Operating Intentions

Introduction

During 2008/09 we have continued to refine the outcome framework initially presented in the 2005 Statement of Intent (SOI). In particular we have made the following changes:

OUTCOME/OBJECTIVE	CHANGE FOR 2009/10
Strong, sustainable communities/hapū/iwi	Reduced the number of intermediate outcomes for strong, sustainable communities/hapu/iwi to better integrate our ethnic affairs services
Safer communities: Communities are more resilient to hazards and their risks	Aligned the intermediate outcomes more with the Government’s National Civil Defence Emergency Management (CDEM) Strategy 2007
Safer communities: Communities are more satisfied with the way the harms and benefits associated with gambling are managed	Revised the outcome framework to capture the importance of the community interest in how gambling is managed, specifically in minimising harm and maximising benefits from gambling, and clarify some of the intermediate outcomes
Safer communities: People are protected from spam and objectionable material	Developed a new outcome framework that integrates the censorship function and the anti-spam function acquired by the Department in 2007
Common information and communications technology services deliver improved State sector performance and better citizen experience	For 2009/10 a new objective has been included as an interim arrangement to recognise the transfer of the Government Technology Services from the State Services Commission to the Department from 1 July 2009

This change has been supported by the development of a more integrated strategic planning process for 2009/10 and beyond that encourages improved resource planning over the medium term. This is designed to support the focus on value for money in the Development Goals for the State Services.

Significant work has also been undertaken to enhance our measurement processes. Typically, our outcomes do not have immediately quantifiable measures of impact. The outcomes are realised incrementally over a period of years from a cumulative series of interventions by the Department and by other agencies. It is no easy task to isolate the impacts and effectiveness of the Department’s outputs, especially within the time period of an SOI. The operating intention sections that follow report on existing measures and how these are to be improved for the future.

We use a range of tools to measure and evaluate our progress and refine our choice of interventions across all the outcome areas.

• We undertake a wide range of customer surveys across the range of our activities, from civil defence and emergency management (CDEM) to identity services and community advisory services.
• We monitor quality, quantity and timeliness measures as set out in the Estimates for each Vote.
• We analyse data and undertake research and evaluation activity to assess progress with specific interventions and our contribution towards the outcomes for the Department.
• Our Executive Leadership Team monitors progress on a monthly basis and the Department reports quarterly to Ministers on progress against the expectations set out in the SOI.

Our monitoring process includes seeking feedback from our Ministers as part of a feedback/feedforward exercise led by the Chief Executive. In 2007/08, all our Ministers expressed their satisfaction with the quality of policy advice.

It is challenging to develop useful measures of cost-effectiveness – particularly where the impact we are seeking is broad in nature and consequently not easily quantifiable. However, we have a number of processes to test the effectiveness and efficiency of current and proposed interventions.

• As part of the Department’s normal planning and budgeting, a prioritisation process is used to test the cost-effectiveness of proposed expenditure and alignment to outcomes and ministerial priorities.
• Project business cases and budget bids are also required to include information on estimated cost-effectiveness.

In this SOI we have included some measures to show how the Department is assessing cost-effectiveness in the work we do. Our aim is to develop, where feasible, more specific measures of cost-effectiveness for inclusion in our next SOI.

As part of better integrating the work of the Department, during 2009/10 work is planned to:

• develop and promote a better understanding of what the Safer Communities outcome means, and how it links to the Department’s other outcomes
• explore how the new functions set out in the objective for common ICT services can be integrated with other outcome areas.

Strong, Sustainable Communities/Hapū/Iwi

Introduction

A strong, sustainable community is resilient, can meet future challenges, and is an important building block for achieving positive social, economic, cultural and environmental outcomes. It collectively maintains and develops skills, resources and shared vision. All members of a community need to be effectively connected in order to achieve shared goals that benefit all members.

Both central and local government have key roles in ensuring that communities are able to define and work toward their own needs and aspirations as part of a forward-looking New Zealand. In doing this, we hope to:

• ensure all members feel involvement in and ownership of governance processes and of results achieved
• attract and encourage the full participation of individuals from diverse backgrounds
• develop and mobilise resources within the community through volunteering, and to attract resources from other sources.

In the current economic and fiscal environment, communities have a key role to play in ensuring that future generations are able to enjoy the same or better living standards. Strong, sustainable communities comprise individuals who look after each other and give back to their communities. In this way, they can support New Zealanders to get ahead under their own steam and, ultimately, create a stronger society for New Zealanders.

New Zealand is becoming an increasingly diverse nation. This diversity provides a basis for how the Department looks at the issues and priorities for people across the country. We seek to ensure that our society recognises and responds to opportunities and ideas associated with diversity. Strong, sustainable communities enable all New Zealanders to participate in developing and contributing to the shared values of our nation, while also maintaining their cultural or individual identity.

