Chapter 1 Our performance

The AIHW's activities are underpinned and guided by legislative and administrative requirements. These include the Portfolio Budget Statements 2011–12, the AIHW's strategic directions and work plan, and contractual obligations. The Portfolio Budget Statements and the strategic directions identify expected major deliverables and key performance indicators for 2011–12. Our performance in achieving these is the focus of this chapter.

This chapter also summarises our financial performance.

Performance summary

The AIHW improved the evidence base for the health, housing and community sectors during 2011–12 by providing:

• comparable health and welfare information and statistics for policy and research purposes
• new and renewed data
• better quality data
• better access to data and information
• improved communication of key messages.

Particular achievements are identified in the Highlights section  and the 'Our achievements' section on page xi. This chapter records the AIHW's achievements against its commitments under the Portfolio Budget Statements 2011–12 Budget related paper no. 1.10 – Health and Ageing Portfolio and against its corporate strategic directions. Many achievements are also elaborated in 'spotlights' throughout the report (see the list of spotlights on page 264).

The AIHW's achievements are in line with the Institute's functions as identified in the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Act 1987, the commitments it undertook in relation to the expenditure of funds provided as appropriation from the Australian Parliament and funding from clients, and its corporate mission and strategic directions as agreed by the AIHW Board.

In 2011–12, the AIHW:

• achieved all but 1 of its 12 deliverables under the Portfolio Budget Statements 2011–12, with the remaining deliverable partially achieved (see Portfolio Budget Statements)
• achieved all but 2 of its 7 key performance indicators under the Portfolio Budget Statements 2011–12, with the remaining 2 indicators partially achieved
• achieved or made significant progress on all its planned deliverables under its strategic directions (see Performance against our strategic directions)
• achieved most of its planned statistical and reporting deliverables and data development activities as outlined in the AIHW Work Plan 2011–12 (see Chapter 3 Our operating units for a detailed report of activities achieved for each operating unit).

Instances where deliverables and key performance targets under the Portfolio Budget Statements 2011–12 were not fully achieved are discussed in Exception reporting.

The AIHW's mission statement is 'authoritative information and statistics to promote better health and wellbeing'. Yet it is rarely in a position to be able to point out that its outputs, often in the form of published information and statistics, have resulted in improvements in the lives of Australians. It relies on the willingness of governments, government agencies and the public to use its information and statistics to inform public debate and to contribute to policies that promote better health and wellbeing. Confidence in the AIHW's work is reflected in the degree to which other organisations cooperate with it, use its services, and rely on its published information and statistics. This confidence is built on the Institute's achievements over its 25-year history. It was notably demonstrated during 2011–12 through:

• continued involvement of representatives of other organisations on national information and advisory committees
• new and renewed agreements with other organisations
• new funding contracts or schedules under memorandums of understanding for which the AIHW provides services.

The AIHW obtained a third of its funding during 2011–12 directly from the Australian Parliament as a budget appropriation and two-thirds from clients (mainly government agencies). The financial statements presented in Appendix 9 received an unqualified report from the Australian National Audit Office. The statements report an approved budgeted operating loss of $1.0 million. There was an additional one-off expense of just under $0.9 million resulting from the decrease in the government bond rate used to discount iscfuture staff leave liabilities (see Our financial performance).

Portfolio Budget Statements

The PBS provides the major accountability framework against which the AIHW's performance is measured. Annual direct funding for the AIHW from the Australian Parliament is appropriated on the basis of outcomes (see 'Glossary' on page 261).

The AIHW's outcome and program structure, as set out in the Portfolio Budget Statements 2011–12 Budget Related Paper No. 1.10 – Health and Ageing Portfolio, consists of one outcome and one program, each of which is consistent with the AIHW's mission and strategic directions.

Outcome

A robust evidence base for the health, housing and community sectors, including through developing and disseminating comparable health and welfare information and statistics

Program

Develop, collect, analyse and report high-quality national health and welfare information and statistics for governments and the community.

In the Portfolio Budget Statements 2011–12, the AIHW's outcome and program are underpinned by 12 deliverables and 7 key performance indicators used to monitor its performance. These are detailed in Table 2 and Table 3 respectively, along with the reference point (or target) to be achieved in 2011–12 and their status at 30 June 2012.

Further information provided elsewhere in this report about deliverables and indicators is cross-referenced in the tables.

Progress in relation to a number of additional longer term AIHW activities that were noted in the Portfolio Budget Statements 2011–12 is detailed in Table 4.

