Delivering scheduled services to patients
December 2013: This article summarises the progress that the Ministry of Health and district health boards have made in responding to the recommendations we made in 2011. Our 2011 report was about scheduled (or "elective") services (assessments and treatment)...
Continuing to improve how you report on your TEI’s service performance
December 2013: This is a short document for finance and strategy staff in tertiary education institutions, designed to help them continue to improve their service performance reporting. Organisations that report their service performance well have integrated their strategic planning and objectives with their reporting requirements. They use both these processes to enhance their governance, prioritisation, decision-making, and overall performance...
Department of Corrections: Managing offenders to reduce reoffending
December 2013: We found strengths in how the Department is working to reduce reoffending. The Department's approach to managing offenders is based on, and supported by, international research. It has a culture that values evidence. The Department also continuously assesses the effectiveness and efficiency of its interventions, learns from success and failures, and uses that information for improvements...
Public entities in the social sector: Our audit work
December 2013: This is the first time we have published a report focused on public entities in the social sector. We draw attention to the work this Office does, outline why we are interested in changes in the social sector, and share our thoughts on where we might focus our effort in the future...
Central government: Results of the 2012/13 audits (Volume 1)
December 2013: This report presents the results of our audit of the Government's 2012/13 financial statements and reports on the results of our review of whether government expenditure was appropriately authorised...
Inquiry into the Mangawhai community wastewater scheme
November 2013: This report describes how Kaipara District Council managed the Mangawhai community wastewater scheme between 1996 and 2012, as well as the role played by other agencies. The matters this report covers are long and often complex, but overall it is a woeful saga...
Summary: Inquiry into the Mangawhai community wastewater scheme
November 2013: This is a summary of our 420-page inquiry report. We describe how Kaipara District Council managed the Mangawhai community wastewater scheme between 1996 and 2012, as well as the role played by other agencies. The matters this report covers are long and often complex, but overall it is a woeful saga...
Immigration New Zealand: Supporting new migrants to settle and work
November 2013: This report looks at how effectively Immigration New Zealand supports new migrants to settle and work in the two to five years after they arrive in New Zealand ...
Regional services planning in the health sector
November 2013: This report looks at how well regional services planning is working in practice. The Ministry of Health and district health boards have put effort into creating the conditions for success, but regional services planning is not yet business as usual. Overall, we expected to see more tangible examples of services that were planned regionally rather than at a district level, and more evidence that the expected benefits were emerging ...
Effectiveness and efficiency of arrangements to repair pipes and roads in Christchurch
November 2013: The report looks at the arrangement to repair and rebuild the roads and underground water, wastewater, and stormwater pipes in Christchurch. The report examines how effectively and efficiently the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority, the New Zealand Transport Agency, and Christchurch City Council are reinstating this “horizontal infrastructure” through an alliance called the Stronger Christchurch Infrastructure Rebuild Team (SCIRT). SCIRT demonstrates many of the good practice characteristics of alliancing. It is capitalising on its valuable resource of highly trained specialists to develop practical solutions, and project scoping is done well. SCIRT has sound business systems that create operational efficiencies. When relevant variables are considered, SCIRT projects seem reasonably priced ...
Earthquake Commission: Managing the Canterbury Home Repair Programme
October 2013: In our view, the Earthquake Commission's (EQC) performance to date has been mixed. It has performed well in managing repair costs and setting the home-repair programme up quickly, but has not performed as well in dealing with homeowners. Although efficiency is clearly important, this report is a timely reminder for EQC and others that being in the public service means serving the needs of people ...
Using the United Nations' Madrid indicators to better understand our ageing population
October 2013: The Madrid indicators are a set of internationally agreed indicators of a country’s preparedness for an ageing population. The data needed to report on most of the Madrid indicators is available and is mostly collected and reported by public entities. This means that public entities have, at least, a minimum set of demographic data and data about older people that they can use. We were able to produce a profile of older people's circumstances. Although there have been many improvements over time, older people have not experienced these improvements evenly. Women, Pākehā, and people on higher incomes have often (but not always) benefited more than men, non-Pākehā, and people on lower incomes. We identify the helpful data collection and reporting practices that we encountered, and encourage more public entities to adopt these practices where they can to improve accessibility and consistency ...
Annual Report 2012/13
September 2013, ISSN 1179-8963 (print), ISSN 1179-8971 (online).
Using development contributions and financial contributions to fund local authorities’ growth-related assets
August 2013: In their long-term plans, local authorities set out their forecast growth, proposed land use, and the infrastructure that might be needed in at least the next 10 years. We have reviewed how five local authorities use “growth charges”, such as development contributions and financial contributions, to fund the assets that they will need for the growth that they expect ...
