On Wednesday, 14 October, OAG held a morning tea to discuss their recent project to increase accountability in the public sector. As part of this project, they have compiled a list of the agencies that New Zealanders can contact when they need help from, or want to make a complaint about, a particular public service. The list is essentially a by-product of the project as a whole; it was created out of necessity when they weren’t able to find one publicly available in the first place. They are now working with the govt.nz team at the Department of Internal Affairs to ensure that this information will become available to the public, in a form that is accessible and intuitive.
At present the list comprises 93 different organisations and officials, along with information regarding what type of body they are, what kind of enquiries they can help with and what they can actually do to address them.
We are thoroughly in support of this project, as it ties in strongly with the Institute’s Project StrategyNZ, which aims to improve New Zealand’s long-term strategic thinking. In our view, one of the primary characteristics of a successful strategic management system is that it is transparent – that it enables accountability. You can read more about this in our upcoming report, Report 15: Improving Strategy Stewardship in Central Government, which will be launched on Thursday, 22 October. See more details about the launch here. OAG’s list is an excellent step forward in improving accountability within the public sector.
In order to make sure that this information is presented in as user-friendly and practicable a way as possible, the team are welcoming feedback about what people really need to know when they’re having issues with government. If you are interested in finding out more or contributing feedback, email the team at govtnz@dia.govt.nz.