Table 2: Portfolio Budget Statement deliverables 2011–12 and their outputs

Assist the COAG policy reform agenda
Publish performance data(a) specifications, including new and improved specifications, provided for the COAG reporting process.	The AIHW is committed to improving the usefulness of data to inform policy directions, program development, planning, research and evaluation. The AIHW developed and documented new and improved data items for the COAG reporting process. Relevant national committees endorsed new and improved performance data specifications. The AIHW published performance data specifications provided for the 2010–11 COAG reporting process for the health and disability indicators on its Metadata Online Registry (METeOR). Those for Indigenous reform will be published in August 2012.	Achieved
Provide data for the COAG reporting process for performance indicators(b): 48 for health 6 for Indigenous reform 6 (now 5) for disability(d) 6 for housing and homelessness.	The AIHW met the COAG reporting timetables for the supply of data to the SCRGSP for the 2010–11 COAG reporting process. The data supplied covered performance indicators described in relevant national agreements: 48 for health 5 for Indigenous reform(c) 5 for disability 10 for housing and homelessness.	Achieved Achieved Achieved Achieved
Maintain and enhance the quality of Australia's health and welfare statistics
Publish new versions of national data dictionaries for health, community services and housing biennially, and produce online updates of each dictionary, if necessary, twice-yearly.	The AIHW makes all data standards endorsed by national information committees freely available through METeOR. Summary updates of all metadata endorsed for the national data dictionaries for these sectors were also published online if necessary, twice-yearly (see New versions of data dictionaries were published). Version 16 of the National health data dictionary is in progress and will be published in 2012–13. The National community services data dictionary version 7 was finalised for publication (to be released in August 2012). A new version of a national data dictionary for the housing sector is delayed based on decisions made by the relevant national information committee, the Housing and Homelessness Information Management Group.	Achieved
Endorse metadata for a new specialist homelessness services data collection and include it in a national housing data dictionary	The national housing information committee endorsed data standards for the Specialist Homelessness Services Data Collection (see 'Specialist Homelessness Services Data Collection'). The AIHW published the standards on METeOR. The preparation of a national housing data dictionary that includes these metadata has been delayed based on decisions made by the Housing and Homelessness Information Management Group to change the focus and ordering of a number of pieces of development work.	Partially achieved
Present Australia's welfare 2011 and Australia's health 2012 to the Minister by December 2011 and June 2012 respectively	Australia's welfare 2011 and Australia's health 2012 were presented to the Minister on 4 November 2011 and 18 May 2012 respectively, meeting the timing requirements for their provision under the AIHW Act (see 'Key reports presented to the Minister').	Achieved
Make 100% of national data standards for inclusion in the National health data dictionary and the National community services data dictionary available online within 30 days of committee endorsement	All new and updated national data standards endorsed for inclusion in the National health data dictionary and the National community services data dictionary were loaded to METeOR within 30 days of endorsement (see 'METeOR information standards repository').	Achieved
Hold metadata online on METeOR, as minimums: 25 national minimum data sets 28 other data set specifications 1,343 data elements 4,397 standard metadata items	Metadata were held online on METeOR (see 'Metadata were made available on METeOR') for: 18 national minimum data sets 35 other data set specifications 1,400 data elements 5,023 standard metadata items.	Achieved(e) Achieved Achieved Achieved
Enhance data access, while protecting privacy
Statistical information on the nation's health, housing and community services sectors, that is relevant to support policy research, is published in a timely manner	Publications were available on the internet free of charge (see 'Policy-relevant statistical publications were delivered') including one using the new Specialist Homelessness Services Data Collection. Data on elective surgery waiting times were delivered 4 months earlier than in previous years.	Achieved
Make information for a number of subject areas available on the AIHW website, as minimums: 18 interactive data sets 5 metadata collections	The AIHW made interactive data sets covering a range of subject areas available on its website (see 'Data sets were made publicly available'): 19 interactive data sets 5 metadata collections.	Achieved
Improve the communication of key messages
Publish and widely disseminate highlights from Australia's welfare 2011 as a short booklet in November 2011.	Australia's welfare 2011—in brief was published in November 2011 and distributed widely, including to schools (see Information 'in brief' formats were released). Similar short booklets were published: Australia's health 2012—in brief and Australia's hospitals 2010–11 at a glance.	Achieved
Publish user-friendly, accessible data snapshots in HTML format on the AIHW website(f).	Data snapshots were published in HTML format on the AIHW website for 9 topics (see User-friendly, accessible data snapshots were published online).	Achieved
Review the content and presentation of data in two major annual publications.	The AIHW reviewed the content and presentation of data in three major annual publications (see Major annual publications were reviewed): AIHW annual report 2010–11 Australia's health 2012 Mental health services in Australia (see the spotlight).	Achieved

1. Data include the data required for performance indicators, performance benchmarks, outputs, etc. as variously described in COAG national agreements and national partnership agreements.
2. Figures reflect the AIHW's responsibilities for supply of data. However, supply is dependent on collaborative arrangements with state, territory and Australian Government departments and agencies and the availability of data to the AIHW.
3. Perinatal data from the AIHW Perinatal Data Collection has been reported for one indicator in previous reporting cycles. However, these data are no longer required as the COAG Reform Council prefers to report using ABS perinatal data. These data were not requested by the SCRGSP for the third cycle of National Indigenous Reform Agreement reporting.
4. During 2010–11, but after the preparation of the Portfolio Budget Statements 2011–12, the role previously carried out by the AIHW in enabling the preparation of one indicator was transferred to the ABS. Thus, the data supplied to the SCRGSP for the COAG reporting process covered 5 (not 6) disability performance indicators.
5. Some national minimum data sets were temporarily changed into data set specifications for 2011–12 reporting as not all jurisdictions were able to report all the data items included in the national minimum data set. The number of data set specifications has increased correspondingly. 
6. A target figure of 9 product releases in HTML format was set out in the Portfolio Budget Statements 2012–13.

Table 3: Portfolio Budget Statement key performance indicators 2011–12 and their results

Assist the COAG policy reform agenda
Provide support to national information committees for health, housing, community services and Indigenous reform.	The AIHW provided support to national information committees for health, housing, community services and Indigenous reform (see 'National committees were supported'). The AIHW received positive feedback from committee members and others in their departments and agencies.	Achieved
Maintain and enhance the quality of Australia's health and welfare statistics
Provide free, high-quality information measured by the number of website downloads of key publications, as minimums: 17,900 for Australia's health 1,430 for Australia's welfare.	The AIHW publishes statistical information in the health, housing and community services sectors (see 'Policy-relevant statistical publications were delivered'). All AIHW publications are available free of charge via the internet at <www.aihw.gov.au>. Website downloads of the two publications required by the AIHW Act (see 'Users downloaded Australia's health and Australia's welfare') were: 19,444 for Australia's health 2,209 for Australia's welfare.	Achieved Achieved
Provide leadership that contributes to emerging national information-related policy, at the request of state and territory governments and the Australian Government, as seen by continuing participation by: departments and agencies of state and territory governments and the Australian Government in national information committees, AIHW-led consultative processes and business arrangements with the AIHW the AIHW in information activities initiated by national policy committees.	The AIHW undertook a leadership role in facilitating accurate, valuable and timely data collection and analysis, and improving access to its data, publications and expertise. Departments and agencies of state and territory governments and the Australian Government continued to participate in national information committees, AIHW-led consultative processes and business arrangements with the AIHW (see 'National committees were supported' and 'Relationship management'). The AIHW continued to participate in information activities initiated by national policy committees (see 'Information activities of national committees were supported').	Achieved Achieved
Enhance data access, while protecting privacy
Make data releases widely accessible within privacy and confidentiality constraints, such that: feedback regarding data access is positive data releases fully comply with all privacy and confidentiality requirements.	The AIHW releases data to the extent possible given privacy requirements. Data releases were widely accessible within privacy and confidentiality constraints (see 'Data were released to the extent possible within privacy and confidentiality constraints'). The AIHW received positive feedback from the public and data users regarding data access. Data releases fully complied with all privacy and confidentiality requirements. However, a technical problem in the start-up phase of the new Specialist Homelessness Services Collection related to client management software resulted in the potential for a privacy breach. This matter was advised to the Minister for Social Housing and Homelessness, the Privacy Commissioner and affected stakeholders (see the spotlight and Exception reporting).	Achieved Partially achieved
External research projects considered by the AIHW Ethics Committee will number 35, as minimum	The AIHW supports ethical human research by providing controlled access to data sets for specific research (see 'Researchers were provided with access to data'). The AIHW Ethics Committee considered 39 external research projects (see 'External research applications were approved').	Achieved
Improve the communication of key messages
Improve the readability of publications and the communication of their key messages, as measured by: positive feedback on readability positive media coverage	The AIHW aims to improve community understanding and use of health and welfare data and information. The readability of AIHW publications and the communication of their key messages was improved (see 'Key messages in report publications were improved'), as demonstrated by: short online surveys showing that 94% of respondents considered the AIHW's publications to be clearly written extensive positive media coverage.	Achieved Achieved
Provide free, high-quality information measured by, as minimums: 1.617 million website visits(a) 3,918 references to the agency and its products in the media 70 references to the agency and its products in the Australian Parliament	The AIHW provided free, high-quality information (see Chapter 5 Our communications), as demonstrated by: 1.67 million AIHW website visits(a) 4,174 references to the AIHW and its products in the media (see 'Free, high-quality information was provided') 68 references to the AIHW and its products in the Australian Parliament(see 'Free, high-quality information was provided').	Achieved Achieved Partially achieved

