APSC releases integrity strategy

Public service leaders are being asked to incentivise ethical behaviour and practices in their agencies.

“Leaders set the cultural tone for their organisation through their behaviour, and culture is powerful in determining how people behave,” says the Australian Public Service Commission.

The directive features in a new integrity strategy developed by the APSC to strengthen the effective implementation of the employment and integrity framework under the Public Service Act. “Integrity is fundamental to public trust in government and the Australian Public Service as a whole,” says the commission. 

The strategy – Strengthening Integrity in the APS – sets out four key objectives to progress towards achieving the document’s intent:

• Proactively using data to develop insights to monitor and evaluate the extent to which agencies incorporate and uphold the APS Values and Employment Principles.

• Developing dynamic and engaging promotional activities to help people understand what integrity means in the APS, building awareness and understanding of the APS Values, Employment Principles and Code of Conduct to drive ethical behaviour.

• Improving access to resources to build capability and support people to take action and make decisions that are consistent with the framework.

• Increasing the capability of agencies to deliver on workforce management with particular effort on uplifting investigative and recruitment skills as two important fundamentals of integrity.

“These objectives are underpinned by an aspiration that agencies consider more than whether policies and procedures are in place,” says the APSC. “Agencies should consider how the APS Values, Employment Principles and Code of Conduct are being embedded, how policies are followed and whether they are achieving the intended outcomes.”

There are three focus areas for delivery of the strategy:

• Monitoring and evaluation – the APSC will maintain awareness of how agencies are delivering on their obligations under the Public Service Act, to support high standards of integrity and conduct.

• Assurance – provided through a structured process to review themes that emerge through monitoring and evaluation, and consider what response is required to support compliance with the employment and integrity framework.

• Promotion and capability – intelligence based on monitoring and evaluation and assurance will contribute to the wide range of ongoing capability and promotion activities delivered by the APSC.

“The focus areas are linked to enable continuous improvement and strengthen how the employment and integrity framework is administered,” says the APSC.  “Linked together, these three focus areas provide a holistic way of working to drive integrity activity.”

Effective delivery of the integrity strategy is intended “to achieve greater assurance that agency heads and employees are aware of their obligations under the Public Service Act, understand how to act, and know where to go for information and support,” says the APSC. “High standards of ethical conduct strengthen confidence in the APS, building trust in the work of government.”