Better Public Services Advisory Group Report - November 2011

3.6 Should Ministers agree with this approach, and then agree a set of priority results, the
onus would be on the state services to demonstrate its commitment to achieving them
and its collective impact in doing so. The Advisory Group suggests that lead departments
be required to prepare sector-wide (ie, multi-agency) Result Action Plans for each of the
Government’s priority results. Those plans would identify the resources that need to be
corralled behind the scenes and might propose new organisational arrangements as
necessary to ensure traction. The Advisory Group judges that these plans are likely to be
iterative, and should include clear expectations for – and evaluation of – manageable
performance change.
3.7 The State Services Commission (lead), the Treasury and the Department of the Prime
Minister and Cabinet would then work alongside clearly mandated sector lead chief
executives to ensure Result Action Plans were driven forward, and were not constrained
by status quo restraints (see Chapter 5 on leadership). Ministerial alignment over, and
support for, the agreed priority results will also be a necessary component in driving
change in the state sector, and in giving effect to achievement of the results.
3.8 Information on the agreed results, and progress towards them, should be made public as
New Zealanders will expect to see, and are entitled to judge, evidence of progress. Other
jurisdictions (Scotland, Singapore, parts of the US) already do this 19 . The Central
Agencies would have an obligation to advise Ministers on whether the plans are working
and, if not, what needs to be changed.
3.9 The Advisory Group considers that the potential impact of identifying key results for
government action could be significant over the long term, allowing traction to be gained
on some of the long-standing national challenges: a more prosperous country; more
highly skilled people; less crime; fewer of our children being abused. And, with the costs
of duplication of effort and lower priority activity stripped out.
3.10 To secure these gains, the Advisory Group suggests that a start be made in places where
the potential gains are high, and/or where there is already momentum for collaboration.
Trying to do everything at once will stymie progress. Arrangements should be tailored to
fit the problem: so, club-up around a complex issue (eg, coastal environment) or activity
(eg, interactions with business), and avoid trying to make all activity fit (some government
activity is not about results and/or will not fit neatly into a sector).
19 For instance: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/About/scotPerforms/indicators.
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