1. The figure for website visits excludes the MyHospitals, METeOR, Specialist Homelessness Services and Closing the Gap Clearinghouse websites. The 2011–12 target was revised upwards in the Portfolio Budget Statements 2012–13, based on more recent trends.

Exception reporting

Each of the PBS deliverables and indicator targets was achieved, with the following exceptions.

• The deliverable to include endorsed metadata for the new Specialist Homelessness Services Collection in a national housing data dictionary was not fully achieved. While the metadata were endorsed and are publicly available on METeOR, they have not been included in a national housing data dictionary. The dictionary preparation has been delayed following decisions of the Housing and Homelessness Information Management Group to change the focus and ordering of development work.
• The target of 70 mentions of the AIHW and its products in the Australian Parliament was not fully achieved. There were 68 mentions, excluding numerous mentions in submissions made to parliamentary committees.
• The intention to ensure AIHW data releases comply with all privacy and confidentiality requirements was not fully achieved. A technical problem in the start-up phase of the new Specialist Homelessness Services Collection related to client management software resulted in the potential for a privacy breach. This matter was robustly managed and advised to the Minister for Social Housing and Homelessness, the Privacy Commissioner and affected stakeholders (see the spotlight).

In last year's exception reporting, the endorsement as standards of a Prisoner Health Data Set Specification and an Indigenous Primary Health Care Data Set Specification were reported as being in progress. Both endorsement processes are now completed. Similarly, delays in the completion by external data developers of several data set specifications in the areas of cancer were noted. Six cancer-related data set specifications were endorsed as standards in December 2011 and 4 remain under development.

Table 4: Longer term activities noted in the Portfolio Budget Statements 2011–12 and their status

Maintain and enhance the quality of Australia's health and welfare statistics
Implement improved and faster data validation processes.	The AIHW is progressively improving the quality and timeliness of its data collections by supporting a richer array of data checks, reducing multiple handing of data and providing a better data audit trail. In 2011–12, the AIHW continued to enhance data validation processes for hospitals data, and extended data validation processes to the new Specialist Homelessness Services Collection (see the spotlight on page 94).	Achieved
Commence redevelopment of the Disability Services National Minimum Data Set.	The Disability Services National Minimum Data Set specifies requirements for collecting information on clients of specialist disability services and the services they receive. In 2011–12, the AIHW began redevelopment of this data set.	Achieved
Develop national key performance indicators and data specifications of Indigenous-specific primary health care services that build on existing collections.	Once collected, the national key performance indicators will improve the monitoring of outcomes relevant to 'Closing the Gap' targets. In 2011–12, the AIHW developed these national key performance indicators (see the 'spotlight' on page 13).	Achieved
Lead the development of statistical measures based on administrative child protection data sets for reporting against the new National Standards for Out-of-Home Care.	The new National Standards for Out-of-Home Care are a set of 13 standards, endorsed by community services ministers, that relate to the support of children and young people in out-of-home care. In 2011–12, the AIHW continued development of these standards.	Achieved
Support initiatives to make integrated (linked) data more available to researchers.	The AIHW received accreditation from the Commonwealth Data Integration Oversight Board to undertake high-risk, complex data integration projects involving data from Australian, state and territory agencies (see the 'spotlight' on page 25).	Achieved
Enhance data access, while protecting privacy
Implement the outcomes of the review of ethics procedure and data custodian arrangements.	The AIHW reviewed the procedures and associated guidelines for submissions to the AIHW Ethics Committee in 2010–11. The outcomes aimed to deliver best practice data release practices and privacy arrangements. In 2011–12, the AIHW implemented the outcomes of the review including by starting the development of an online monitoring system for applications for ethical review, including work flow and electronic application facilities for researchers (see the 'spotlight' on page 41).	Work in progress

Performance against our strategic directions

During 2011–12, the AIHW's activities were guided by 5 strategic directions agreed by the AIHW Board in June 2011 after consultation with key stakeholders and the AIHW's staff. These were published in the AIHW's Strategic directions 2011–2014 and are listed below. They provide the basis for establishing and assigning priorities to the AIHW's activities and procedures, to commit it to fulfil its mission.

Mission	Strategic directions
Authoritative information and statistics to promote better health and wellbeing	SD1	Further strengthen our policy relevance
	SD2	Improve the availability of information for the community and our stakeholders
	SD3	Improve information quality, protecting privacy
	SD4	Capitalise on the contemporary information environment
	SD5	Cultivate and value a skilled, engaged and versatile workforce

This section provides a summary of key examples of the AIHW's activities supporting the achievement of the first 4 SD. These activities include many of the deliverables and key performance indicators described above for the Portfolio Budget Statements 2011-12. In addition, Chapter 3 Our operating units details the achievements of each AIHW unit and collaborating unit against activities identified in the AIHW Work Plan 2011–12, which was endorsed by the AIHW Board in June 2011. Some specific achievements are highlighted in 'spotlights' throughout the report (see the 'spotlight' list on page 264).

Chapter 4 Our people provides details of the AIHW's strategies to recognise and develop the capabilities of its staff. This relates to SD5.

