Part 6: Building on our reputation as a source of trusted information
Trust in governments, media, institutions, and professionals is declining worldwide. Misinformation and disinformation are becoming more prevalent.10
Our work can shine a light on matters of public interest regarding public sector performance. We aim to be balanced and fair while fulfilling our independent mandate and carrying out our statutory functions to help Parliament and the public hold public organisations to account.
Across all of our work, we believe we can support trust in government by better communicating and connecting public organisations and the public to the work we do. In 2024/25, we will focus on using our knowledge and reputation better to increase the impact of our work.
Our communications and engagement strategy will set a path to achieve this. The proposed work in this section is intended to increase the value and impact of all of our work.
Connecting our work to target audiences
We have produced reports, good practice guides, and other material that are relevant to many of the challenges facing public organisations. We want to make our work and data about public sector performance more useful and more easily available to those interested in public sector performance.
| Planned work: Enhancing the Office’s website |
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| The Office’s website is the primary access point to our knowledge. Improving access to information through the website is critical for better connecting our audience to our work. In 2024/25, we will begin work to enhance the Office’s website so that it best connects our audience to our work. This will include setting a clear roadmap for improving the design of the website, access to important content, and use of data. This will include using the Office’s website to present data from our work in 2023/24 on health reforms and data from proposed work in 2024/25 on equity of access to public services. |
The Office has an important role in bringing together those who can benefit most from our work. In recent years, the Office has convened regular and one-off events that bring together expertise and knowledge about good practice in managing the issues we see across the public sector. We have received feedback that this work is very useful for connecting our lessons and guidance to current issues facing those providing public services.
| Work under way: Connecting through events |
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In 2024/25, the Office will continue to convene regular and one-off events, including:
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Leveraging our knowledge and reports on emerging issues
Our work provides a unique view of the trends, challenges, and risks facing the public sector. In 2024/25, we plan to complete seven reports on our observations from the latest completed audits for a range of public organisations. We will also produce several performance audits on important matters of public sector performance. From this work, we will identify key challenges and influence positive change across the public sector. We will continue focusing on recurring matters of concern for the Office that are important to public sector performance and trust: integrity, performance reporting, and procurement.
| Planned work: Amplifying our reports |
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| In 2024/25, we will establish an active speaking programme for the Office to connect our key work to external events and conferences that reach important audiences. This will include a more prominent role for the Auditor-General and the Deputy Auditor-General. |
10: See “2024 Edelman Trust Barometer” at edelman.com and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (2024), Facts not fakes: Tackling disinformation, strengthening information integrity, at oecd.org.