Our recommendations

Our recommendations are listed in the order that they appear in the text of this report. The recommendations focus on fundamental areas that one or more of the departments need to address. We acknowledge that some of the departments are doing some of these things already.

We recommend that the departments:

1. have a clear and documented understanding of the monitoring role they have for each Crown entity and the responsibilities they have in fulfilling this role;
2. record clear and accessible information about significant issues and risks specific to Crown entities in a way that is useful to inform their monitoring work, and review this information regularly;
3. have a clear means of taking account of each Crown entity’s issues and risks when they plan and carry out monitoring work;
4. have clear information about when and how they intend to review each Crown entity’s financial planning and related matters;
5. identify, and act on, work they can do to improve the effectiveness, efficiency, and timeliness of the preparation of each Crown entity’s statement of intent. This work should consider:
   • how the statement of intent is prepared; and
   • what information and assurance the Minister needs about the statement of intent;
6. carry out work to improve the timeliness of information they provide to the Minister about each Crown entity’s performance;
7. set out performance information within briefings to the Minister clearly and consistently, so that it is easy to see whether there are any actual or potential performance issues for the entity;
8. plan carefully before they start board appointment processes, taking into account the steps and timing required for the appointment and any contextual information relevant for that appointment; and
9. provide clear advice to board candidates about the information they must disclose under the Crown Entities Act 2004, and collect all the information needed to carry out the appointment checks required by the Act.