The Upper House committee inquiring into service coordination in communities with high social needs has today tabled its report.

 

The inquiry was established to examine barriers and enablers to service coordination in New South Wales for both government and non-government service providers.

 

The Chair of the committee, the Hon Bronnie Taylor MLC, said, ‘This inquiry has highlighted that there is still a long way to go to achieve effective service coordination to overcome disadvantage. We can do much more to make coordination easier, including encouraging better information sharing between agencies and collecting data on program outcomes, not just outputs. Activities to promote service coordination should also be required in all human services contracts between the government and non-government organisations.’

 

Mrs Taylor continued, ‘Too often we lose sight of the individuals and communities we are trying to help. The committee’s visits to Claymore, Mount Druitt and Bourke reminded us of the importance of service coordination to ensure that our children and vulnerable members of our community have the chance to reach their full potential and contribute to the prosperity of New South Wales.’

 

Mrs Taylor concluded, ‘Importantly, service coordination does not require additional funding – we just need to make better use of the resources we already have. We are optimistic that our suite of recommendations will achieve better service coordination and a more holistic approach to addressing disadvantage across the state.’

 

A list of the committee’s recommendations is attached. The report is available on the committee’s website –www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/socialissues