EXPLANATORY NOTES
INTRODUCTION
1 This publication presents results from the 2002-03 Government Technology Survey (GTS). This survey measured information and communication technology (ICT) employment and expenditures by government organisations including government education.
2 Due to changes in scope and survey content, the data presented in this publication are not directly comparable to that published in previous editions.
SURVEY SCOPE AND METHODOLOGY
3 The scope of the GTS is federal, state/territory and local government organisations whose predominant activity falls within the institutional sector of General Government, including government education. Public non-financial corporations and public financial corporations are not included in the scope of the survey. Excluded from the scope were state and federal government organisations (non-education) with employment of less than 50 persons. The impact on final estimates of this scope cut-off is estimated to be less than 1%.
4 The general government sector includes all agencies of government such as government departments, offices and bodies engaged in providing services free of charge or at prices significantly below their cost of production and non-market non-profit institutions which are controlled and mainly financed by government. Government education includes tertiary, vocational and school education.
5 The population frame was constructed using multiple sources. The primary source of the frame was the ABS Business Register with supplementation from government directories, websites and listings. Included in local government were other entities, such as Indigenous councils, not considered local government authorities but classified to the local government level by the ABS. The frame for education was provided by the Department of Education, Science and Technology. For tertiary and vocational education this was checked with the Australian Vice Chancellors Committee and respective education and training authorities.
6 The estimates presented in this publication are based on upon a census of federal and state/territory government and vocational education organisations; and a stratified sample of local government, universities and schools. Information from universities is included in estimates for federal government. Vocational education and schools are included in estimates for state/territory government.
7 For the purposes of the GTS, standard ABS definitions for units were not utilised.
8 For federal and state/territory levels of government, the collection unit was notionally the level of government itself, ie. for the federal government level, the collection unit was the federal government and for state/territory government level, the collection unit was the respective state/territory government. As the required data was not available from a single source for these collection units, reporting units were created. Reporting units were, in most cases, individual government departments or agencies or, where consolidated reporting was possible, the parent department reporting for all agencies within the portfolio.
9 The reference period was the 2002-03 financial year for federal, state/territory and local government. For education organisations, the reference period was the 2003 calendar year. This occurred because education organisations usually have a financial reporting period aligned with the calendar year. In the tables, all data has been presented for a 2002-03 reference period. The majority of expenditure incurred by schools (predominantly wages and salaries) was reported by the relevant state/territory education authority. Schools were required to report for other ICT expenditure incurred by them, regardless of source of funds.
10 Across levels of government (including between jurisdictions), the treatment of ICT operating expenses and capital expenditure in accounts is subject to variation. There has been no attempt to adjust the data in this publication to account for these variations.
11 For more information about survey scope and methodology, please telephone the contact shown on the front of this publication.
DATA AVAILABLE ON REQUEST
12 All data available from this survey has been presented in the publication.
RELATED PUBLICATIONS
13 The most recent issue of other ABS publications on the use and production of information and communication technologies in Australia are listed below:
Business Use of Information Technology, Australia, 2002-03, (cat.no.8119.0)
Household Use of Information Technology, Australia, 2001-02, (cat.no.8146.0)
Information Technology, Australia, 2000-01, (cat.no.8126.0)
Internet Activity, Australia, September 2003, (cat.no.8153.0)
Use of Information Technology on Farms, Australia, June 2002, (cat.no.8150.0)
14 The data collected via the GTS will be a major input into the compilation of an ICT satellite account. The ICT satellite account is expected to be released in the ABS publication Australian National Accounts: Information and Communication Technology Satellite Account 2002-03 (catalogue to be advised) during 2005. More information about this publication will be available via the ABS website.
ABS WEBSITE
15 Other information relating to information and communication technologies can be found on the web site, see the Science and Technology Home page under Themes.
ROUNDING
16 Where figures have been rounded, discrepancies may occur between the sum of the components/items and the total. In addition, percentages have been calculated using the unrounded figures.
ABBREVIATIONS
17 The following abbreviations are used in this publication:
ABS Australian Bureau of Statistics
GTS Government Technology Survey
ICT information and communication technology
Print Page
Print All