Queensland’s outdated public service employee information blamed on data quality concerns

The release of a crucial report that details just how many key public servants work for the Queensland government has been hampered.

• Editor’s view: How many work for us?

The release of a crucial report that details how many teachers, doctors, and nurses work for the Queensland government has been hampered because of “data quality” concerns.

The government usually releases two updates every year that provide a snapshot into how many public servants are employed in the months of March and September.

But the report on the September 2022 figures still has not been released, which means the most up to date publicly available data is from March last year – making the numbers a year old.

The Courier-Mail asked Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s office how many public servants were now working for the state government, but they simply referred to the March 2022 figures.

A government spokeswoman confirmed the Public Sector Commission had not released the September report because of concerns about data quality.

“The Queensland government is committed to the release of workforce data,” she said.

“The Public Sector Commission is currently investigating options to better align the release of workforce data with government planning and reporting cycles.”

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk was questioned about the Public Sector Commission report in parliament in Brisbane on Thursday. Picture: Dan Peled / NCA NewsWire

Ms Palaszczuk was also questioned about the report in parliament on Thursday, and promised the data would be released once it was “finalised”.

“That data is currently being double-checked by the PSC (Public Sector Commission),” the Premier said.

According to the most recent report – which details figures from March 2022 – there were 241,768 full-time equivalent employees in the Queensland public service.

The report details key information, such as how many employees work in each department and agency, as well as how the public service is tracking on certain targets.

It also shows how many public servants fall under different pay bands, and provides a breakdown on the number of workers in key frontline roles such as police, doctors and nurses.

The Public Sector Commission used to release figures on a quarterly basis, but this changed following a 2018 recommendation from Professor Peter Coaldrake.

Professor Peter Coaldrake. Picture: Supplied

In his Review into Queensland Public Sector Workforce report, the former Queensland University of Technology Vice-Chancellor and former chairman of Queensland’s Public Sector Management Commission recommended the figures be released half-yearly.

“These would inform the mid-year and annual budget reporting cycles,” he wrote in his report.

Opposition integrity spokeswoman Fiona Simpson on Thursday accused the government of “hiding behind excuses”.

“It’s simply impossible that data in every department is compromised and nothing can be released,” she said.