1999-2000
Part E - Appendices
The 1999-2000 Portfolio Budget Statements, informs Senators and Members of Parliament of the proposed allocation of resources to portfolios outcomes and their objectives and targets including the agencies within the Health and Family Services portfolio.
Appendix 1
Non-Appropriation Departmental/Agency and Administered Revenue
Appendix 2
Estimates of Expenses from Special Appropriations
Appendix 3
Glossary of Technical Terms
Additional estimates- where amounts appropriated at Budget time are insufficient, Parliament may appropriate more funds to portfolios through the Additional Estimates Acts. This is the Additional Estimates process.
Additional Estimates Bills or Acts - These are Appropriation Bills 3 and 4, and a separate Bill for Parliamentary Departments (Appropriations (Parliamentary Departments) Bill (No.2)). These Bills are introduced into the Parliament sometime after the Budget Bills. In 1998-99, the Budget was introduced in May 1998, and the Additional Estimates Bills in December 1998.
Administered Items - Expenses, revenues, assets or liabilities managed by agencies on behalf of the Commonwealth. Agencies do not control administered items. Administered items include grants, subsidies and benefits (for example, funding for the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme).
Appropriation - an authorisation by Parliament to spend moneys from the Consolidated Revenue Fund.
- Annotated appropriation is a form of appropriation which allows a department access to certain money it receives in payment of services. The nature and extent of the amount to be appropriated are specified in agreements made under s.31 of the Financial Management Act (FMA) 1997 between the financial manager and the responsible Minister. See Section 9, Appropriation Bill (No.1) 1998-99.
- Annual Appropriation - Two appropriation Bills are introduced into Parliament in May and comprise the Budget. Further Bills are introduced later in the financial year as part of the additional estimates. Parliamentary departments have their own appropriations.
- Special Appropriations - Moneys appropriated by Parliament in an Act separate to an annual Appropriation Act, where the payment is for a specified amount. Special appropriations are not subject to Parliament's annual budget control, unlike the annual appropriations.
- Standing Appropriations - These are very similar to special appropriations, except that instead of an amount being specified in the appropriation, the act provides for an automatic payment of funds where an entitlement exists, such as age pensions, or for the Minister of Finance to determine an amount in accordance with specified criteria. The terms special and standing are often used interchangeably.
Budget measure - a decision by the Cabinet or Ministers that has been finalised since the 1998-99 Budget and has resulted in a change in expenditure in the years 1999-00 to 2002-03. See also cross portfolio Budget Measure.
Commonwealth Funds - All accounting transfers are recorded in the Official Commonwealth Public Account (CPA). The CPA is the Commonwealth's official bank account kept at the Reserve Bank. The CPA reflects the operation of four funds:
- Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) - This is the principal working fund of the Commonwealth and is mainly financed by taxation, fees and other current receipts. The Constitution requires an appropriation of moneys by the Parliament before any expenditure can be made from the CRF (s83).
- Loan Fund - Established by the FMA Act 1997, the Loan Fund contains all moneys raised by loan on the public credit of the Commonwealth. Expenditure from the Loan Fund is limited to the purpose for which the moneys were raised.
- Reserved Money Fund (RMF) - Accounts for money, which the Commonwealth holds on trust for, or otherwise for the benefit of, a person other than the Commonwealth and moneys, which are "reserved" for future Commonwealth purposes. Components of the RMF, specifying the nature of receipts that may be credited to, and payments that may be made from each component, may be established by the Finance Minister under section 20 of the FMA Act, or by specific legislation. The transfer of receipts from the CRF to, and payments from, component of the RMF are authorised by standing appropriations in section 20 of the FMA Act.
- Commercial Activities Fund (CAF) - Accounts for various activities of agencies which should be accounted for as if they were genuinely commercial. Components of the CAF specifying the nature of receipts that may be credited to, and payments that may be made from, each component, may be established by the Finance Minister under section 21 of the FMA Act. The criteria applied to establishing components of the CAF are:
- the purpose of the activity to be financed via the CAF involves the provision of goods and services;
- the organisation undertaking the activity has a management structure that is discreet within the agency and that the costs of that management structure are segregated from the costs of the other activities and programs of the agency;
- the activities are funded predominantly from revenue raised from users or purchasers and that there is a "profit-making" objective;
- the organisation is, or potentially will be, competing in a commercially contestable environment.
Cross Portfolio Budget Measure - This is a budget measure which affects outcomes administered in a number of portfolios.
Departmental Expenses - Funds over which the Department has significant control (for example, salaries money), which the Department uses to produce outputs.
Efficiency Dividend - An annual deduction of a percentage of running costs from an agency's budget, which acts as both an incentive to efficiency and a quantification of some of the efficiency gains made by an agency in the previous year.
Financial Management and Accountability (FMA) Act 1997 - The principal legislation governing the proper use and management of public money and public property and other Commonwealth resources. FMA regulations and FMA Orders are made pursuant to the Act.
Forward estimates - a system of rolling three year financial estimates. After the Budget is passed, the first year of the forward estimates becomes the base for next year's Budget bid, and another outyear is added to the forward estimates.
