Productivity Commission - More Data and Smarter Regulation
11 February 2010 at 3:18 pm
The Australian Government should initiate an Information Development Plan for the Not for Profit sector according to the recommendations of the Productivity Commission Report into the Contribution of the Not for Profit sector.
The report says given the Australian Bureau of Statistics central role in providing data and its legislated responsibility for statistical coordination, the ABS should be given responsibility for formulating the Information Development Plan for the Not for Profit sector.
It says Australian governments should adopt a common framework for measuring the contribution of the sector having regard for the diversity of the sector’s activities and structures to help to build a better evidence base for social policy.
In general, the Report finds that the level of understanding among the wider community to the sector’s role and contribution is poor and deserves attention.
It says a nationally agreed measurement and evaluation framework would add significantly to this understanding.
As well, it finds that the current information requirements imposed on NFPs for funding and evaluation purposes are poorly designed and unduly burdensome and costly to NFPs and reform is needed to meet ‘best practice’ principles.
The Commission also recommends smarter regulation of the Not for Profit sector starting off by establishing a national one-stop-shop for regulation and tax endorsement of NFPs.
It says it should do this by consolidating various regulatory functions into a new national Registrar for Community and Charitable Purpose Organisations. While ultimately the Registrar could be an independent statutory body, initially it should be placed under the control of the Australian Securities and Investment Commission.
Download the report at www.pc.gov.au/projects/study/not-for-profit/report
