Report on Government Services 2025

Measures how easily the community can obtain a delivered service (output).

Measures how well services meet client needs including the extent of any underservicing or overservicing.

Data is considered comparable if, (subject to caveats) it can be used to inform an assessment of comparative performance. Typically, data is considered comparable when it is collected in the same way and in accordance with the same definitions. For comparable indicators or measures, significant differences in reported results allow an assessment of differences in performance, rather than being the result of anomalies in the data.

Data is considered complete if all required data is available for all jurisdictions that provide the service.

Refer to ‘real dollars’.

Measures how well inputs (such as employees, cars and computers) are converted into outcomes for individual clients or the community. Cost effectiveness is expressed as a ratio of inputs to outcomes.

Refer to ‘nominal dollars’.

Descriptive statistics included in the Report that relate, for example, to the size of the service system, funding arrangements, client mix and the environment within which government services are delivered. This data is provided to highlight and make more transparent the differences among jurisdictions.

Reflects how well the outputs of a service achieve the stated objectives of that service (also refer to program effectiveness).

Reflects how resources (inputs) are used to produce outputs and outcomes, expressed as a ratio of outputs to inputs (technical efficiency), or inputs to outcomes (cost effectiveness). (Also refer to ‘cost effectiveness’, ‘technical efficiency’ and 'unit costs'.)

Measures the difference between service access, outputs and outcomes for special needs groups compared to the general population. Equity of access relates to all Australians having adequate access to services, where the term adequate may mean different rates of access (depending on need) for different groups in the community.

The resources (including land, labour and capital) used by a service area in providing a service.

Refers to the date (month) when a data update was made to the Report on Government Services since the initial annual Report release (January/February). Details on which indicator(s) have updated data are specified on the relevant Report service area webpage.

Refers to financial data expressed ‘in the price of the day’ and which is not adjusted to remove the effects of inflation. Nominal dollars do not allow for inter-year comparisons because reported changes may reflect changes to financial levels (prices and/or expenditure) and adjustments to maintain purchasing power due to inflation.

The service delivered by a service area, for example, a completed episode of care is an output of a public hospital.

The impact of a service on the status of an individual or a group, and the success of a government service area in achieving its overarching or high-level objectives. A service provider can influence the outcome of a service but external factors can also affect outcomes. For example, a desirable outcome of school education is that students are well positioned to transition to further study or work. School education is an important factor in achieving these outcomes, but broader economic factors might also influence these outcomes.

Refers to the way in which a service is produced or delivered (that is, how inputs are transformed into outputs).

Reflects how well the outcomes of a service achieve the stated objectives of that service (also refer to effectiveness).

Reflects the extent to which a service is suited to its purpose and conforms to specifications.

Refers to financial data measured in prices from a constant base year to adjust for the effects of inflation. Real dollars allow the inter-year comparison of financial levels (prices and/or expenditure) by holding the purchasing power constant.

A measure of how well inputs (such as employees, cars and computers) are converted into service outputs (such as hospital separations, education classes or residential aged care places). Technical efficiency reflects the ratio of outputs to inputs. It is affected by the size of operations and by managerial practices. There is scope to improve technical efficiency if there is potential to increase the quantity of outputs produced from given quantities of inputs, or if there is potential to reduce the quantities of inputs used in producing a certain quantity of outputs.

Measures average cost, expressed as the level of inputs per unit of output. This is an indicator of efficiency.