Commentary on Affording Our Future: Statement on New Zealand's Long-term Fiscal Position
August 2013: The Treasury published "Affording Our Future: Statement on New Zealand’s Long-term Fiscal Position" (the 2013 Statement) in July 2013. The 2013 Statement provides a long-term financial view of the future to 2060 and is the third statement released by the Treasury under the Public Finance Act 1989. We looked at the 2013 Statement, the process used to prepare it, and the underlying financial model and assumptions used to support it as part of our 2012/13 work programme. Overall, we consider that the Treasury has done a good job in preparing the 2013 Statement, and presenting it in a way that is understandable and engaging ...
Annual Plan 2013/14
June 2013, ISSN 1178-8488 (print), ISSN 1179-7339 (online): The Annual Plan 2013/14 sets out our proposed work programme for 2013/14. We are proposing a focus on Service Delivery, to see how well the public sector is providing services to the public of New Zealand. This focus on service delivery is in the context of the shifting shape of the public sector, and changes in the way that services are being delivered that are adding complexity and risk as well as presenting opportunities for the public sector.
Learning from public entities' use of social media
June 2013: This report shares what eight entities (seven public entities and one non-government organisation) have learned from using social media in different ways. It also draws out success factors from the experiences of these eight entities...
Managing public assets
June 2013: The report sets out the results of our “stocktake” of the physical assets in the public sector. It provides an overview of those assets, their condition and value, maintenance and renewals, and what information is reported to decision-makers about these matters...
Insuring public assets
June 2013: The purpose of this paper is to provide a high-level view of the extent of insurance for many of the assets in the public sector and the main changes since 2010. By doing this, we hope to encourage further discussion by provoking relevant questions about insurance of public assets...
Evolving approach to combating child obesity
June 2013: We wanted to understand the public sector’s approach to combating child obesity, but the Ministry of Education and Sport New Zealand no longer focus on obesity to the extent they have in the past and the Ministry of Health was evaluating new ideas and approaches to combating obesity. These changing circumstances limited what my staff could usefully audit...
Public sector financial sustainability
June 2013: This discussion paper explores international practices and current research in assessing and understanding public sector financial sustainability. The research concludes that financial sustainability is not a matter of subtracting expenses from revenue to find the gap. We need to sustain the services publicly expected, withstand shocks, and keep public confidence...
Education for Māori: Implementing Ka Hikitia – Managing for Success
May 2013: This is the second report in our five-year programme of audits examining the performance of the education system for Māori. We found reason for optimism that the Government’s strategy for education for Māori, Ka Hikitia, will increasingly enable Māori students to succeed. Ka Hikitia is a well-researched and well-consulted document that has the backing of Māori. However, there has been only modest improvement overall in Māori students’ academic results since Ka Hikitia was launched...
Statement of Intent 2013-2016
May 2013, ISSN 1179-7347 (print), ISSN 1179-7355 (online).
Central government: Results of the 2011/12 audits
April 2013: ISBN 978-0-478-41019-8 (print), ISBN 978-0-478-41020-4 (online).
Health sector: Results of the 2011/12 audits
April 2013: ISBN 978-0-478-41017-4 (print), ISBN 978-0-478-41018 (online).
Local government: Results of the 2011/12 audits
March 2013, ISBN 978-0-478-41013-6 (print), ISBN 978-0-478-41014-3 (online)
Transport sector: Results of the 2011/12 audits
March 2013, ISBN 978-0-478-41015-0 (print), ISBN 978-0-478-41016-7 (online).
Crown Research Institutes: Results of the 2011/12 audits
March 2013: This report provides an overview of the results of our audits of Crown research institutes in 2011/12.
Inquiry into decision by Hon Shane Jones to grant citizenship to Mr Yang Liu
March 2013: We found no evidence that there was any improper motive, collusion, or political interference in the decision to authorise citizenship for Mr Liu. However, we found reason to criticise most of those involved in different aspects of the decision-making process...
Ministry for Primary Industries: Preparing for and responding to biosecurity incursions
February 2013: We are concerned that the Ministry is under-prepared for future biosecurity incursions. Responding to incursions has taken precedence over preparing for the potential arrival of other pests and diseases. Although the Ministry is making improvements, there is still a lot to do...
Inquiry into the Government’s decision to negotiate with SkyCity Entertainment Group Limited for an international convention centre
February 2013: We have seen no evidence to suggest that the final decision to negotiate with SkyCity was influenced by any inappropriate considerations. However, we found a range of deficiencies in the advice that the Ministry provided and the steps that officials and Ministers took leading up to that decision. The quality of support that was provided fell short of what we would have expected from the lead government agency on commercial and procurement matters...
New Zealand Police: Enforcing drink-driving laws
February 2013: We have recommended that the Police improve how they assess, measure, and report on how effectively and efficiently they enforce drink driving laws...
New Zealand Defence Force: The civilianisation project
January 2013: To remain effective and conform with government policy, New Zealand Defence Force designed the civilianisation project to change the balance of its workforce. It aimed to get a higher proportion of military staff in "front" (deployable military capability) positions compared to direct and indirect support positions. Overall, in our view, the civilianisation project has had limited success...