SD1 Further strengthen our policy relevance

AIHW's work informs and supports the development of policy and programs on Australia's health and welfare. The trend towards greater evidence-based decision making across government will result in policy makers requiring more comprehensive, timely and higher quality health and welfare information. Our collaborative approach with the Australian Government, state and territory governments and non-government organisations allows us to bring a comprehensive approach to our work, and to inform policy discussions through the timely provision of relevant, nationally consistent information.

Statistics can both drive and serve policy development. The AIHW plays a leading national role in the development and delivery of statistics in the fields of health and welfare. Stakeholders continue to value our authoritative reports and other statistical outputs, which help to track the progress of Australia's health and welfare systems.

Under SD1, we aim to develop ways of meeting the information needs described above and of ensuring the policy relevance of the statistics and information we collect and reports.

During 2011–12, the AIHW accorded a high priority to supporting the National Performance Reporting System—established under COAG—while maintaining a strong focus on the release of new and annual data and metadata designed to help policy makers and the broader research and general community.

The AIHW is bringing together nationally consistent data from the various jurisdictions, and playing a lead role in the development of performance indicators for 4 national agreements and 1 national partnership agreement:

• National Healthcare Agreement
• National Affordable Housing Agreement
• National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness
• National Disability Agreement
• National Indigenous Reform Agreement.

In this work, we provide data for performance indicator reporting to the SCRGSP for transmission to the COAG Reform Council. We have worked within the COAG arrangements and with the relevant ministerial councils in developing and specifying the technical detail of indicators and in undertaking data development work necessary to ensure that the COAG performance reporting regime is well supported. In addition, we prepare data quality statements based on the ABS's quality framework that describe the quality attributes of the data. These tasks involved working collaboratively with relevant agencies and the COAG Reform Council to fulfil the performance reporting requirements, to improve the quality and timeliness of indicator data, and to secure agreement on performance indicator specifications and their associated data sources and supply processes.

Objectives

• Provide relevant, timely and high-quality information useful for policy purposes and informed service delivery approaches
• Respond to the continuing COAG focus on improving performance reporting across health and welfare services
• Take a broad multidimensional view of the policy issues being studied, integrating data from many sources to provide a more complete picture
• Build our analytical capability to provide some added value to the reporting of statistics.

Planned 2011–12 deliverables and achievements
Contribute to the refinement of COAG performance frameworks and subsequent data provision for the respective national performance reporting arrangements.	Contributed to the review of performance indicators for national agreements and partnership agreements, in particular, in the areas of disability, hospitals, homelessness, housing, early childhood development, national Indigenous-specific primary health care, aged care, diabetes and chronic kidney disease. Provided data for the COAG reporting process for 48 health, 6 Indigenous reform, 5 disability and 10 housing and homelessness performance indicators (PBS deliverable). Provided performance data specifications, including new and improved specifications for the COAG reporting process (PBS deliverable).	Achieved
Deliver timely, high-quality data through a new data collection for specialist homelessness services.	Established the Specialist Homelessness Services Collection on 1 July 2011. A report on the data for the first quarter of 2011–12 was released in April 2012.	Achieved
Provide analysis of Indigenous health and welfare matters, including through the Closing the Gap Clearinghouse.	Developed and published, jointly with the ABS, National best practice guidelines for data linkage activities relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people: 2012, for release in July 2012. Provided analysis of Indigenous health and welfare through the production of reports under the Health Performance Framework, the Indigenous Observatory and the Closing the Gap Clearinghouse, and through modelling life expectancy work.	Achieved

Information activities of national committees were supported (PBS indicator)

In addition to the deliverables mentioned above, we worked in the following areas for national committees, thereby strengthening our policy relevance:

• provided data on male health issues that contributed to the development of Australia's first National Male Health Policy
• supported the National Mental Health Commission in the development of its inaugural National Report Card on Mental Health and Suicide Prevention
• confirmed as the National Aged Care Data Clearinghouse, as part of the Australian Government's Living Longer Living Better aged care reform package
• confirmed as the service provider for the 2013 National Drug Strategy Household Survey.

Policy-relevant statistical publications were delivered (PBS deliverable)

The AIHW's publications are listed in Appendix 7. They focus on answering policy-relevant questions wherever possible.

Details of data improvements were published in the COAG Reform Council's 2010–11 reports on the National Healthcare Agreement, National Affordable Housing Agreement, National Indigenous Reform Agreement and the National Disability Agreement.

The performance indicator specifications used for 2010–11 COAG reporting are available on the National Indicator Catalogue through the AIHW's METeOR website.

During the year we developed two significant reports on cancer and treated end-stage kidney disease that contained data projections to 2020. Projections help with health service planning and resource allocation.

Specialist Homelessness Services Collection

A report on the first quarter of 2011–12 data from the Specialist Homelessness Services Collection was released in April 2012. This was the culmination of several years of work, including the development during 2009–10 of national standard metadata in the Specialist Homelessness Services National Minimum Data Set 2011 (see also the spotlight). The PBS deliverable related to the development of a national housing data dictionary was not delivered in 2011–12 due to decisions of the Housing and Homelessness Information Management Group to change the focus and order of several development projects. It is planned to update the housing data dictionary later this year. When finalised, it will include the metadata already developed for the Specialist Homelessness Services Collection and other housing-related data collections, and supersede an earlier data dictionary for housing assistance.

A technical problem in the start-up phase of the new Specialist Homelessness Services Collection related to client management software resulted in the potential for a privacy breach. This matter was advised to the Minister for Social Housing and Homelessness, the Privacy Commissioner and relevant stakeholders (see the spotlight).

National committees were supported (PBS indicator)

The AIHW participated actively in a range of national information committees as outlined in Appendix 5, and chaired and/or provided secretariat support to 8 of these:

• National Health Information Standards and Statistics Committee
• Population Health Information Development Group
• National Disability Information Management Group
• National Community Services Information Management Committee
• Housing and Homelessness Information Management Group
• National Indigenous Reform Agreement Performance Information Management Group
• National Advisory Group on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Information and Data
• MyHospitals Development Steering Committee.

The membership of these committees is drawn from state and territory and Australian Government departments and agencies, and from the non-government sector. We provided extensive support for the committees' work programs, including support for their roles in endorsing national data standards. We received positive feedback from national information committee members and other departmental officers involved in this work.

