Part 4: There is still work for Auckland Council to do
4.1
In this Part, we discuss Auckland Council's planned work to address the recommendations from the three reviews under the Group Plan for 2024 to 2029.
4.2
We acknowledge that Auckland Council is in the early stages of implementing the 33 actions of the Group Plan. We did not expect Auckland Council to have completed all these planned actions.
4.3
We did expect Auckland Council to:
- have clear and specific plans in place for addressing review recommendations through Group Plan actions;
- ensure that there were adequate and effective governance arrangements to monitor Group Plan actions; and
- report to the public on its progress in implementing the Group Plan in a clear and accessible way.
4.4
The Group Plan sets out a range of actions that Auckland Council will focus on from 2024 to 2029, including actions to address the recommendations of the three reviews.
4.5
Auckland Council provided us with documents indicating that work to address 38 of the 51 recommendations is already complete. A further 11 of the 13 remaining recommendations will be addressed by mid-2025 (the end of the first year of the Group Plan).
4.6
However, the Group Plan includes several additional priorities, and more detailed planning is needed so that Auckland Council can achieve those actions within the Group Plan's five-year timeframe.
4.7
The governance of the Group Plan also needs strengthening. The Council needs to ensure that governors receive regular reports on the Group Plan's progress and risks to enable effective oversight.
4.8
Given the extended timeframes involved in the implementation of Group Plan actions (and associated recommendations), it is important that Auckland Council provide the public with regular updates on its progress.
The Group Plan sets out Auckland Council's strategic direction for emergency preparedness for the next five years
4.9
Auckland Council's work to address the recommendations of the three reviews builds on the work completed under the Prioritised Plan and will continue to 2029 under the Group Plan.
4.10
The Group Plan sets out Auckland Council's planned emergency management activities and actions across the four "R"s of risk reduction, response, recovery, and readiness, and covers areas that were not the subject of review recommendations (which primarily focused on readiness and response).
4.11
Some of the recommendations and associated Group Plan actions will also require ongoing work beyond the term of the Group Plan, such as those relating to the need for Auckland Emergency Management to engage with Māori and other communities.
4.12
We encourage Auckland Council to consider the following matters as it continues its implementation of the Group Plan.
Detailed implementation planning is needed to achieve the Group Plan's overall objectives
4.13
Our 2023 report found that the previous group plan approved by the Auckland CDEM Committee in 2016 was too ambitious and Auckland Council had made insufficient progress in implementing it. At the time of writing our 2023 report, most of the 80 actions in the 2016 Group Plan remained incomplete.
4.14
The 2024 Group Plan is a strategic document setting out Auckland Council's strategic framework for emergency management, and sets out the 33 actions, objectives, and results that the Council intends to achieve over the next five years. We consider the 2024 Group Plan to be more realistic in its aims than the 2016 Group Plan.
4.15
However, the Group Plan is high-level and is not an implementation plan. More detailed work programme planning will be needed to set out the steps that the Council will take to progress actions, achieve the Group Plan's overall objectives, and show how progress will be tracked and measured.
We saw evidence of detailed planning to progress and complete Group Plan actions over the next year
4.16
Auckland Council provided us with evidence of its planning to implement the Group Plan, including its 2024/25 work programme and a Group Plan 2024-2029 tracker.
4.17
The Group Plan 2024-2029 tracker includes all the Group Plan's actions, including information such as their status, expected completion year, and success measures.
4.18
The tracker provides evidence of thorough planning for Auckland Council's emergency management work programme for 2024/25, including what it aims to achieve and how it will monitor and track progress. Similarly, the work programme includes detailed information on Auckland Emergency Management's work for the next year.
4.19
However, beyond the current financial year, planning documents provide little detail about how the Group Plan's actions will be implemented and tracked. Given the long-term nature of the Group Plan, it is critical that detailed measures and milestones are in place to keep up momentum and remain on target.
4.20
Auckland Council's long-term work programme for the Group Plan remains a work in progress. At the time of writing, implementation planning beyond 2024/25 did not have enough detail to demonstrate how the actions will be progressed and measured or how they will contribute to the Group Plan's objectives.
4.21
Auckland Emergency Management told us that it will prioritise refining its long-term implementation planning in the coming months.
The Group Plan relies on the active participation of the wider Auckland Council, agency partners, and communities
Ongoing work is required to increase knowledge of and commitment to the Group Plan across the wider Council
4.22
Successfully implementing the Group Plan over the next few years will rely not only on Auckland Emergency Management, but also on the combined work of the wider Auckland Council.
4.23
We saw that the Group Plan is well understood and is the guiding document for Auckland Emergency Management staff. The Group Plan is less of a focus for other Council teams, who have competing priorities.
4.24
Auckland Emergency Management staff we spoke to acknowledge that there is more to do to increase the profile of emergency management and the Group Plan across Auckland Council. This work to further embed the Group Plan will also be a priority for Auckland Emergency Management over the coming months.
