Draft annual plan 2025/26
23 April 2025: Our draft annual plan outlines our proposed programme of work for 2025/26, which includes performance audits, special studies, regular reports and updates, and good practice guidance. It considers issues facing the public sector and how we can best use our role to influence positive change.
Reporting on what went well and what didn’t
April 2025.
How public organisations are fulfilling Treaty settlements
10 April 2025: We wanted to provide assurance about whether public organisations were well positioned to meet their legal and contractual commitments to fulfil Treaty settlements as intended. We also wanted to provide assurance about how well they understood any risks associated with meeting their commitments.
Controller update: July to December 2024
7 April 2025: The one instance of unappropriated expenditure in the first six months of 2024/25 relates to a $3.2 billion increase in the Crown liability for veterans’ support. Also, having seen some problems with statements setting the scope for government spending, we will carry out a comprehensive review during 2025.
Effectiveness of arrangements for reducing child poverty
3 April 2025: We wanted to know how effective government arrangements to reduce child poverty are. We looked at what the government is doing to reduce child poverty and mitigate the impacts of socio-economic disadvantage.
Mind the gap: Governing cyber security risks
1 April 2025: We recently looked at selected public organisations to see how well they were governing their cyber security risks. We found that although governors are taking cyber security seriously, they have more work to do to support their organisations to reduce the gap between the amount of cyber security risk they are comfortable with and the amount of risk they currently face.
Submission on the Local Government (Water Services) Bill
13 March 2025: We provided a submission to the Finance and Expenditure Committee on the Local Government (Water Services) Bill.
Regulating vehicle safety inspections
4 March 2025: We looked at NZTA’s processes for appointing and monitoring vehicle inspectors and inspecting organisations, how it responds to non-compliance, and how it measures and reports on the performance of these activities.
Observations from our audits of councils’ 2024-34 long-term plans
20 February 2025: This report describes the audit results and trends from the 58 long-term plans that councils adopted between June and October 2024.
Our insights into five health regulatory authorities
19 February 2025: There are 18 authorities in New Zealand that regulate a workforce of nearly 140,000 registered health practitioners. In this report we highlight the role of responsible authorities and their contribution to the wider health sector.
Results of the 2023 school audits
14 February 2025: This detailed information sets out the results of the school audits for 2023. We have provided this information, and a list of recommendations, to the Secretary for Education.
Monitoring integrity in public organisations
21 January 2025: This guide is designed to help you think about how to approach monitoring organisational integrity – how to do it effectively and in a way that adds value to your organisation. It is intended to complement work that you might already be doing as part of your strategy to improve organisational integrity.
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.
