| Recommendation: 27 | Embed high-quality research and analysis and a culture of innovation and experimentation to underpin evidence-based policy and delivery | Overall status: Underway |
| Thodey guidance | Status | Delivery on Thodey |
|---|---|---|
| Agencies to publish research plans and completed research by default. Report on research underway and capability in annual reports. | Underway | The Survey of Trust in Australian public services was expanded to include publishing agency-level data in an annual report and providing monthly datasets online. Further scoping is underway to explore a data sharing scheme for survey data with researchers, including establishing legal basis for sharing and secure data lab hosting arrangements. Broader application of this principle of publication and reporting is under consideration. |
| Secretaries and other relevant agency heads to work together to boost joint research and analysis capability and output: develop proposals, for Government consideration, to establish or strengthen research units (either in-house or outside departments) jointly undertake in-house and commission external research, and build digital tools to help share and jointly undertake research. | Continuing | Subject to the passage of legislation, changes to the Public Service Act 1999 are underway that include an amendment giving Secretaries’ Board the power to mandate a long-term insights report in relation to one or more matters of public policy. The APS Reform Office is establishing a process for regular, evidence-based and public-engagement driven Long-term Insights Briefings. The first Insights Briefing was released in October 2023 on ‘how might artificial intelligence affect the trustworthiness of public service delivery’. Long-term Insights Briefings aim to strengthen policy development and planning in the APS by bringing together, and helping the APS to deeply understand, the evidence, context, trends and implications of the issue over a long term horizon. |
| Secretaries Board to establish protocols to support timely research publication. | Closed | The APS continues to encourage, support and drive research and its publication as appropriate. The Secretaries Board does not consider formal protocols necessary to support ongoing publication of research. |
| Secretaries Board to trial a public service innovation incubator to drive innovative approaches to policy-making. | Closed | The APS continues to focus on innovation in policy-making which is central to and integrated into many initiatives and is supported through cross-APS networks, rather than a stand-alone initiative. |
| PM&C and APSC to formalise regular collaboration between the APS and academia on research in better public administration. | Underway | PM&C and the APSC continue to support opportunities to improve collaboration between the APS and academia, for instance the convening of a workshop in July 2023 to discuss barriers to cooperation. |