Our recommendations

Immigration New Zealand, the units it works with within the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, and its government partners need to better understand the outcomes being achieved from the delivery of settlement services in reducing barriers to settlement for new migrants and improve the targeting of resources.

We recommend that Immigration New Zealand:

1. Work with its government agency partners to provide advice to the Government about an improved settlement governance structure and approach that supports targeting and delivering services effectively to where they are most needed. Target time frame: by June 2014.

2. Use the governance structure decided on to work with government agency partners to make better use of resources throughout government towards measurable settlement outcomes for new migrants. Target time frame: by December 2014.

3. Monitor and review the governance structure to ensure its ongoing effectiveness. Target time frame: ongoing.

4. Implement evaluation and monitoring frameworks and outcome reporting for whole-of-government settlement activities, including the services purchased by Immigration New Zealand, to ensure efficient and effective use of resources that meet the needs of new migrants. Target time frame: by June 2015.

We recommend that the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment:

5. Improve the quality of information it reports to the Government and more widely by including appropriate context information and data about principal and secondary skilled migrants and improving methods for reporting on retention. Target time frame: by June 2014.

We recommend that Immigration New Zealand:

6. Continue to improve the information that it provides to potential new migrants so that they have more realistic expectations of what life will be like in New Zealand. Target time frame: ongoing.

7. Use the information gathered from the migration research programme and work with other agencies to rationalise and better target resources to overcome known barriers to employment, and provide services needed for secondary skilled migrants and temporary work visa holders. Target time frame: by December 2014.