Responses to our recommendations about Whānau Ora and whānau-centred approaches
19 December 2024: We asked four organisations for an update on their response to recommendations we made in 2023 about Whānau Ora and whānau-centred approaches.
Review of Operation Respect’s Strategy and Plan
17 December 2024: We have carried out an audit of the new strategy that NZDF has developed for Operation Respect, and the associated implementation plan, to assess whether NZDF is now better positioned to meet the programme’s objectives. We summarise our findings in this letter.
Putting integrity at the core of how public organisations operate
12 December 2024: This integrity framework is intended to support senior leaders and those in governance roles in upholding the integrity of New Zealand’s public sector and navigating the ethical challenges that the public sector faces.
Our audit of the Government’s financial statements and our Controller function
21 November 2024: This report describes the results of our audit of the Financial Statements of the Government of New Zealand (the Government’s financial statements). It also reports on the findings from our Controller work (where we monitor government spending to check whether it is in line with parliamentary authority).
Immigration New Zealand: Managing how it makes decisions about skilled residence visas
14 November 2024: We looked at how effectively Immigration New Zealand manages decisions about skilled residence visas. Skilled residence visa applications make up a small proportion of the visa applications processed each year, but these applicants are an important group and in demand internationally.
Response to a request for inquiry about heated tobacco products
8 November 2024: We have replied to Dr Verrall in response to her request that we inquire into the Government's decision to halve the excise tax on heated tobacco products.
Assessing New Zealand’s climate change response with ClimateScanner
7 November 2024: Our office is one of more than 100 audit institutions participating in the International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions’ ClimateScanner initiative. ClimateScanner requires supreme audit institutions to assess how governments are responding to climate change. This report summarises the results of our rapid assessment. It provides a broad overview of government actions to respond to climate change and highlights areas for improvement.
How well four councils are responding to a changing climate
5 November 2024: We looked at the actions of Environment Canterbury, Christchurch City Council, Nelson City Council, and Whanganui District Council in responding to the local impacts of climate change. All four councils are making progress with their responses to climate change and doing so in an uncertain and evolving national policy environment.
Ministry of Health: Management of personal protective equipment in response to Covid-19 follow-up
1 November 2024: In June 2020, we independently reviewed the Ministry of Health’s management of national reserve supplies during the early stages of New Zealand’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic, with a particular focus on personal protective equipment. This letter summarises what we have been told by the Ministry about its progress in implementing our 10 recommendations and sets out our comments.
Ministry of Education: Promoting equitable educational outcomes
23 October 2024: We looked at whether the Ministry of Education's approach to promoting equitable educational outcomes in Years 1-13 is informed by comprehensive, current, reliable, and relevant information.
Controller update: October 2024
18 October 2024: This update explains recent events in Parliament’s authorising of public expenditure and our work in monitoring government spending.
Annual report 2023/24
16 October 2024: This 2023/24 annual report describes the work we have carried out to demonstrate how we will achieve our ultimate outcome – that Parliament and the public have trust and confidence in New Zealand’s public sector.
Funding for Gumboot Friday/I Am Hope
9 October 2024: We wrote to the Ministry of Health about the procurement of services from Gumboot Friday/I am Hope without an open, transparent, and competitive procurement process.
Response to our recommendations about leading the housing and urban development system
8 October 2024: We asked the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development for an update on its response to recommendations we made in 2023 about its leadership of the housing and urban development system.
Improving Auckland Council’s emergency preparedness: A follow-up report
26 September 2024: In June 2023, we published a report that looked at Auckland Council's preparedness for responding to an emergency. In our follow-up work we found that since the 2023 floods, Auckland Council has made significant steps towards setting up a well-functioning emergency response system, in line with review recommendations. It now needs to focus on ensuring that its new systems and processes are thoroughly tested and practised, and that everybody involved in responding to an emergency is aware of and fully supported to carry out their role.
Insights into local government: 2023
20 August 2024: Each year, we produce reports that summarise what we’ve observed in different parts of the public sector and set out the results of our audits in that sector for the latest audited year.
Testing the water: How councils report on drinking water quality
30 July 2024: Councils that supply drinking water achieved just under 60% of their targets for water supply measures in 2022/23. We encourage councils to investigate the reasons for non-compliance with drinking water standards and prioritise remedial actions, particularly where this could affect water quality and safety.
Annual plan 2024/25
27 June 2024: Our annual plan outlines our programme of work for 2024/25, which includes performance audits, special studies, regular reports and updates, and good practice guidance. This work considers issues facing the public sector and how we can best use our role to influence positive change.
Tertiary education institutions: 2022 audit results and what we saw in 2023
27 June 2024: This letter summarises the main findings from our 2022 audits of tertiary education institutions. It also provides information about the work being done to improve student success and about the financial sustainability challenges in the TEI sector.
Responses to our recommendations about the co-ordination of the all-of-government response to the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020
25 June 2024: We asked the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, the National Emergency Management Agency, Te Kawa Mataaho Public Service Commission, and the Ministry of Health (the four organisations) for an update on their response to recommendations we made in 2022 about the co-ordination of the all-of-government response to the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 .
Value for money – a simply complex problem
21 June 2024: Value for money is an important measure of public sector performance that helps public organisations to strike the right balance between what is spent and what is achieved. In this article, the Auditor-General describes the public sector’s challenge with defining, assessing, and reporting on value for money.
Responses to our recommendations about improving Crown entity monitoring
20 June 2024: We asked public organisations for an update on their response to the recommendations in our 2022 report Improving value through better Crown entity monitoring.
Strategic suppliers: Understanding and managing the risks of service disruption - follow-up
19 June 2024: We have written to the Governance and Administration Committee setting out what we have learned about progress with the recommendations in our June 2021 report Strategic suppliers: Understanding and managing the risks of service disruption.
The Government’s preparedness to implement the sustainable development goals - follow-up
18 June 2024: We have written to the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee setting out what we have learned about progress with the recommendations from our August 2021 report on the Government’s preparedness to implement the sustainable development goals.
Carbon targets and ambiguity: The scrutiny to expect from an auditor
18 June 2024: This article clarifies the Auditor-General’s expectations and the auditor’s approach to statements about greenhouse gas targets and emissions reduction progress reported by public organisations.
A guide to our resources to support better performance reporting
13 June 2024: Performance reporting is important but it can also be difficult. This guide is to help those in the public sector who are responsible for preparing performance reports to find and use the many resources we have made available.
Strengthening government procurement: Lessons from our recent work
28 May 2024: This report brings together the findings of our multi-year work programme looking at how well the public sector manages procurement and highlights the areas where we consider most improvement is needed.
Reading Cinema proposal
27 May 2024: We have replied to Councillor Ray Chung about his request that we investigate the proposed deal between Wellington City Council and Reading Cinemas.
Regional councils’ relationships with iwi and hapu for freshwater management – a follow-up report
21 May 2024: In 2019, we looked at how effectively Waikato Regional Council, Taranaki Regional Council, Horizons Regional Council, and Environment Southland were managing freshwater quality. We followed up with all four regional councils and spoke with iwi and hapū representatives to see what progress the regional councils had made in response to recommendations we made in 2019 about managing freshwater quality.
The increasing use of multi-year appropriations
17 May 2024: The number of multi-year appropriations (MYAs) has increased significantly over the last eight years. MYAs give government departments flexibility in spending but risk lessening Parliamentary control and scrutiny over the Government’s spending plans.
