Latest reports and letters

July 2020: Brief summary of the main matters arising from the 2018/19 audits of district health boards. These matters include Covid-19, financial sustainability, Holidays Act 2003 compliance, procurement and contract management, and proposed changes to the health system.

June 2020: The Local Authorities (Members' Interests) Act 1968 (the Act) is somewhat out of date and difficult to understand, and the rules are not always easy to apply in a modern local government context. That is why we have written this plain English guide. We want members who are covered by the Act, and those advising them, to be aware of the Act's rules and the steps they need to take to ensure that they do not inadvertently breach them. This guide also explains our statutory functions under the Act.

June 2020: In this guide, we describe conflicts of interest in the public sector, and how to identify, disclose, and manage them. It represents our view of what constitutes good practice in the public sector.

June 2020: We set out our proposed work programme for 2020/21 and the work that we are considering for the following two years. We intend to use all our core functions to inform our work and, in particular, our assessment of the Covid-19 response and recovery effort. Other key work programmes will also continue, including assessing how well the public sector is delivering on outcomes for New Zealanders and progressing our multi-year programmes on procurement, public accountability, and well-being.

June 2020: In April 2020, we agreed with the Ministry of Health to independently review its management of personal protective equipment (PPE) during the early stages of the country’s response to Covid-19. In times of crisis, people need to have trust and confidence in the systems and arrangements set up to support them. We decided that it was important to take an independent look at how the Ministry has been managing both the national reserve of PPE and the supply of PPE during the pandemic.