Latest reports and letters

8 August 2022: Our submission to the Finance and Expenditure Committee on the Water Services Entities Bill.

27 July 2022: This report sets out the main findings and observations from our audits of local authorities’ 2021-31 long-term plans (LTPs).

21 July 2022: We commissioned Haemata Limited to help us understand more about Māori perspectives on effective public accountability. Guided by kaupapa Māori research principles, Haemata had wide-ranging discussions with 35 Māori participants about their perspectives on accountability and trust in, and with, the public sector. The findings in Haemata's report highlight issues that we consider are of importance to all public organisations that seek to build and maintain trust and confidence with Māori.

June 2022: Our annual plan outlines our discretionary programme of work for 2022/23 – performance audits, special studies, regular reports and updates, and good practice guidance. This is work that we consider will help us to achieve our ultimate outcome – that Parliament and the public can have trust and confidence in New Zealand’s public sector.

30 June 2022: We have replied to Hon Jacqui Dean MP about her concerns whether the $1.2 billion expenditure on the Jobs for Nature programme is providing value for money.

29 June 2022: We carried out a performance audit to assess the effectiveness of Crown entity monitoring arrangements and identify opportunities where monitoring could be improved.

28 June 2022: We looked at the governance arrangements for the City Rail Link project to see whether they were effective and likely to support its successful completion.

17 June 2022: Councils will soon be setting rates for 2022/23. We want to make councils aware of some rate-setting issues and legal requirements to consider when setting rates.

16 June 2022: We have replied to Chris Bishop MP about his request to investigate the Government’s purchasing and administration of Rapid Antigen Tests as part of the Covid-19 health response.

14 June 2022: Councils need to take care to make sure that council communications are not used, or appear to be used, for political purposes. Here are some of the main things councils should watch out for when making decisions about communication during this pre-election period.

9 June 2022: We asked New Zealand Police for an update on their response to recommendations we made in 2020 about implementing the firearms buy-back and amnesty scheme.

31 May 2022: We asked Waka Kotahi New Zealand Transport Agency for an update on its response to recommendations we made in 2020 about maintaining state highways through Network Outcomes Contracts.

26 May 2022: We wrote to the Chief Executive of Masterton District Council after concerns were raised with us about aspects of the Council's Civic Centre Project.