Work health and safety

• Refer Part 3

Statistics on employees who identify as Indigenous

• Refer Part 3

Procurement Initiatives to Support Small Business

The National Blood Authority supports small business participation in the Commonwealth Government procurement market. Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) and Small Enterprise participation statistics are available on the Department of Finance website:
www.finance.gov.au/procurement/statistics-on-commonwealth-purchasing-contracts

The following initiatives employed by the National Blood Authority support small business:

• the Commonwealth Contracting Suite for low-risk procurements valued under $200,000
• Australian Industry Participation plans in whole-of-government procurement where applicable
• the Small Business Engagement Principles (outlined in the government's Industry Innovation and Competitiveness Agenda), such as communicating in clear, simple language and presenting information in an accessible format
• electronic systems or other processes used to facilitate on-time payment performance, including the use of payment cards.

The National Blood Authority recognises the importance of ensuring that small businesses are paid on time. The results of the Survey of Australian Government Payments to Small Business are available on the Treasury's website: www.treasury.gov.au.

Advertising and market research

Section 311A of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 requires particulars of all amounts greater than $13,800 paid during a financial year to advertising agencies, market research organisations, polling organisations, direct mail organisations and media advertising organisations. The NBA made no payments of this kind in 2019-20. The NBA did not conduct any advertising campaigns in 2019-20.

Ecologically sustainable development and environmental performance

The NBA continued to pursue activities that support the ecologically sustainable principles outlined in Section 3A of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. During 2019-20 this included the following examples:

• continued use of audio and video conferencing and online collaboration in preference to face-to-face meetings requiring interstate or international travel
• recycling into three streams of waste – co-mingled material, paper and printer cartridges
• encouraging staff to recycle and re-use existing stationery before ordering new supplies
• maintaining paper use reduction initiatives such as defaulting printer settings to print double sided and in black and white and using 100 per cent recycled paper
• running the air conditioning systems on timers and occupancy sensors to ensure operation only during business hours when the immediate area is occupied
• participating in Earth Hour – the office was fully compliant and all staff were encouraged to participate
• ensuring that through purchasing activities further improvements were made within blood product supply contracts
• electronic document and records management system in place.

In summary, Table 5.3 provides information on the impact the NBA's activities have on the natural environment. The NBA continues to look at ways to further reduce the impact on the environment.

Grant programs

Information on grants awarded by the NBA during the period 1 July 2019 to 30 June 2020 is available at: www.blood.gov.au/governmental-compliance.

Disability reporting

Since 1994, non-corporate Commonwealth entities have reported on their performance as policy adviser, purchaser, employer, regulator and provider under the Commonwealth Disability Strategy. In 2007-08, reporting on the employer role was transferred to the Australian Public Service Commission's State of the Service Report and the APS Statistical Bulletin. These reports are available at www.apsc.gov.au. From 2010‑11, entities are no longer required to report on these functions.

The Commonwealth Disability Strategy has been overtaken by the National Disability Strategy 2010‑2020, which sets out a 10-year national policy framework to improve the lives of people with a disability, promote participation and create a more inclusive society. A high level two-yearly report will track progress against each of the six outcome areas of the strategy and present a picture of how people with disability are faring. The first of these reports was published in late 2014, and can be found at www.dss.gov.au.

Information Publication Scheme statement

Entities subject to the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) are required to publish information to the public as part of the Information Publication Scheme (IPS). This requirement is in Part II of the FOI Act and has replaced the former requirement to publish a Section 8 statement in an annual report. Each agency must display on its website a plan showing what information it publishes in accordance with the IPS requirements.

A copy of the NBA IPS Plan and associated published documents can be located at:
http://www.blood.gov.au/ips.

Errata

Nil.

Agency resource statements

The agency resource statement provides details of the funding sources that the NBA drew upon in 2019-20. In addition, it provides information about special accounts balances to be carried over to 2020-21.

Resources for outcomes

This table provides details of the total funding for each outcome. In 2019-20 the NBA operated under a single outcome.