Our 2011 election manifesto - Labour Party

STATE SERVICES
Our vision
Public services that are of high quality, efficient, responsive and effective are a vital
foundation for the ongoing economic, social and cultural development of New Zealand.
Without such a service our future is at risk: policies and programmes cannot be implemented
properly, citizens and businesses suffer second-rate services, and the public sector
workforce will end up disengaged, fragmented and under-valued.
Labour is committed to the development of a high quality public service working in the
interests of all. Our policies will rebuild front line services so that all New Zealanders,
regardless of where they live, are able to access information and support.
Innovation in the public sector
To build dynamic, effective and efficient public services requires innovation – the chance for
public servants to experiment with new approaches and to drive change within their
agencies and across Government.
With innovation comes risk: sometimes things do not work out as planned, and sometimes
things go wrong. We can minimise that risk by ensuring decisions to change direction or try a
new approach are evidence-based, however we should not stymie new thinking and fresh
ideas by being overly risk-averse.
We need to create an environment in the public sector where public servants feel confident
and inspired to offer new ideas. It is impossible to innovate if we are too risk-averse, and
Kiwis miss out. The current policy of a sinking lid policy on staff also hurts the prospects of
innovation.
Labour will ensure the public sector develops a continuous feedback loop between
frontline and policy staff, so innovation can be driven by real experience of services
on the front line.
Labour will extend support for innovation brokers/social entrepreneurs embedded in
government agencies.
It is also the case that not all innovation can or should be driven solely from within public
services. There are lessons to be learned from the business sector and from the non-profit
sector on how agencies can be more effective, can listen to the public better, and can
communicate their role, priorities and ways of helping people better.
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