4.25
Recent changes at Auckland Council were seen by staff we spoke to as a positive step in improving relationships between Auckland Emergency Management and the wider Council. These changes include a 2024 restructure (so that Auckland Emergency Management is now in the same directorate as other Council teams responsible for leading Group Plan actions) and the physical move of Auckland Emergency Management to the main Auckland Council building.
4.26
The introduction of an emergency management learning module as part of new Council staff inductions should also help increase awareness and ownership of emergency management across the wider Council. An "Introduction to Emergency Management" session for the Auckland Council senior executive team is also planned for late 2024.
4.27
Similarly, an action for Auckland Emergency Management under the Group Plan to recruit and train Auckland Council Emergency Staff should help to build knowledge of the Council's emergency management responsibilities.
4.28
We heard positive examples of Auckland Emergency Management working closely with other Auckland Council teams. For example, we were told that Auckland Emergency Management's communications team had a close working relationship with the Council's corporate communications team. This will be critical to increasing the capability of wider Council communications staff to respond to the next emergency.
4.29
We also heard that iwi/Māori liaison staff in Auckland Emergency Management work closely with Ngā Mātārae, Auckland Council's Māori outcomes team. This relationship enables Auckland Emergency Management to benefit from the team's connections with Auckland marae. Auckland Emergency Management and Ngā Mātārae have jointly organised emergency preparedness events with Auckland's Te Kotahi a Tāmaki Marae collective, such as a 2023 emergency preparedness wānanga for marae.
4.30
We encourage Auckland Emergency Management and the wider Council to continue exploring opportunities to connect and collaborate over shared work programmes and priorities and to further embed the Group Plan across Auckland Council.
Effective relationships with communities and stakeholders will be essential to successfully implementing the Group Plan
4.31
As we found in our 2023 report, ensuring that Auckland is resilient and well prepared to respond to the emergencies will rely on the effectiveness of Auckland Council's relationships with a wide range of organisations and communities.
4.32
Auckland Council's intention is that, once the Group Plan is complete, "Auckland's diverse communities [will] have increased levels of preparedness for an emergency".27
4.33
Although everybody in Auckland has a role in preparing for an emergency, Auckland Council plays a central role in supporting residents and communities who need additional help to be prepared.
4.34
We note that much of the work currently identified under the Group Plan to improve community resilience prioritises communities that are engaged with their local boards or already have the capability and resources to organise community emergency hubs.
4.35
As Auckland Council continues its detailed implementation planning for the Group Plan, we urge the Council to continue to consider and prioritise the needs of communities that might be less well connected or resourced to respond to emergencies.
4.36
For example, South Auckland communities told the Government's 2024 inquiry into the North Island severe weather events that they did not know what to do or where to seek help, and that local evacuation and information centres were not responsive to their language, cultural, or faith-based needs.28
4.37
The Group Plan recognises the importance of multi-agency groups for "planning, communication, awareness, and relationship-building" at a regional level.29
4.38
There are several groups in the Auckland region that co-ordinate multi-agency emergency preparedness work. These include the Auckland Welfare Coordination Group and the Auckland Lifelines Group.
4.39
The Auckland Welfare Coordination Group is led by Auckland Council and made up of major welfare organisations. Its responsibilities include planning for and responding to welfare needs in an emergency. The Auckland Lifelines Group is a collaboration between lifeline organisations in the Auckland region and aims to improve the resilience of lifeline utilities. Auckland Council is a member of the Auckland Lifelines Group. The Auckland Lifelines Group is also represented in the Co-ordinating Executive Group.
4.40
The Auckland Welfare Coordination Group has confirmed its membership and shared work programme for 2024/25, which will include review of a new Welfare Plan for Auckland. In August 2024, the Auckland Lifelines Group approved its work programme for 2024 to 2027.
4.41
We encourage Auckland Council to continue investing in these cross-agency forums to help strengthen its relationships with other emergency management organisations.
Auckland Council needs to improve its governance and monitoring of Auckland Emergency Management
4.42
Auckland's CDEM Committee is responsible for the overall strategic direction and oversight of emergency management in Auckland through the Group Plan.
4.43
The Co-ordinating Executive Group is responsible for advising the CDEM Committee, implementing its directions, and monitoring the progress of the Group Plan.
4.44
We assessed Auckland Council's governance arrangements for the Group Plan using our guidance on the elements of good governance.30 We saw some of these elements in place in the CDEM Committee.
4.45
The CDEM Committee held regular quarterly meetings during 2023 and 2024, as well as six extraordinary meetings for urgent business.31
4.46
We heard and saw that CDEM Committee meetings generally have a positive and constructive tone. Committee members are engaged with the work programme and willing to ask questions and challenge the information they receive. People we spoke to also told us that governors have a high level of trust in Auckland Emergency Management's senior leadership team.
4.47
However, in our view, other aspects of Auckland Council's emergency management governance need strengthening to enable more effective oversight of the Group Plan.
