In In Under Environment

ANAO Report No.10 2014–15 Administration of the Biodiversity Fund Program 102 officers accompanied the ANAO on visits to 10 Biodiversity Fund program project sites during the audit see Figure 6.1, these visits were not considered to be compliance activities. Figure 6.1: Plantings in a fenced-off corridor including creek bed to re-establish biodiversity Source: ANAO site visit accompanied by Environment officers.

6.61 There

was also no evidence to indicate that the department used the visit priority calculator, discussed earlier, to target the site visits that had occurred to those grant recipients that presented the highest risk to the achievement of project outcomes or other risks such as potential fraudulent use of grant funding.

6.62 In

a small number of the 72 funded projects reviewed by the ANAO, grant managers had noted on the checklist document used to record the assessment of the mid‐year or annual reports ‘site visit recommended in next six or 12 months’. However, there was no evidence to indicate that a visit had subsequently been undertaken. ‐ ANAO Report No.10 2014–15 Administration of the Biodiversity Fund Program 103 Recommendation No.2

6.63 To

strengthen the monitoring of compliance with the terms and conditions of funding, the ANAO recommends that the Department of the Environment implements risk‐based compliance strategies for its grant programs.

6.64 Environment’s

response: Agreed. 6.65 The Department has updated its case management approach to grants management to adopt a more transparent and consistent risk based approach to compliance with the terms and conditions of funding agreements.

6.66 The

Department has updated its grants management database to facilitate the recording and reporting of site visits to allow a whole of programme risk management approach. Work is well underway to implement the risk management tool developed for the Biodiversity Fund in a consistent way across all natural resource management grants and to develop a programme‐wide compliance strategy. This will comprehensively embed a risk based compliance strategy with consistent processes across the Department’s natural resource management grants. Conclusion

6.67 The

department developed template funding agreements for Biodiversity Fund program grant recipients that appropriately set out the obligations of each party. The funding agreement negotiation and execution period for the Round 2, NATI and Investing in Tasmania’s Native Forests funding