The Australian Public Service Commission has released the 2014-15 State of the Service report – and it is drastically slimmed-down from previous years.

The report is just 52 pages long - 222 fewer pages than last year's.

ACT senator Katy Gallagher has opened fire on the shrunken document, saying it gives very little detail.

“In just one year the Australian Public Service Commissioner John Lloyd has managed to produce a State of the Service report which has reduced in both size and useful content,” she said.

“Is this report a joke?

“[It] has been reduced to a document that would be given top billing in a 'Hollowmen' episode.

“It gives very little detail, has removed almost all analysis that you would expect from a world leading, highly regarded apolitical public service."

While Mr Lloyd claims the report was cut back in order to focus only on the most important issues.

But Senator Gallagher said the document had been twisted into an overwhelmingly negative review.

She said it painted an inaccurate picture of an unmotivated, inflexible, unprepared public service which lacked innovation.

“This is simply not the case – over the past two years every department and agency has had their budget savaged through efficiency savings and job losses,” Senator Gallagher said.

“At the same time the government has sought to implement significant policy development.”

The figures the report did include reveal that the public service workforce now comprises 152,430 people, compared to 159,126 in mid-2014.

The number of ongoing employees is down from 145,891 to 136,498, but the non-ongoing contingent has increased by over 20 per cent.

Mr Lloyd described the APS as a “resilient and effective institution” in his introduction to the report.

“Its operating environment is complex and challenging,” he said.

“The digital revolution, an ageing population, the end of the resources boom and the need to balance forward budgets are among the long list of contemporary challenges the APS must address.

“Australians want services from government with similar features to those they receive from the private sector: fast, online, personalised, competitively priced and open to feedback.

“My view is that the APS is well positioned to meet the priorities for 2016 and beyond but it cannot be complacent about its success.”

This year’s report was even released differently.

The APSC put out a series of findings in the months leading up to the report being tabled in Parliament, as opposed to its previous method of publishing it all at once.

The commission said it was trying to reach a wider audience and to give public servants the data to use as early as possible.

“It has also enabled the commission to facilitate discussion on issues relevant to the state of the service,” Mr Lloyd said.

“As a result, this year's report is shorter than in previous years.

“The report, therefore, focuses more on contemporary challenges and opportunities.

“It identifies the strategically important issues which have to be addressed for the APS to enhance.”