Responses to our recommendations about Whānau Ora and whānau-centred approaches
In 2023, our report How well public organisations are supporting Whānau Ora and whānau-centred approaches looked at the progress public organisations were making in supporting and implementing Whānau Ora and whānau-centred approaches, including how Te Puni Kōkiri was exercising its roles and responsibilities in promoting whānau-centred approaches.
There is evidence that these types of approaches lead to positive outcomes for whānau in many circumstances. However, since Whānau Ora was introduced, concerns have consistently been raised about how well public organisations understand, support, and are learning from it.
Our 2023 audit found that some public organisations had taken steps towards supporting and implementing whānau-centred approaches. However, we did not see a significant shift toward whānau-centred approaches or systematic consideration of where or when whānau-centred approaches would be appropriate.
We identified insufficient reporting, guidance, and understanding of these approaches. In our view, Te Puni Kōkiri needed a stronger mandate for broadening whānau-centred approaches throughout the public service, in line with government expectations. We made seven recommendations, which we considered would support wider adoption and acceptance of whānau-centred approaches, where appropriate. We made recommendations to Te Puni Kōkiri, the Treasury, the Public Service Commission, and the Social Wellbeing Board.
We asked these organisations to update us on progress in implementing our recommendations. Te Puni Kōkiri, the Treasury, and the Public Services Commission wrote to us setting out their progress. The Ministry of Social Development provided us with an update on their social commissioning work.
We also met with Te Puni Kōkiri to hear about work it has under way to strengthen the Whānau Ora commissioning model.
What the organisations told us
Te Puni Kōkiri told us that Whānau Ora remains a strategic focus for it and for its Minister. It told us that the focus of the current government is on “enabling the adoption of Whānau Ora as a public service model for improving outcomes for New Zealanders with distinct needs. A key element of this is consideration of how Whānau Ora and Social Investment complement one another.”
In October, Te Puni Kōkiri started a procurement process for agencies interested in and capable of commissioning services to deliver improved outcomes for whānau.
- increasing the number of frontline navigators;1
- improving risk management to support timely interventions for vulnerable whānau; and
- enhancing the use of data to measure results and improve reporting which will demonstrate the value of Whanau Ora as a social investment.
Te Puni Kōkiri told us that it is committed to expanding whānau-centred approaches across public organisations. It told us it held wānanga (meetings) with selected public organisations in 2023 to better support “system whānau-centred approaches” through a “shared understanding of whānau-centred approaches”.
The approach Te Puni Kōkiri intends is to improve results for Māori in line with government targets through a “firm mentoring role and elevating the monitoring role to stand alongside other central agencies.” It will prioritise Whānau Ora and whānau-centred approaches within its monitoring approach in the next year.
Te Puni Kōkiri also acknowledged that, although different public organisations are interacting with Whānau Ora and whānau-centred approaches through the design and implementation of their own initiatives, further work is required to ensure consistency and adherence of these services to Whānau Ora and whānau-centred approaches.
Te Puni Kōkiri is also considering system settings for implementing whānau-centred policy approaches across government. Te Puni Kōkiri will be working across public organisations to explore whether there is a need to prepare Whānau Ora standards.
The Public Service Commission told us that it continues to support Te Puni Kōkiri in its leadership role, including strengthening and supporting whānau-centred approaches. This included analysis of options for the future of both whānau-centred approaches and Whānau Ora, as well as continuing to support public service leaders to support Crown-Māori relations and meet related requirements under the Public Service Act.
The Treasury told us that it has been providing feedback and support to the Ministry of Social Development on the guidance it has released on social sector commissioning (discussed below), and that it continues to provide advice on budget bids that relate to Whānau Ora, but also that it “need[s] to prioritise our resources and any work on cross-agency funding will be prioritised against other stewardship work. At this stage, we cannot [make] any commitments on when we might focus on communication about cross-agency funding as part of this overall work area”.
Social sector commissioning
As part of this follow up work, we also sought an update from the Ministry of Social Development about work related to social sector commissioning. That work has been under way in various forms since about 2018.
In 2022, the previous government agreed to an action plan for implementing a relational approach across the social sector by 2028, which would:
- enable government agencies, non-government organisations, tangata whenua, and communities to work together more effectively so that individuals, families, and whānau can live lives they value; and
- contribute to the outcome of improving intergenerational well-being.2
For our 2023 report, the public organisations told us this work included actions to address system-wide barriers that often get in the way of relational approaches. We said it was important that consideration be given to how whānau-centred approaches could be enabled though this work.
In its update, the Ministry of Social Development told us it has just released guidance for government departments to support the implementation of relational commissioning, and that work is under way to test and learn different ways of commissioning social services and progress its commitments for social sector commissioning.
We will continue to take an interest in the progress of this work.
In summary
The update provided by Te Puni Kōkiri points to improvements that aim to build on the strengths of the Whānau Ora commissioning model. They emphasised to us that new outcomes agreements with Whānau Ora commissioning agencies will be a significant step forward and will better position Te Puni Kōkiri to make the case for further investment in the model.
There is also work planned or under way to consider wider system settings to support the use of whanau -centred approaches. However, much of that work is still in early stages or has not substantially progressed.
The public organisations assessed themselves as having partially completed or substantially completed their responses to our recommendations. In our view, there is still substantial work required. Overall, it is not clear whether the intentions the agencies describe will result in meaningful action or be effective in expanding the use of whānau-centred approaches by public organisations.
When we met with Te Puni Kōkiri, it acknowledged that trying to encourage and convince other agencies to invest in the Whānau Ora commissioning model remains challenging. It is focusing on further strengthening the commissioning model, as described in its update to us.
Read what these four organisations have said about their progress with our recommendations:
- The full text of Te Puni Kōkiri’s response in HTML or in PDF (329KB, 14 pages).
- The full text of the Treasury’s response in HTML or in PDF (174KB, 2 pages).
- The full text of the Public Service Commission’s response in HTML or in PDF (277KB, 4 pages).
- The full text of the Ministry of Social Development’s response in HTML or in PDF (114KB, 1 page).
We have not audited the information in this update.
Our Sector Managers will continue to discuss progress on our 2023 recommendations with these public organisations as part of their usual engagement work and brief select committees, where appropriate. We are yet to determine whether we will carry out further follow-up work on our 2023 report.
1: Kaiārahi (or navigators) work closely with whānau to identify their specific needs and aspirations, then help identify and connect whānau to the relevant services, education providers, or employment and business opportunities.
2: Cabinet paper (2022), Social Sector Commissioning Action Plan 2022-2028, at msd.govt.nz.