Corporate Plan 2006-2009

full colour pdf [ pdf  kb]

Contents

Chairman’s Foreword
Who We Are
Our Vision
Our Mission
Our Values
Our Key Strategic Directions
Our Key Result Areas
Our Goals and Performance Measures
Our Regulatory Measures
Our Stakeholders
Our People and Our Organisational Capability
Our Accountability
FSANZ Planning and Capability Model 

Message from the Chairman of Food Standards Australia New Zealand

Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) is committed to protecting and informing consumers through the development of effective food standards. Our regulatory measures also help to support growth and innovation in the food industry. We set food standards for Australia and New Zealand.

We are an essential element of a strong food regulatory partnership between governments at all levels in Australia and New Zealand. Food standards developed by FSANZ are consistent with food regulatory policies and guidelines handed down by a Ministerial Council. Other regulatory bodies, in Australia’s states and territories and in New Zealand , enforce the standards and work with industry to achieve compliance.

To develop effective food standards, we maintain consultative arrangements with the food industry and consumers in the two countries. We also seek input to our decision making from public health professionals and centres of scientific excellence at home and overseas. More recently, we have sought to expand our capabilities in the social sciences, especially in consumer research.

Since 2002, FSANZ has had responsibility for developing food standards across the entire food supply chain, including the primary sector. This work has involved establishing new networks to assist us, drawn from primary producers and processors in Australia and from the agricultural portfolios of national and state governments. We therefore adopt a whole-ofgovernment approach to our work, along with our whole-of-chain responsibilities.

With such a broad remit, it is vital that our planning processes are able to identify priorities and to show where our fi nite resources are best allocated. We need to be accountable for the expenditure of those resources. We must also have mechanisms in place to manage the skills requirements of our workforce, not just for tomorrow, but in the decades ahead.

This Corporate Plan highlights the four key result areas in which we will demonstrate our progress in the next three years. The Corporate Plan describes the strategies we intend to use and the indicators by which to measure our performance.

The Hon Rob Knowles
Chairman
Food Standards Australia New Zealand

Who We Are

We are an independent statutory agency established by theFood Standards AustraliaNew ZealandAct 1991. This was enacted following agreement between the governments of Australia and the states and territories (through the Intergovernmental Food Regulation Agreement 2000) and the governments of Australia and New Zealand (under a Treaty), for a single bi-national food standards setting agency.

Our Vision

A safe and diverse food supply for Australia and New Zealand.

Our Mission

To develop effective food standards in collaboration with Australian and New Zealand governments.

We will do this by:

• developing, varying and reviewing food standards and codes of practice;
• publishing the Food Standards Code and interpretive guidelines and providing advice on the Code;
• promoting consistency between standards in Australia and New Zealand and those used internationally;
• facilitating harmonisation of state and territory laws relating to food and assist jurisdictions with the consistent implementation of food standards;
• coordinating monitoring, surveillance and enforcement in relation to food in Australia;
• conducting research and surveys relevant to food standards;
• developing food education initiatives and publishing information to assist the public;
• coordinating the recall of foods in Australia;
• undertaking risk assessments of imported food;
• providing technical advice on food to Ministers;
• participating in international, regional and bilateral negotiations on standards; and
• providing leadership in the area of food regulation.

Our Values

In our work, we will provide a safe, caring, respectful, rewarding and diverse workenvironment and we will also:

• strive for excellence in whatever we do;
• demonstrate commitment and responsive service to all;
• collaborate effectively to achieve results;
• demonstrate innovation and creativity;
• show leadership of the highest standard; and
• uphold the FSANZ values which complement the APS Values of the Australian Public Service.

In ourselves, we value:

• integrity;
• empathy;
• diversity;
• commitment;
• professionalism;
• skills, expertise; and
• mutual respect.

Our Key Strategic Directions

Our current Key Strategic Directions are to:

• develop and maintain effective food standards;
• enhance the evidence base for standards setting;
• improve the effi ciency of our organisational processes;
• strengthen engagement with consumers and other stakeholders; and
• collaborate more effectively with our regulatory partners to produce a seamless food regulatory system.

Our performance against these strategic directions is published in our organisation’s Annual Report.

Our Key Result Areas 

We will achieve all of our statutory and other obligations and address the needs of our stakeholders through focusing in particular on four key result areas which are:

• Our Regulatory Measures
• Our Stakeholders
• Our People and Our Organisational Capability
• Our Accountability.

Our continued positive performance is of interest to many stakeholder groups — the Ministerial Council, our government partners, the food industry, consumers, scientific colleagues, and those who enforce food standards.

Our Goals and Performance Measures

In order to drive our activities we have developed a series of goals and performance measures for each of our four key result areas.

These activities also refl ect the integration of our key strategic directions into our planning and capability model.

Key Result Area 1: Our Regulatory Measures

Our goals are to:

• continue to work with our government partners to develop food standards through the bi-national food regulatory arrangements;
• anticipate and work proactively to address new food regulatory challenges; and
• use best regulatory practice in the delivery of food regulatory outcomes.