Our participation in national information committees provides many opportunities for extensive consultation with stakeholders and helps with many of our achievements, detailed elsewhere in this chapter.

Cause of death data

In June 2012, the AIHW received information on the cause of deaths of Australians for the period 2006–10, after a significant delay. This delay in availability of cause of death data has impeded our ability to provide contemporary estimates of the effects of disease and injury on mortality, and has been frustrating for many researchers. We are working to establish more permanent data supply arrangements with the Registrars of Births, Deaths and Marriages.

Reports on the burden of disease and injury in Australia are produced by the AIHW when resources are available. They rely heavily on cause of death data. A report was last released in 2007 for the year 2003.

SD2 Improve the availability of information for the community and our stakeholders

We pride ourselves on providing sound and thorough statistics and high-quality, authoritative reports to meet the diverse needs of policy makers, commentators, academics and researchers, and the wider public. Our work is published in a variety of formats to meet these diverse needs, including, increasingly, innovative online communication tools. The contemporary focus on citizen-centred government, for example through the Government 2.0 reforms, promotes greater public accessibility to government data and information.

Objectives

• Meet priority data gaps in community-based services and primary health care
• Further build upon the MyHospitals website platform and use innovative online communications methods to deliver health and welfare information to the community
• Continue to ensure information is conveyed in formats that meet the diverse requirements of different audiences
• Help the media to understand and report AIHW information in an accurate and timely manner

Planned 2011–12 deliverables and achievements
Meet legislative requirements to produce a health report and a welfare report.	Published and launched Australia's welfare 2011 and Australia's health 2012 (see the 'spotlight' on page 7) and their Australia's welfare 2011—in brief and Australia's health 2012—in brief companion publications, in print and online formats, thus providing comprehensive information as reference works and in 'digestible' formats for the community.	Achieved
Enhance data dissemination through dashboards, observatories, data portals and other web products.	Produced online snapshots for 9 topics to help those who want to access key findings quickly and easily. Updated the Indigenous Observatory. Developed data products for: body weight data sources alcohol data sources tobacco data sources Specialist Homelessness Services Collection. Produced web pages for: mental health services (see the spotlight) diabetes indicators. Produced other web-based products to supplement these major publications: AIHW annual report 2010–11 Australian hospital statistics 2010–11 Australia's welfare 2011 Australia's health 2012.	Achieved
Develop and enhance the MyHospitals website, as agreed by Health Ministers	Published new data on the website about hand hygiene, cancer services, elective cancer surgery waiting times and Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia, an infection associated with hospital care (see the 'spotlight' on page 20).	Achieved
Implement Creative Commons licensing	Applied Creative Commons licensing to all AIHW publications so that users citing AIHW publications can now do so more freely (see the 'spotlight' on page 146).	Achieved

During 2011–12, we undertook the following activities to improve the availability of information for the community and our stakeholders:

• held public seminars with authors of Closing the Gap Clearinghouse products, policy makers and the public to promote clearinghouse research and products
• provided policy-relevant analyses and technical expertise in support of the National Disability Agreement and the broader National Disability Strategy 2012–2020, focusing on the National Disability Agreement indicators framework, employment support services for persons with disabilities, and their use of health services
• expanded the National Prisoner Health Census to include people being discharged, allowing the exploration of a broader range of health issues in the prison population
• released the first report on Cancer in adolescents and young adults in Australia, which provides an evidence base to underpin improvements in cancer outcomes for 15–29 year olds.

Key reports presented to the Minister (PBS deliverable)

The AIHW has an obligation under the AIHW Act to publish Australia's welfare, Australia's health and an annual report, and provide them to the Minister within the legislated timeframes. Australia's welfare 2011 and Australia's health 2012 were presented to the Minister on 4 November 2011 and 18 May 2012 respectively, meeting the statutory timing requirements. Both publications are highly regarded as key national reference works in the health and welfare fields (see Table 22 on page 152 and the 'spotlight' on page 7).

The AIHW's Annual report 2010–11 was presented to the Minister for Health and Ageing on 14 October 2011, meeting the timing requirements for the provision of the annual report under the CAC Act. It was tabled in the Australian Parliament on 3 November 2011.

Users downloaded Australia's health and Australia's welfare (PBS indicator) 

This indicator measures the AIHW's progress towards meeting its objective of providing free high-quality information for Australians on health and welfare matters.

During 2011–12, from the AIHW's website, there were:

• 19,444 downloads of Australia's health, which included the 2010 report and the 2012 report published on 21 June 2012
• 2,209 downloads of Australia's welfare, which included the 2009 report and the 2011 report published on 24 November 2011.

Free, high-quality information was provided (PBS indicator)

The AIHW provides high-quality information through the contemporary information environment and informs public debate through the use of our information and analyses, to the greatest extent possible consistent with the need to protect the privacy of individuals and service agencies.

Our website continued to be our main medium of communication. It provided published reports and enabled downloading of data. During the year we published 141 reports on the nation's health, housing and community services sectors, all of which are available free on the website <www.aihw.gov.au> (see Appendix 7). This is a small increase on 2010–11 (see Figure 3 on page xvii).

All publications were made available in PDF and an additional RTF or HTML format, which facilitates access by those with impaired vision. Printed copies of many publications can be purchased. A range of online, often interactive, data sets and education resources are available to complement the AIHW's statistical reporting (see Chapter 5 Our communications).

• A total of 1.67 million visits was made to the AIHW website in 2011–12, an increase of 20% on 2010–11 (see Figure 8 on page 149).
• There were 4,781 media references to the AIHW in 2011–12, an increase of 15% on 2010–11 (see 'Overall media coverage' on page 152).
• There were 68 references to the AIHW in the parliamentary debates of the Senate and the House of Representatives in 2011–12. The AIHW is also regularly referenced in the proceedings of state and territory parliaments.

Getting the messages out

The AIHW has a strong reputation for delivering quality information and statistical products to a range of audiences including the general public, government, the media, commentators and researchers. We also aim to make our information easily available and in a variety of formats that suit various and diverse needs (see Chapter 5 Our communications). We place particular emphasis on explaining the concepts that underpin our analyses and interpretations of the data.

Information 'in brief' formats were released (PBS deliverable)

The AIHW released several publications in 2011–12 that provide information in formats which supplement traditional reports, for example, 'in brief' companion booklets for several of the major publications, such as:

• Australia's hospitals 2010–11 at a glance 
• Mental health services—in brief 2011 
• Australia's welfare 2011—in brief 
• Australia's health 2012—in brief.

