Our intentions: Looking at the central response to Covid-19

23 February 2021: The Government’s response to Covid-19 has required close co-ordination between many different government agencies. We’re looking at how well co-ordinated the response has been, and how lessons learned through the response to date have been implemented.

What we’re focusing on

The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet is the agency responsible for co-ordinating the Government’s national response. Our performance audit focuses on how well the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has carried out that role.

We are also interested in the extent to which improvements to strengthen the Government’s response to Covid-19 have been identified and implemented, to better prepare New Zealand for future outbreaks. We’ll be asking:

What arrangements were in place for New Zealand to respond to a pandemic?
What were the significant events or actions in the Government’s Covid-19 response?
How were pre-existing emergency management and pandemic preparations implemented and/or modified, and what subsequent plans have been developed to support the response to Covid-19?
What processes have been used or put in place to effectively support ongoing improvements to New Zealand’s response to Covid-19?

The difference we expect to make

We want to provide Parliament and the public a clear and accessible record of what has happened, and what is being done or could be done, to continue to strengthen the Government’s ongoing response to Covid-19.

Please use the feedback form on the right if you’d like to speak to a staff member about this audit, make a suggestion, or ask a question.

We expect to complete this work in the third quarter of 2021.