Appendix 9: ARPANSA's action plan addressing Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) recommendations
The 2014 Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) audit focused on the management of ARPANSA’s regulatory role and responsibilities. Four recommendations resulted from the audit. The ANAO also reviewed issues that were considered not fully resolved from the 2005 audit.
Following the 2014 audit, ARPANSA management evaluated the ANAO’s findings and made significant changes with respect to the delivery of its regulatory services. ARPANSA has improved the quality and rigour of internal processes that validate and document the implementation of audit recommendations.
Regulatory Services Branch strives for continuous improvement; policies and procedures will continue to be regularly reviewed within the Branch’s quality management system.
ARPANSA will perform self-assessments of its regulatory performance at least annually in accordance with the Australian Government’s Regulatory Performance Framework. To ensure that the intent of the 2014 recommendations are not diluted, the scope of the next self-assessment will include aspects of better practices with respect to risk and avoiding conflicts of interest.
ARPANSA considers the intent of the ANAO recommendations has been met. Consultant RSM Bird Cameron was engaged by the ARPANSA Audit and Risk Committee to conduct a reasonable assurance review in relation to the ANAO recommendations. Their report is yet to be finalised.