User-friendly, accessible data snapshots were published online (PBS deliverable) 

During the year, we published 9 online snapshots in HTML format, optimised for accessibility and use with screen readers and with clear, well-written messages.

Major annual publications were reviewed (PBS deliverable) 

We reviewed the content and presentation of data in 3 publications:

• AIHW's Annual report 2010–11, which received a bronze award in the CAC Act online reports category from the Institute of Public Administration (ACT Division)
• Australia's health 2012, which was launched on 21 June 2012
• Mental health services in Australia, an online report that is updated regularly with data on particular aspects of mental health services.

Key messages in report publications were improved (PBS indicator) 

We aim to improve the readability and communication of key messages in our publications.

• 94% of respondents to online reader surveys considered the AIHW's publications 'clearly written' (see 'Feedback on the effectiveness of products' on page 148).
• The level of media coverage—all positive—of AIHW's reports rose by 15% in 2011–12 compared with 2010–11 (see 'Media relations' on page 152).

SD3 Improve information quality, protecting privacy

A key AIHW objective is making quality information widely available and accessible while protecting confidentiality and privacy. We have a strong reputation for delivering statistical products in a manner that both protects privacy and supports analysis and research. This is underpinned by a strong information governance model and a robust process to support ethics in health and welfare research. To ensure that the information we produce is used in the best way possible, we aim to provide clear explanations of the concepts that underpin data analyses and interpretations.

Proper enforcement of privacy enhances data access by instilling confidence in the provider and subjects of the information collected. We have in place a powerful and unique combination of privacy measures, ranging from the specific protections provided by the AIHW Act and the Privacy Act 1988 to a variety of strict protocols and systems used to process data.

SD3 aims to enhance data access to support research, policy and program development in the public interest while ensuring the protection of the personal information of every Australian. The contemporary focus on citizen-centred government, for example through the Government 2.0 reforms, emphasises greater public access to government data and information.

Objectives

• Play a leadership role in data integration work in health, housing and community services
• Work closely with our stakeholders to identify areas where national consistency of data needs to be improved
• Continue to promote national consistency of data, and improve the quality and timeliness of information through the collection, analysis and reporting stages, working closely with data suppliers and data users, and reporting of data quality
• Promote national standards in information provision and reporting, through the AIHW's METeOR information standards repository
• Ensure that we comply with relevant privacy legislation and frameworks while continuing to make data as accessible as possible

Planned 2011–12 deliverables and achievements
Become accredited as a data integration authority to undertake data linkage work in health, housing and community services.	Achieved accreditation as an integrating authority for the integration of Commonwealth data to allow the newly established Data Integration Services Centre at the AIHW to undertake data linkage work for researchers to support a wide variety of complex analyses in an enhanced data storage and security environment. Interim accreditation was granted in December 2011. All requirements were completed by May 2012 and final accreditation was granted in June 2012 (see the 'spotlight' on page 25). Expanded internal data linkage capability and forged links with the Population Health Research Network.	Achieved
Expand the METeOR information standards repository that is increasingly used by external stakeholders.	Upgraded METeOR to enable its use as a metadata store and register. Provided METeOR training to staff of external agencies (both government and non-government). Engaged with relevant stakeholders to update several hospital-related national minimum data sets to meet contemporary health reform needs. Developed a national minimum data set for non-government mental health establishments. Developed a national minimum data set for the Australian Cancer Database. Developed a data set specification for radiotherapy waiting times. Began redevelopment of the Disability Services National Minimum Data Set to enhance data collections on disability services and possibly to contribute to National Disability Insurance Scheme information requirements, and a standard disability identifier for use in national administrative data collections. Developed a statistical linkage key for use in the Alcohol and Other Drugs Treatment Services National Minimum Data Set.	Achieved
Improve data timeliness and quality by extending use of the Validata™ application from hospitals and homelessness data collections to other data collections.	Completed work required to implement the Validata™ tool and a statistical linkage key for the Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Services National Minimum Data Set collection in 2012–13. Identified new collections for application of Validata™ (see the 'spotlight' on page 94).	Work in progress
Implement streamlined and transparent ethics application and monitoring processes.	Began the development of an ethics online system, including workflow and electronic application facilities for researchers.	Work in progress

2011–12 also saw the culmination of work by the AIHW that improves information quality while protecting privacy.

• Provided data quality statements for data reported by AIHW, including data supplied for the COAG national agreements performance indicators (PBS deliverable) and for the SCRGSP's Report on government services.
• Agreed, with jurisdictions, on a new national minimum data set for child protection to be implemented from 1 July 2013, which will support the National Framework for Protecting Australia's Children and the National Standards for Out-of-Home Care.

METeOR information standards repository

The AIHW plays a central role in developing metadata and national data standards related to health and welfare information. We work collaboratively with the registering authorities and national information committees to achieve national endorsement of these standards.

This work provides important infrastructure for the AIHW's health, housing and community services data collections.

The AIHW's information standards repository, METeOR, is used for the development, registration and dissemination of metadata for national data standards (see the 'spotlight' on page 104).

To support the increased demand for performance indicators under the COAG intergovernmental agreements, a module in METeOR now stores information about the concepts, sources and computation methods that underpin the indicators.

During 2011–12 all new and updated national data standards endorsed for inclusion in the National health data dictionary and the National community services data dictionary were loaded to METeOR within 30 days of endorsement by relevant registering authorities (PBS deliverable).

New versions of data dictionaries were published (PBS deliverable)

The AIHW aims to publish new versions of the national data dictionaries detailing new and revised data standards for health, community services and housing sectors every 2 years, with twice-yearly production and online release, if necessary, of update compilations of national data standards.

During the year, the AIHW:

• published 2 updates of the National health data dictionary version 15
  • summary of updates since Version 15.1: April 2011 – September 2011
  • summary of updates since Version 15.2: October 2011 – April 2012
• published an update of the National community services data dictionary version 6
  • summary of updates since Version 6.1: April 2011 – March 2012
• finalised for publication (to be released in August 2012) the National community services data dictionary version 7, including a summary of updates made since Version 6 (from July 2010 to June 2012).

Preparation of version 16 of the National health data dictionary is in progress and will be published in 2012–13.

Only one update compilation of the National community services data dictionary version 6 was necessary in 2011–12.

