security, interfaces with other business systems and a general review of the performance of the system.

The review confirmed the system’s functionality and its appropriateness as a platform for further development of NBA information and data strategies. A number of recommendations were made and the NBA is undertaking further analysis of several technical issues and refining how the system interacts with our business processes.

Risk management

The NBA’s governance framework integrates risk management considerations into all of its planning activities, including:

• development of an annual strategic risk management plan—assessed against the corporate plan objectives and specific annual priorities
• a six-monthly review of the strategic risk management plan by the Executive Managers’ Committee
• development of detailed actions within the annual operational plan to address core risks
• monthly reporting to the Executive Managers’ Committee against the operational plan and on the status of core risks
• regular reporting to the NBA Board on the operational plan and the status of core risks.

The NBA’s strategic risk management plan for 2011–12 was drafted. The plan identifies six key risks that could impact on the ability of the NBA to deliver a safe and secure blood supply.

Both the NBA Board and the Audit Committee provided input into the draft plan which is expected to be finalised in August 2011.   

The NBA participated in the 2011 Comcover Risk Management Benchmarking Survey and received a benchmarking score of 7.2 out of a possible 10. This benchmarking score places the NBA at a ‘structured’ maturity level. The average score achieved by all participating agencies was 6.4 out of 10. The survey identified the areas of greatest strength for the NBA’s risk management capabilities including risk management policy and objectives, integration and accountability and responsibility. The NBA will strive for further improvement by focusing on risk assessment, risk profiling and resourcing.

Fraud Control Plan

The Commonwealth Fraud Control Guidelines require agencies to conduct a fraud risk assessment and develop a fraud control plan every two years. The existing NBA fraud control plan expired in late 2010. KPMG was appointed to undertake the fraud risk assessment and develop a fraud control plan for 2010–12.

The findings of the 2010 fraud risk assessment indicated that there were no significant risks to the NBA, with a universally strong control environment in operation. No significant gaps were identified in the NBA’s fraud controls.

However, the Audit Committee did note that there were two moderate fraud risks. In response to these, the NBA is reviewing improved control measures.

Under its current plan, the NBA continually monitors accountability and control frameworks to meet the specific needs of the agency, and ensures that it complies with the Commonwealth Fraud Control Guidelines.

No instances of fraud were detected during the reporting year.

Relationship with external auditors

The NBA acknowledges the assistance provided by its external auditors, the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO), in 2010–11. This assistance enabled the NBA to ensure compliance and appropriate accountability and to identify scope for continual improvement in our activities.

The ANAO continued its performance audit of NBA activities. The objective of the 2010–11 audit is to assess whether the NBA’s governance and contractual arrangements are effective in ensuring sufficient blood supply and services. The ANAO has undertaken field work to examine whether the NBA demonstrates:

• sound governance and administrative systems to support blood and blood product supply, including arrangements to assess and consider value for money
• accountable and responsive contract management of the ARCS Deed of Agreement to meet legislative requirement, government policy and improve national supply and
• sound performance information, including links to higher level outcomes, to assess the effectiveness of contractual arrangements in meeting national blood supply needs.

Finalisation of the audit is expected in the latter half of 2011.

Other external scrutiny

There were no judicial decisions or decisions of administrative tribunals that impacted on the operations of the NBA during 2010–11. There were no reports of the agency by a Parliamentary committee or the Commonwealth Ombudsman.