Better Public Services Advisory Group Report - November 2011

Chapter 2: Current problems and future
challenges
2.1 The next 20 years will be more challenging for New Zealand’s state services than the 20
years just gone. Building from the issues set out in Chapter 1, this chapter identifies
current barriers to meeting the challenges ahead. It provides the basis for the proposals
for change set out in Chapters 3 to 5.
2.2 In the judgement of the Advisory Group, New Zealand’s state services are not well
geared up to meet many current challenges, let alone future ones. Several significant
barriers stand in the way of attaining the level of service provision, flexibility of response
and technological platforms needed to deliver really world-class public services.
Weak customer focus
2.3 State services that understand customer needs well are more likely to do the things that
matter most to their clients, in ways that make sense to users. This potential is not
currently being fully tapped. Feedback mechanisms are not well developed, and it is not
easy to reshape service delivery models drawing on new technologies or alternative
modes of supply. Information on state services in New Zealand is not made available
routinely, and citizens and businesses find government confusing and costly to deal with.
2.4 The impact of not listening and responding well to citizens and businesses is two-fold:
less satisfied New Zealanders, and missed opportunities for providing better or existing
services at lower cost. The state sector also tends to do too much itself, leaning towards
the status quo and not always looking for opportunities where others could provide the
same – or better – services at better value. The impact of these missed opportunities will
increase as fiscal pressures rise.
Lack of coordination
2.5 Running individual agencies well is important, but should not get in the way of progress
on the complex, long term social and economic issues. The New Zealand public
management model is founded on clear accountability: agencies have been structured to
have clear and non-conflicting objectives. Chief executives have a much higher degree
of operational autonomy than their counterparts in other countries. This accountability
model has been one of the most lauded features of previous state sector reforms 15 .
15
Refer Secretariat Issues Paper for comment on the 1980s state sector reforms: The Core Elements of New
Zealand's Public Sector Management Model as Originally Formulated.
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