Preparation of a data dictionary intended to supersede the National housing assistance data dictionary version 3 (released in 2006) was delayed due to decisions of the Housing and Homelessness Information Management Group to change the focus and order of several development projects. No metadata were endorsed by the group in 2011–12.

Metadata were made available on METeOR (PBS deliverable)

Metadata were held online in METeOR at 30 June 2012 for 5,023 standard metadata items, of which:

• 18 are national minimum data sets
• 35 are other data set specifications
• 1,400 are data elements
• 5 are indicator sets
• 171 are indicators
• 84 are quality statements.

During 2011–12, 442 standard metadata items have changed in METeOR. These include:

• revision to 15 national minimum data sets, and the creation of 1
• revision to 3 data set specifications, and the creation of 10
• revision to 131 data elements, and the creation of 198
• revision to 136 indicators, and the creation of 1.

Data sets were made publicly available (PBS deliverable)

Users can query some AIHW data collections online and obtain tabulated results. These data holdings are user-friendly and continually updated.

On our website there are national-level interactive data sets, available as data cubes or spreadsheets covering 19 subject areas and metadata collections covering 5 subject areas relevant to health, housing and community services. These include:

• alcohol and other drugs
• body weight data sources
• children's headline indicators
• chronic disease indicators
• disability
• general practice
• expenditure
• hospitals for
  • principal diagnosis
  • diagnosis related group
  • procedures
  • elective surgery waiting times
  • public hospital establishments
• Fixing Houses for Better Health
• mental health
• risk factor prevalence
• workforce.

Also available are interactive Excel workbooks containing comprehensive long-term deaths data, for a broad range of causes of death by age and sex on an annual basis. These workbooks include the General Record of Incidence of Mortality (GRIM) books, Burden of Disease books and Australian Cancer Incidence and Mortality (ACIM) books.

Metadata collections are available through METeOR data dictionaries for health, and community services and housing, and as the national indicator catalogue. A catalogue of holdings of AIHW data is available on the AIHW's website.

In addition, supplementary data linked to reports are available on the website in the form of Excel spreadsheets.

Data were released to the extent possible within privacy and confidentiality constraints (PBS indicator) 

Developmental work continued during 2011–12 on methodologies for the delivery of statistical products (such as tables, data cubes and confidentialised unit record files) in a manner that both protects privacy and supports analysis and research. A trial of changed procedures for data confidentialisation is under way.

The AIHW also further developed its capacity to fill information gaps through the continued enhancement of data linkage and analytical methodologies and its accreditation as an integrating authority for the integration of Commonwealth data. This will allow a newly-established Data Integration Services Centre at the AIHW to undertake data linkage work for researchers to support a wide variety of complex analyses in an enhanced data storage and security environment (see the 'spotlight' on page 25).

A technical problem in the start-up phase of the new Specialist Homelessness Services Collection related to client management software resulted in the potential for a privacy breach. This matter was robustly managed and advised to the Minister for Social Housing and Homelessness, the Privacy Commissioner and relevant stakeholders (see the spotlight).

Researchers were provided with access to data

The AIHW aims to enable researchers to have good and timely access to health and welfare information and statistics, and to support legislative requirements related to ethical clearances.

The AIHW has legislative obligations to support ethical research by bona fide researchers through controlled access to its data sets while, at the same time, protecting Australians' privacy. This obligation aligns with the Australian Government's commitment to improve the use of data to inform policy directions, research and evaluation of programs.

A review of the AIHW Ethics Committee arrangements was undertaken during 2010–11 and the 'spotlight' on page 41 provides information on implementation of the review's recommendations during 2011–12. One of the objectives of the review was to enhance access to AIHW data by researchers, within the AIHW's privacy framework.

In providing access to its data, the AIHW ensures that custodial and ethics approval processes conform to national human research ethics requirements, national privacy legislation, the AIHW Act, policy directions for national health and welfare information, and any new custodial arrangements arising from national information agreements.

External research applications were approved (PBS indicator) 

The AIHW Ethics Committee approves applications, largely from researchers associated with universities, medical research institutes and hospitals around the country, to undertake research using AIHW-held data. During the year, the AIHW Ethics Committee considered 74 applications, 52 of which were external applications (see Table 9 on page 42).

SD4 Capitalise on the contemporary information environment

The contemporary information environment is dynamic and provides us with both challenges and opportunities. Our success as a leading data collection and reporting agency will be determined by our flexibility, responsiveness and ability to seize opportunities and minimise risk arising from this rapidly changing environment. In particular, we focus on information technology infrastructure to support high-quality and timely data collection, analysis and reporting.

We also focus on the innovative use of online communication tools to publish our work in a variety of formats to meet users' requirements (see 'SD2 Improve the availability of information for the community and our stakeholders' on page 19).

Objectives

• Develop ICT infrastructure that enables innovation in the collection, analysis and reporting of health and welfare data
• Develop and refine end-to-end data management, with streamlined and efficient processes
• Strive for continuous improvement and efficiency through automation of business processes, consistency of business practices and adoption of appropriate technologies
• Work closely with partners engaged in the development of the e-health infrastructure, to ensure optimal usage of e-health records for health information and statistical purposes

Planned 2011–12 deliverables and achievements
Delivery of annual elective surgery waiting times data was much earlier than in previous years, enabled by the Institute's ValidataTM application	To meet client expectations for timely delivery of data, delivered the annual elective surgery and emergency department waiting times data 5 months earlier than in previous years.	Achieved
Gain appropriate information technology infrastructure and resources to support innovative data collection, analysis and dissemination.	Evaluated data centre options for possible implementation to support and enhance data storage and security, and mitigate business risk. Trialled iPads and implemented Blackberry services for staff. Improved telephone signalling.	Ongoing
Apply project governance techniques to projects that are complex, higher risk and often information technology resource-intensive.	Engaged consultants to help in the development of a range of tools to enhance business process and project management and to streamline production processes. Trialled new IT applications to support and enhance business processes, for example, single-source publishing.	Ongoing
Include a skills transfer component in projects that engage external information technology resources.	Ensured that skills were transferred through close working relationships between the MyHospitals development team and contractors.	Ongoing

ICT infrastructure was developed

The AIHW aims to adopt appropriate technologies that automate business processes and promote consistency of business practices in a streamlined and efficient manner. In 2011–12, a new ICT and Business Transformation Program Group has achieved improvements in productivity and timeliness in some pilot projects. A business process management project has identified further opportunities for improvements in quality, productivity and timeliness; work will continue during 2012–13.