Liabilities - future sacrifices of economic benefits that an entity is presently obliged to make to other entities as a result of past transactions or other past events.
Outcomes - Outcomes are the results of events, actions or circumstances including in particular, the impact of the Commonwealth on the Australian community. Outcomes may be linked with both the outputs of agencies using the departmental expenses under their control, and with the administered expenses which agencies manage on behalf of the Commonwealth. Planned outcomes represent the changes desired by Government. The achievement of actual outcomes is assessed and reported in the Annual Report.
Output Groups - The aggregation based on homogeneity of product and/or resource usage of outputs.
Outputs - The goods or services produced by individual Commonwealth agencies for other persons, agencies or organisations including outsourced activities. Outputs are produced with departmental expenses.
Performance Indicators - A concise list of indicators, which are used to measure agency effectiveness in achieving the Government's outcomes. Indicators must be measurable, but may be qualitative or quantitative. Indicators in the Portfolio Budget Statement (PBS) are reported against the Annual Report for the same year. Outcomes are generally measured by performance indicators relating to effectiveness and equity, but may include efficiency and access indicators.
Performance Measures - A concise list of measures, which are used to provide information on administered items and outputs in terms of quality, quantity and price.
Portfolio Budget Statements - Statements prepared by portfolios to explain the Budget appropriations in terms of outcomes and outputs.
Price - The amount the Government or the community pays for the delivery of agreed outputs.
Quality - Relates to the characteristics by which customers or stakeholders judge a product or service. Assessment of quality involves the use of information gathered from a range of sources including customers and stakeholders.
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Quantity - A measure of how many, or how much, of a product or service is produced. Quantities specified in the Portfolio Budget Statements are usually estimates based on the best available evidence. Agencies report on actual quantities in their annual reports.
RMF/CAF Components - An account held under the RMF/CAF. They are used as working accounts for commercial activities or to hold moneys in trust for specific purpose under the legislation.
Staff Years - An aggregate measure of employment based on the hours worked by employees over the period of one year. It is the unit of measurement for staff resource use.
Appendix 4
Legislation Administered by the Portfolio
The following legislation is administered by the Minister for Health and Aged Care and the Minister for Aged Care.
Aged or Disabled Persons Care Act 1954
Aged Care Act 1997
Aged Care (Compensation Amendments) Act 1997
Aged Care (Consequential Provisions) Act 1997
Australia New Zealand Food Authority Act 1991: Establishes the Australia New Zealand Food Authority (formerly the National Food Authority); Section 69 requires the Authority to prepare an annual report.
Australian Hearing Services Act 1991
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Act 1987: Establishes the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation Act 1987, Part VIIA
Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety (Consequential Amendments Act) 1998
Commonwealth Serum Laboratories Act 1961: Establishes the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories Commission which has now been converted into a public company; the Minister retains some powers.
Delivered Meals Subsidy Act 1970
Environment Protection (Nuclear Codes) Act 1978
Epidemiological Studies (Confidentiality Act) 1981
Health and Other Services (Compensation) Act 1995
Health and Other Services (Compensation) Care Charges Act 1995
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Health Care (Appropriation) Act 1998
Health Insurance Act 1973: Parts of this Act are administered on behalf of the Department by the Health Insurance Commission.
Health Insurance Commission Act 1973: Establishes the Health Insurance Commission; Section 42 requires the Commission to prepare an annual report.
Health Insurance Commission (Reform and Separation of Functions) Act 1997
Health Insurance (Pathology) (Fees) Act 1991
Health Insurance (Pathology) (Licence Fee) Act 1991
Hearing Services Administration Act 1997
Hearing Services and AGHS Reform Act 1997
Home and Community Care Act 1985
Home Nursing Subsidy Act 1956
Medicare Agreements Act 1992
Narcotic Drugs Act 1967: Sections 9, 10, 11, 13, 19 and 23 and subsection 24(1) and so much of the remaining provisions of the Act (other than sections 12 and 22 and subsection 24(2))as relates to powers and functions under those sections.
National Health Act 1953: Parts I, VI to IX; Part VIAA establishes the Private Health Insurance Administration Council. Section 82PA, in Part VIAA, requires the Council to prepare an annual report.
National Health Act 1953: Parts V to VD
National Health and Medical Research Council Act 1992
Nursing Home Charge (Imposition) Act 1994
Nursing Homes Assistance Act 1974
Private Health Insurance Complaints Levy Act 1995
Private Health Insurance Incentives Act 1997
Private Health Insurance Incentives Act 1998
Quarantine Act 1908: in relation to human quarantine
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Quarantine (Validation of Fees) Act 1985: in relation to human quarantine
States Grants (Home Care) Act 1969
States Grants (Nurse Education Transfer Assistance) Act 1985
States Grants (Paramedical Services) Act 1969
Therapeutic Goods Act 1989
Therapeutic Goods (Charges) Act 1989
Tobacco Advertising Prohibition Act 1992
Tuberculosis Act 1948
World Health Organisation Act 1947