The Department provides ongoing support to these diverse communities and resources to develop the capabilities required within communities. Three intermediate outcomes reflect the areas where the Department can make the best contribution in relation to local government, communities, whānau, hapū and iwi. These outcomes are that:

• people engage with and participate in their communities
• communities are empowered and able to help themselves
• communities are supported by fair and responsive local government and other organisations.

The diagram below shows how these elements are interrelated. The work we do contributes to all three intermediate outcomes, and the things we do to promote one often have positive effects on the others. In addition, the Department as a whole seeks to recognise the value of diversity in all of its initiatives and in its day-to-day business.

People engage with and participate in their communities

What are we seeking to achieve?

Active participation is an important component of strong, sustainable communities. People who participate in and engage with their community are more likely to have a sense of belonging to that community. This engagement has the potential to contribute to the growth of our economy and overall sense of wellbeing, particularly during times of hardship.

We seek to enable communities to better achieve shared goals and access associated economic benefits. This includes improving individuals’ skills for employment, which can lead to start-up businesses (eg, in ICT), and encouraging people to volunteer.

We also strive to promote a more effective and responsive system of central and local government by promoting meaningful and inclusive engagement with the public. Public participation is a fundamental component of a democratic system. All people need to be aware of the opportunities to participate in and contribute to central and local government, their local communities and councils. A greater recognition of the value of New Zealand citizenship is also likely to provide wider benefits to our increasingly diverse communities, which contain new migrants and refugees.

What will we do to achieve this?

In order to build individuals’ capability and encourage participation in central and local government, the Department will actively support volunteering and provide people with information on how to effectively participate in their communities.

Supporting volunteering

Volunteering[4] is an essential part of New Zealand’s economic, social, cultural and environmental development. Over one million New Zealanders are currently participating in volunteering work annually and, in 2004, the non-profit sector contributed 4.9% to the Gross Domestic Product. This represented 270 million hours of unpaid labour to non-profit organisations.

The Department provides individuals with support for volunteering, funding for capacity-building and access to resources. This support ultimately contributes to communities, which benefit from the skills that individuals gain and time that they contribute. The Department will continue to promote and support volunteering through our community advisory services and by administering grant schemes, including the Support for Volunteers Fund (SVF). Over the next three years we will:

• support volunteering by providing resources for groups who may in turn support mahi aroha[5] or encourage volunteering in schools and with youth
• work with the Office of the Community and Voluntary Sector (administered by the Ministry of Social Development) on issues of joint interest
• review support for volunteers, including options for the operation of the SVF. This will contribute to optimising the Department’s support for volunteering.

Providing access to information

The Department will continue to provide a range of information (including through the interpreting service Language Line, websites, printed media and forums) and advice to communities and community groups about how they can participate in their communities. Major initiatives that will be further developed over the next three years include:

• reviewing the scope and effectiveness of the Language Line service in 2010/11, to ensure it continues to provide speakers of other languages with access to government services
• improving information on the local councils website (www.localcouncils.govt.nz) and disseminating information on how communities can participate in decision-making processes
• working with ethnic and host communities to enhance the understanding of, and networking with, the media and communications sectors.

How will we demonstrate success in achieving this?

The Department works towards these outcomes alongside many other agencies, groups and individuals. In doing so, the Department acknowledges that it contributes to the outcomes, rather than the outcomes all being directly attributable to the Department.

To assess results and trends we analyse relevant survey results and reports, including community perspectives and attitudes about Ethnic people. We can gain an understanding of how effectively people are engaging with and participating in their communities from considering high-level indicators in the Quality of Life Survey (QOL) (civil, political rights and social connectedness indicators) and general trends in volunteering. We will consider these alongside the measures outlined in the Estimates 2009/10 under Vote Local Government and Vote Community and Voluntary Sector – Performance Information for Appropriations. The measure below also provides a proxy assessment of whether people recognise the value of diversity.

DESIRED IMPACT	INDICATORS OF SUCCESS	DESIRED RESULT/TREND
People recognise the value of diversity	Percentage of residents that agree that increased cultural diversity makes their area a better place or much better place to live (Source: QOL)	Increase over time

Providing access to information

The Department provides an interpreting service (Language Line) for non-English-speaking clients of participating agencies. The service is free to clients of participating agencies. Since it began in April 2003, it has supported over 140,000 calls and over 60 agencies currently use Language Line.

DESIRED IMPACT	INDICATORS OF SUCCESS	DESIRED RESULT/TREND
There is growth in use of Language Line	Annual number of calls made to Language Line	Increase over time
	Annual number of agencies participating in Language Line	Increase over time
Language Line is cost-efficient	Language Line marginal (per call) costs	Decrease over time

In addition to the measures identified, we will also continue to analyse the impact of diversity on communities and assess how this might influence the Department’s provision of services in the future.

Cost-effectiveness

Language Line contributes to improved government service delivery by providing an interpreting service that facilitates agency communications with non-English speaking clients. Anecdotal evidence suggests that Language Line is enabling subscribed agencies to resolve more calls and be more effective at achieving results for its clients.