Development of a single-source publishing capability, which will enable a wide variety of publication output formats to be produced from a single set of information, is underway. This will ensure that information can be developed once and then published in multiple formats to meet the diverse requirements of different audiences.

A project management framework and supporting infrastructure was developed in 2011–12 for implementation in 2012–13. This is designed to improve project management and associated skills across the AIHW.

During 2011–12, first-cut versions of key components of a streamlined production system were developed and production tested. The testing indicated that the time taken to produce statistical products can be reduced.

A workflow system was developed to support applications made to the AIHW Ethics Committee for ethical clearance to access AIHW data. The system will be implemented in 2012–13 (see the 'spotlight' on page 41).

The AIHW's data validation application, Validata™, has improved the quality and timeliness of statistical outputs from the hospitals and Specialist Homelessness Services data collections. Its use is now being extended to a number of other AIHW data collections (see the 'spotlight' on page 94).

Our financial performance

How we are funded

In 2011–12, the AIHW received 33% of its funding as an appropriation from the Australian Parliament. This fell from 40% in 2010–11. Most of the remaining revenue is for the delivery of specific projects for Australian and, to a lesser extent, state and territory government departments and agencies.

A summary of the financial performance of the AIHW follows. Further details are provided in Appendix 9 on page 222.

Income and expenditure

The AIHW's appropriation income from the Australian Parliament was $17.4 million in 2011–12, a decrease of 19% or $4.0 million over 2010–11 (Table 5 and Figure 4). This decrease was due to the COAG data development funding coming to an end, as planned in the 2009 Federal Budget.

Income from externally funded projects totalled $33.7 million in 2011–12, an increase of 7% on the previous year. Most of this income came from Australian Government departments, notably DoHA and FaHCSIA.

Interest income was marginally lower in 2011–12 than in 2010–11. In 2011–12, the AIHW's cash balances were slightly higher compared with the previous year but the return was reduced by lower rates of interest on term deposits.

Employee-related expenditure was higher in 2011–12 ($36.0 million) than in 2010–11 ($35.1 million, Table 5). This was due to increased salaries and an increase in the value of leave liabilities caused by the fall in the 10-year government bond rate used to discount future leave liabilities. The increase was offset by a slight fall in staff numbers.

The overall result was a deficit of $1.8 million.

Table 5: Income and expenditure, 2007–08 to 2011–12 ($'000)

	2007–08	2008–09	2009–10	2010–11	Change: 2010–11 to 2011–12	2011–12
Appropriation revenue	8,678	9,325	20,708	21,408		17,389
Revenue for project work for external agencies	20,227	22,278	24,944	31,398		33,690
Interest	539	741	754	1,146		1,138
Other revenue	156	3	39	0		20
Total revenue	29,600	32,347	46,445	53,952		52,237
Employee-related expenditure	18,437	21,860	28,375	35,124		36,028
Other expenditure	11,927	10,348	15,893	18,694		18,058
Total expenditure	30,364	32,208	44,268	53,818		54,086
Surplus (or deficit)	(764)	139	2,177	134		(1,849)

Figure 4: Revenue sources, 2004–05 to 2011–12

Balance sheet

Financial assets totalled $29.2 million in 2011–12, an increase of $2.1 million on the previous year (Table 6). This was mainly due to an increase in accounts receivable for project work completed for external agencies (see Note 5B of the financial statements at Appendix 9) that could not be invoiced earlier as agreed project milestones had not been reached.

All excess cash has been invested in term deposits in accordance with the AIHW's investment policy.

Liabilities in 2011–12 ($27.6 million) were higher than 2010–11 ($24.6 million) due to higher leave provisions and end-of-year creditors.

Total equity decreased from $6.1 million to $4.3 million. This was due to the deficit for the year.

Table 6: Balance sheet summary, 2007–08 to 2011–12 ($'000)

	2007–08	2008–09	2009–10	2010–11	Change: 2010–11 to 2011–12	2011–12
Financial assets	13,319	18,011	28,156	27,113		29,240
Non-financial assets	3,208	2,720	3,745	3,563		2,608
Total assets	16,527	20,731	31,901	30,676		31,848
Provisions	4,929	5,590	7,895	9,199		10,262
Payables	10,184	13,558	18,021	15,358		17,316
Total liabilities	15,113	19,178	25,916	24,557		27,578
Equity	1,414	1,553	5,985	6,119		4,270

Cash flow

Net cash received from operating activities was $1.1 million in 2011–12. Both cash inflows and outflows were lower than in 2010–11, mostly due to a reduction in the appropriation and related expenditure. The AIHW spent
$0.5 million on the purchase of property, plant and equipment, and leasehold improvements, compared to $0.8 million in 2010–11. The net cash increase in the year was $0.6 million, increasing the cash balance from $18.2 million to $18.8 million (see the cash flow statement in Appendix 9 on page 222).

Financial outlook

Income from externally funded projects is expected to be about the same in 2012–13 as in 2011–12 (see Figure 1 on page xiv). Appropriation income from the Australian Parliament will decrease by $1.4 million in 2012–13 due to the once-off efficiency dividend and a planned reduction in funding for data development for COAG reporting. Appropriation income is expected to remain relatively stable in subsequent years.

The AIHW's total expenditure in 2012–13 is expected to be less than for 2011–12.

The value of land and buildings is expected to decrease in 2012–13 due to the depreciation of fit-out costs over the term of the remaining lease. No other significant changes in the balance sheet items are expected.

Auditor-General's report

The Australian National Audit Office conducts an annual audit of the AIHW's financial statements. The auditors issued an unqualified audit opinion on the financial statements for 2011–12.

Compliance with legislation

Information on the AIHW's compliance with the following specific matters (see the Compliance index on page 265) required by legislation can be found in Appendix 8 on page 218:

• Freedom of Information Act 1982  
  • freedom of information
• Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 
  • advertising and market research
• Commonwealth Authorities (Annual Reporting) Orders 2011 
  • ministerial directions issued
  • general policies of the Australian Government
  • General Policy Orders
  • related entity transactions
  • significant events
  • key changes to affairs or activities
  • amendments to enabling or other legislation
  • judicial decisions and decisions of administrative tribunals
  • reports by third parties
  • obtainable information from subsidiaries
  • disclosure requirements for government business enterprises
  • exemptions from requirements.