Endorsed by the Committee on 22 February 2023
Purpose
The Chief Operating Officers (COO) Committee (the Committee) will function as a sub-committee of the Secretaries Board (the Board) and as the operational management committee of the Australian Public Service (APS). The Committee will also play an advisory role to the Board, alerting it to emerging and future strategic issues in relation to the operations of the APS.
The Committee will have two primary roles:
- managing whole-of-government operational and implementation matters; and
- driving delivery of agreed initiatives under the Government's APS reform agenda, in line with the direction set by the Board.
The Board will remain the owners and drivers of APS reform and the Committee will be responsible for both responding to issues at direction of, and raising issues to, the Board.
Issues concerning the operations of the APS enterprise and which require a whole of APS response, will go to the Committee.
The Committee will be responsible for:
- bringing forward proposals to the Board to improve the operational effectiveness of the APS as an enterprise;
- managing operational issues reassigned from Secretary and Deputy Secretary-level committees and forums;
- driving delivery of APS reforms within their respective departments and agencies and addressing roadblocks to reform across the APS; and
- responding quickly and flexibly to emerging issues to ensure a common and coordinated APS-wide approach.
Membership
The Committee will comprise relevant Deputy Secretaries/COOs from all Departments of State, the Australian Public Service Commission, Services Australia, the Australian Taxation Office, the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the Digital Transformation Agency and the Office of National Intelligence.
Proxies are permitted to attend as agreed on a case-by-case basis by the Chair.
The Committee Chair (the Chair) will rotate at least bi-annually, or at the discretion of the Board. The Chair will be supported by the Deputy Australian Public Service Commissioner, as Deputy Chair.
Senior officials from other government agencies may be invited to attend Committee meetings, as agreed by the Chair.
All members must declare any potential, apparent or actual conflicts of interest as they arise.
Operation
The Committee will meet at every six weeks or at a suitable date within two months as agreed by the Chair to progress regular business. The Chair may call extraordinary meetings of the Committee as required.
In response to an emerging issue, the Committee will be expected to convene quickly and may elect to identify an appropriate COO to lead a sub-group of the Committee. A sub-group will be accountable for a specific work stream and will be responsible for proposing recommendations for agreement to the Committee. Members of sub-groups may meet more frequently to progress specific work streams for which they are responsible.
In accordance with the Board Terms of Reference, the Chair will provide a six-monthly report to the Board at a minimum. The report will inform the Board of each sub-group’s strategic priorities and key deliverables. The Committee meeting minutes will be listed on all agendas for noting by all Board members.
The Committee will make and implement decisions within the remits of COOs and advise Secretaries of outcomes as necessary, either individually or to the Board. The Committee will exercise judgement on which issues are escalated to the Board for decision, noting the expectation that issues will be resolved at the lowest appropriate level.
Committee members will be responsible for disseminating messaging and meeting outcomes within their departments and agencies.
Secretariat
The Committee will be supported by a secretariat in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. The Secretariat will support the Chair convene the Committee, coordinate the meeting agenda and papers, prepare and distribute the meeting minutes and ensure connectivity to the Board.
The secretariat can be contacted via email COOCommittee@pmc.gov.au
Review
The Terms of Reference may be reviewed at the discretion of the Chair in consultation with members of the Committee.