Number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 0-64 years who used state/territory delivered disability support services in the reporting period divided by estimated Indigenous potential population for state/territory delivered disability support services (people aged 0-64 years with profound or severe core activity limitation) on 30 June at the start of the reporting period.

R/N x 100

where R = number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 0–64 years who used state/territory delivered disability support services in the reporting period and N = estimated Indigenous potential population aged 0–64 years on 30 June at start of reporting period.

For measures disaggregated by need for assistance in life area, N = the state/territory total of the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who used specialist disability services in the reporting period.

Number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 0–64 years who used state/territory delivered disability support services in the reporting period.

Estimated Indigenous potential population for state/territory delivered disability support services (people aged less than 65 years with profound or severe core activity limitation) on 30 June at start of reporting period.
The method used to calculate the Indigenous potential population will be the same as that adopted by the Disability Services Working Group for calculation of special needs group indicators for the Report on Government Services 20120. This method incorporates 2006 Census data and age-sex specific rates of severe/profound core activity limitation (from the Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers (SDAC)).
National level age-sex rates, rather than state/territory-age-sex rates have been used previously due to the high sampling errors associated with some of the state/territory-age-sex rate estimates in SDAC 2003 and previous iterations of the survey. 

National level rates will be used from SDAC 2009 to calculate the potential population for this reporting cycle.  A complete review of the data sources and methods used for the calculation of potential population for National Agreement performance reporting will be undertaken by the Potential Population Working Group on behalf of the DPRWG, however the results of this review will not be available for this reporting cycle.
Measures disaggregated by need for 'assistance in life' area will not use potential population as the denominator.  The denominator for these measures will be the state/territory total of the number of service users in the reporting period.

Where possible, for each of the following service groups:
1. Accommodation support (service types 1.01, 1.02, 1.03, 1.04, 1.05, 1.06, 1.07, 1.08)
2. Community support (service types 2.01, 2.02, 2.03, 2.04, 2.05, 2.06, 2.07, 2.08)
3. Community access (service types 3.01, 3.02, 3.03)
4. Respite (service types 4.01, 4.02, 4.03, 4.04, 4.05)
All disability support services delivered by state/territory governments.

The following disaggregation will be presented for all service groups:
• State/territory by age group (0–4, 5–14, 15–24, 25–34, 35–44,45–54,55–64 years, subtotal 0–49 years, total)
• State/territory by sex (male, female, total)
• Remoteness Area (Major Cities, Inner Regional, other, total)
• State/territory by need for assistance (activities of daily living, activities of independent living or work, education or community but not activities of daily living, total needing assistance, no need for help or supervision, level of assistance not determined, total)

COAG - annually.

Review of Government services provision - annually.

Related NDA benchmark - Performance benchmark (e) An increase in the proportion of Indigenous people with disability receiving disability service.

The AIHW will conduct an investigation into the feasibility and data quality of attaching SEIFA to the DS NMDS.

A complete review of the data sources and methods used for the calculation of potential population for National Agreement performance reporting will be undertaken by the Potential Population Working Group on behalf of the DPRWG.  In particular, the 2009 SDAC collected Indigenous status.

Classifications proposed above are appropriate for the current CSTDA/DS NMDS. Classifications will need to be reviewed in line with any future changes to the NMDS.

Available disaggregation depends on sampling errors, confidentiality and other caveats.

Cells with numerator counts less than 5 will be suppressed. Numerator and denominator cells will be suppressed, where disaggregated by state/territory (excluding totals).

People with age reported in the range 0 to 64 years and people with 'not stated' age are included in calculations for this indicator. People with age reported to be 65 years or older are not included.

Treatment of ‘not stated’ values within disaggregation's (numerator only):

• Age group: Total includes people with ‘not stated’ age.
• Sex: Total includes people with ‘not stated’ sex.
• Remoteness: Outer Regional/Remote includes Outer Regional, Remote and Very Remote. Total includes people where remoteness area cannot be determined.
• Need for assistance: Total needing assistance includes need for assistance in activities of daily living, activities of independent living and activities of work, education or community. Total includes service users with level of assistance not determined.

Caution is recommended in the use or interpretation of performance at service group level.  There is a risk when the service group level data is interpreted in isolation as various service groups are complementary and the emphasis on different services reflects jurisdictional policy directions.  Potential population estimates in these tables are not necessarily specific to the individual service group.