We will do this by:

• working with others to strengthen and enhance the evidence base for food standards
• decision-making;
• improving our practices for managing uncertainty;
• fostering national and international networks;
• engaging all primary producers in our risk-based approach to food safety;
• increasing our capacity to respond to food emergencies in a timely manner;
• making a strong technical contribution to food policy;
• infl uencing the development of consistent enforcement, monitoring and surveillance strategies; and
• continuing to support regulatory reform.

Our Performance

We will measure our performance in achieving Our Regulatory Measures goals by monitoring:

• the number of Applications fi nalised within statutory timeframes and consistent with ministerial policy guidelines;
• the level of compliance with timely, accurate and relevant ministerial and parliamentary briefings;
• the timeliness of our management of food emergencies and public health issues arising from food;
• the level of implementation of recommendations from the Food Regulation Standing Committee (FRSC) review of FSANZ processes and amendments to the FSANZ Act;
• the implementation of the FSANZ Science Strategy for 2006-09 which supports the level of science underpinning our regulatory approach and contribution to food policy by relevant scientific experts;
• the extent and outcomes of collaboration with national and international networks;
• the increasing use of consumer research in our standards development work; and
• the use of peer and other review mechanisms.

Key Result Area 2: Our Stakeholders

Our goal is to:

• strengthen the levels of engagement and productive working relationships with our external interest groups and government partners.

We will do this by:

• providing opportunities for stakeholders to participate in, and to inform, our decisionmaking;
• ensuring that consumers continue to contribute to our work through our consultation process;
• actively listening to, acknowledging and responding to stakeholder input;
• fostering a constructive and engaging culture across the agency;
• enhancing further the readability and accessibility of our documents;
• enhancing communication with stakeholders about our role and processes;
• developing strong and effective stakeholder and consumer networks; and
• collaborating effectively with our regulatory partners.

Our Performance

We will measure our performance in achieving Our Stakeholders goals by monitoring:

• the level and nature of stakeholder feedback, both formal and informal, provided through surveys, the industry advice line and information officer;
• the level of engagement of consumers through the Consumer Liaison Committee; and
• the level of participation by our regulatory partners in mechanisms such as the Jurisdictional Forum and the Strategic Science Network.

 

Key Result Area 3: Our People and Our Organisational Capability

Our goals are to:

• foster a safe, encouraging, rewarding and productive working environment;
• enhance our organisational capability and capacity; and
• increase the effi ciency of our organisational processes.

We will do this by:

• creating a positive culture, where staff feel challenged in their work, valued and respected;
• encouraging diversity of views and actively seeking staff engagement and contribution;
• attracting, developing and retaining an appropriately skilled workforce;
• promoting a culture that encourages external input and review;
• developing skills and systems to support the effective and appropriate use of internal and external resources to complement organisational capacity;
• ensuring workforce planning aligns the organisational skill base with our priorities and strategic objectives;
• ensuring that appropriate policies and practices relating to occupational health and safety are in place and are adequately monitored;
• using the revised staff Performance Enhancement Scheme to ensure that development of employees’ skills and performance is closely linked to individual, team and organisational objectives;
• implementing the recommendations arising from the FRSC review;
• enhancing our project management capabilities; and
• prioritising our work plan.

Our Performance:

We will measure our performance in achieving Our People and Our Organisational Capability goals by monitoring:

• the extent to which the revised learning and development strategy meets requirements;
• the extent to which FSANZ has an appropriately skilled workforce;
• the volume of uptake and the nature of professional development opportunities given to staff as identified in staff professional development plans;
• the level of staff satisfaction reported through staff surveys;
• the effectiveness of the Staff Forum as an advisory body to our Executive; and
• the effect of prioritisation and enhanced project management capabilities on the implementation of the FSANZ work plan.

Key Result Area 4: Our Accountability

Our goals are to:

• ensure clear stakeholder understanding of our roles;
• ensure best practice in our corporate governance arrangements; and
• ensure clear understanding of our responsibilities and accountabilities in delivering statutory obligations.

We will do this by:

• setting and reporting against key performance indicators for our Board and CEO;
• continuing to align our structure, roles and responsibilities with changes in the regulatory system;
• clarifying and communicating the roles of our organisation as they relate to other agencies in New Zealand and the Australian states and territories;
• developing new systems and processes to clarify and strengthen management accountabilities and agency wide collaboration, such as Balanced Scorecard management processes;
• strengthening communication and understanding of our strategic direction,
• accountabilities and performance expectations;
• ensuring continued relevance and currency of our corporate governance policies and practices; and
• meeting all statutory reporting requirements.

Our Performance

We will measure our performance in achieving Our Accountability goals by monitoring:

• the level of compliance with statutory and other external reporting requirements including governance process as reported through internal and external audits;
• the extent to which our management reporting and planning processes track progress against agency priorities; and
• the level of cooperation between ourselves and our jurisdictional partners.

FSANZ Planning and Capability Model