4.48
As we commented in our guidance on good governance, governing bodies need to receive regular, focused, and relevant reporting on an organisation's performance to support quality decision-making and monitor performance.
4.49
The Group Plan signals Auckland Emergency Management's intention to keep the CDEM Committee updated on its work programme and progress towards implementing the Group Plan.
4.50
Auckland Emergency Management intends to report to the CDEM Committee and the Co-ordinating Executive Group quarterly on its progress in implementing its annual work programme (based on the Group Plan) and annually on the status of the Group Plan as a whole.
4.51
In our view, this is the minimum level of reporting required to ensure that governors maintain good oversight of progress against addressing the remaining recommendations and the Group Plan more generally.
4.52
Governors also need to strike an appropriate balance between strategic focus and holding management to account, without straying into operational details.
4.53
Effective governance relies on ensuring that risks are well understood and factored into planning. Auckland Emergency Management intends to implement a risk register as part of its 2024/25 work programme. We strongly encourage this.
4.54
In our view, it is essential that Auckland Council ensures that governors are kept regularly informed on risks to the Group Plan as part of regular progress updates, so the governing body can put in place plans to minimise or mitigate these risks.
Resourcing remains a key risk for Auckland Emergency Management
4.55
Council staff we spoke to identified a range of risks related to the Council's ongoing resourcing for an emergency response and the successful delivery of the Group Plan, including:
- staff turnover;
- new staff who have not yet been involved in an emergency response; and
- funding over the term of the Group Plan.
4.56
In our 2023 report, we found that loss of relationships and institutional knowledge due to high staff turnover in Auckland Emergency Management was a contributing factor in Auckland Council's failure to achieve its 2016 Group Plan objectives.
4.57
We heard that staff turnover and the effects of duty shifts and response work on well-being remain a concern for Auckland Emergency Management. The risks associated with staff turnover are particularly high when important relationships or highly specialised knowledge are concentrated in one or a few roles.
4.58
Preparing a plan for staff well-being during an emergency response (a Toa review recommendation) is an ongoing action under the Group Plan.
4.59
Although Auckland Emergency Management's primary purpose is to respond to emergencies, we note that major emergency events and the diversion of staff to response and recovery efforts will inevitably lead to delayed progress on planned work activities.
4.60
People we spoke to agreed that the diversion of staff from their usual work into a major emergency response could delay the implementation of the Group Plan.
4.61
As we found in our report on the response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the demands of emergency response efforts can take staff away from their business-as-usual roles for months.32 Auckland Emergency Management told us that the response to another major event, the corrective actions required afterwards, and the demands of an immediate recovery could take staff away from their usual work for as long as six months.
4.62
However, Auckland Council told us that the experience gained during real emergency responses is the most valuable form of preparedness for future events. This is dependent on lessons being appropriately documented and integrated into business-as-usual activities.
4.63
Resourcing is a risk for any long-term work programme. The Group Plan states that the agreed annual work programmes to implement the 2024 Group Plan can be carried out using funding set under the Council's current long-term plan.33
4.64
However, as noted above, at the time of writing there is insufficient work programme planning (such as the costs of identified actions) for us to verify whether all Group Plan activities are fully funded for the plan's duration.
Reporting to the public still needs to improve
4.65
Auckland Council's preparedness for major emergencies is important to all Aucklanders, and New Zealand as a whole.
4.66
An emergency could happen any day, so Aucklanders need to be kept informed on what Auckland Council has done to date to address the gaps in its emergency preparedness highlighted by the three reviews.
4.67
This is why a recommendation of our 2023 report was that Auckland Council keep the public regularly and well informed about its progress on emergency preparedness activities and addressing recommendations from recent reviews. Regular reporting is particularly important given the long-term nature of the Group Plan.
4.68
We welcome Auckland Council's intention to make accessible and understandable information about its progress publicly available through a new Auckland Emergency Management website and social media platforms from October 2024.
27: Auckland Council (2024), Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland Civil Defence and Emergency Management Group Plan 2024–2029, page 57, at aucklandemergencymanagement.org.nz.
28: New Zealand Government (2024), Report of the Government Inquiry into the Response to the North Island Severe Weather Events, page 35, at dia.govt.nz.
29: Auckland Council (2024), Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland Civil Defence and Emergency Management Group Plan 2024–2029, page 45, at aucklandemergencymanagement.org.nz.
30: See the governance content in the "Good practice" section of our website, at oag.parliament.nz.
31: From 2020 to 2022, the CDEM Committee held all its scheduled quarterly meetings except for two meetings cancelled due to Covid-19 and lockdowns and one 2022 meeting cancelled due to staffing issues.
32: Controller and Auditor-General (2022), Co-ordination of the all-of-government response to the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, at oag.parliament.nz.
33: Auckland Council told us that annual funding increases of between $2.92 and $4.28 million have been provided for under the long-term plan. The Council told us that this amounted to an average 32.9% increase in funding.