Part 7: Lessons from the home-repair programme

7.1
In this Part, we set out our conclusions on what has been learned from operating a home-repair programme in Canterbury. We discuss:

• a need for ongoing improvement;
• the importance of preparing for the future; and
• our intention to follow up on EQC's progress.

Summary of our findings

7.2
EQC has subjected itself to scrutiny and review through internal audit and commissioned review work. This scrutiny and ongoing improvement needs to continue.

7.3
As a priority, EQC needs to continue work to give homeowners more certainty, improve consistency of practice, and support repairs to the required quality.

7.4
Repairs in the home-repair programme started ahead of most rebuilding work in Christchurch's central city and ahead of most rebuilding work that is the responsibility of private insurers. This has been helpful for managing repair-cost inflation. It means that repairs have been completed before the demand for building materials and tradespeople has significantly escalated.

7.5
EQC needs to identify and preserve any lessons, tools, and information from managing the home-repair programme that might be useful in responding to future disasters.

Ongoing improvement

EQC has been committed to improving how it manages the home-repair programme and has acted on the findings of various reviews and audit work. Ongoing improvement work needs to continue.

7.6
EQC has prepared and put in place a sensible internal audit work programme, acted on the findings of our financial audit work, and responded to the findings of various reviews it commissioned on aspects of its operation. Although EQC has not fully carried out all of the recommendations of its internal audit work, progress with these recommendations is regularly tracked and reported, and the recommendations are being prioritised.

7.7
The recovery environment in Canterbury is continuing to evolve. EQC needs to continue to assess and amend aspects of the home-repair programme to ensure that it is appropriate as the environment changes. Actions that give homeowners more certainty, improve consistency of practices, and support repairs to the required quality should remain high priorities.

7.8
The timing of repair work in the home-repair programme to date has been before the Christchurch central city and private insurer rebuild activity has substantially escalated. This has been helpful for managing repair-cost inflation. It means that repairs have been completed before the demand for building materials and tradespeople has escalated, which could make it harder and more expensive to find building materials and tradespeople. EQC's decision to complete the home-repair programme by the end of 2014 should also mean that the remaining repairs are completed before the peak of rebuild activity is reached.

7.9
When we finalised this report, EQC was in the process of reviewing and/or changing important aspects of the home-repair programme, including governance arrangements, key performance indicators, and repair hub structures and locations. The hub reconfiguration is intended to support greater consistency of practice within the home-repair programme. It is important that EQC continues these review and improvement activities.

Preparing for the future

The lessons, tools, and information from the home-repair programme that could usefully contribute to responses to future large-scale natural disasters need to be identified and preserved.

7.10
All public entities need to use a mix of preventative actions and tactical, strategic, and operational responses to prepare for, and respond to, unlikely but catastrophic events.

7.11
The right mix of types of response to a catastrophic event depends on the circumstances and will change as the circumstances change.

7.12
Although the decision to have a home-repair programme was clearly a strategic decision, EQC's operation of the programme has been largely reactive, in part because of changing circumstances beyond EQC's control.

7.13
Because of EQC's "standing start", policies, procedures, processes, and systems for a home-repair programme had to be developed and modified as the programme evolved.

7.14
It is important that EQC does not lose any home-repair programme lessons, tools, and information that are useful for the future. When we were performing our audit, the Act was being reviewed. In our view, identifying and preserving the home-repair programme lessons, tools, and information for future disasters would be prudent, regardless of whether there are changes to EQC's functions as a result of that review.

7.15
We acknowledge that EQC identified in its December 2011 briefing to the responsible Minister that the "lessons on the balance between maintaining flexibility and having detailed plans in place, coordination challenges, and the trade-offs necessary in a recovery need to be collated and analysed". We support this analysis being performed.

Following up on the Earthquake Commission's progress

7.16
Our Office will carry out follow-up work to track the progress made by EQC with the recommendations in this report, following the expected completion of the home-repair programme by the end of 2014. Our follow-up work will include a review of the final programme costs. In our view, follow-up work is necessary, given the need for ongoing improvement in the home-repair programme, and because the appropriateness of the final programme costs depends on EQC making changes to the home-repair programme.