To ensure that communities are informed, the Department’s Language Line staff attend major public events such as Pasifika, as well as Department-led events for ethnic communities. Language Line developes and publishes promotional material, such as posters and cards, to many social and health agencies, central and local government, and incoming migrant groups. Information about the Language Line service can also be accessed through the Language Line website (www.languageline.govt.nz).

To help demonstrate the cost-effectiveness of our service, we are also monitoring the marginal cost per call with a view to increasing efficiency and decreasing costs over time. Cost reduction on increased volume will be dependent on other costs remaining static or reducing.

Communities are empowered and able to help themselves

What are we seeking to achieve?

We seek to empower communities to identify their needs and to access the resources to best meet these. This is consistent with the new Government’s vision “not to dictate the way in which New Zealanders should live their lives, but instead to ensure they have the opportunities they need to make the best choices for themselves[6]”. Key capabilities we seek to develop are:

• Communities have strong vision and leadership that focus the goals and energies of a community
• Community groups are working effectively together to identify and agree shared goals, network, make best use of limited resources and build capacity within communities
• Communities have access to financial, information and other resources to help them achieve their vision.

By being better able to identify a vision and plan for their own wellbeing they are able to identify and obtain appropriate resources to achieve their goals.

What will we do to achieve this?

The Department will continue to provide advisory and financial support to communities to help New Zealanders identify and meet their local community needs. Specifically, we will:

• provide access to resources
• provide access to information and advice.

Providing access to resources

Grant funding is an effective way to leverage resources and provide an enhanced return on the significant government investment into communities. The Department administers different levels of funding for a range of communities. This enables start-up ventures to receive seed-type funding and other worthwhile projects to access the extra ‘top-up’ financial contributions critical for carrying out projects.

The Department provides support services for grant-funding bodies, committees and trust boards that distribute resources into communities. We administer a range of schemes that invest funds into communities. These include Crown-funded schemes ($18 million), Trusts ($1.3 million) and the Lottery Grants Board (over $147 million) (amounts may vary from year to year).

We also seek to ensure that the proceeds of gambling are applied appropriately for the benefit of the community, while looking to reduce gambling-related harm and criminal activity.

Over the next three years we will:

• improve the cost-effectiveness of our administration of grant schemes, through implementing better funding practices and reviewing the alignment of the outcomes among selected Crown-funded grant schemes
• support the Lottery Grants Board to develop and implement an outcomes focus for planning and managing its grant funding
• identify strategies that will assist communities to increase their uptake of digital technologies
• facilitate distribution of resources into communities through funds designed to support particular sectors, such as the Marae Heritage Fund
• ensure ethnic communities have equity of access to employment and business opportunities by providing diversity advice to government agencies and businesses, particularly to employers of diverse workforces
• provide the Government with policy and strategic advice about gambling and its effects on New Zealand society to ensure that policy settings maximise the benefit to communities, while minimising the negative impacts of gambling activity.

Providing access to information and advice

Our information and advisory services enable communities to develop leadership and goals, establish partnerships and understand the resources available to them. We are committed to providing information platforms such as CommunityNet Aotearoa and the Community Advisory Service. We are committed to improving community access to information through a range of other websites and newsletters, and providing the electronic application and administration processes for Grants Online. The Department, through the Office of Ethnic Affairs, also encourages central and local government to develop policies which take into account the perspectives of their diverse communities. In this capacity, we will also continue to act as a conduit between government agencies and Ethnic communities.

Looking out three years, we will:

• identify issues and analyse trends likely to impact on communities in five, 10 and 20 years to better understand their future needs and how the government might respond to these changes
• refocus the Community Advisory Service (specifically, professional development of staff, information capture, and reporting on contribution to outcomes) to ensure that communities are effectively served. We will encourage collaboration between community/hapū/iwi organisations and ensure knowledge-sharing between regional and naional branches to maximise knowledge, skill sharing and cost efficiencies
• enhance our knowledge and advice on community development by ensuring that it appropriately includes whānau, hapū and iwi perspectives
• assist government agencies to include ethnic perspectives in their policy development by promoting and refining the Ethnic Perspectives in Policy framework
• enable ethnic non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to better deliver settlement services to their communities by providing interventions, such as targeted training, to enhance their capability.

How will we demonstrate success in achieving this?

We will measure our success in terms of the impact of our key interventions.

Providing access to resources

Grant funding is an important way for the Government to invest in communities, and improve the communities’ ability to identify and work toward their own priorities.

DESIRED IMPACT	INDICATORS OF SUCCESS	DESIRED RESULT/TREND
Effective provision of access to grant funding	Percentage of customers (all grants and trusts) and committee members satisfied with the grant administration provided by the Department	At least 90%
	Percentage of lottery and COGS grants that have been randomly audited within the financial year that are compliant to spend	Maintain or increase over time
Lottery grants administration processes are cost-effective	Average cost (adjusted for inflation) of approved lottery grants that are compliant to spend (determined from the results of grant audits)	Less than $2,900

Providing access to information and advice

DESIRED IMPACT	INDICATORS OF SUCCESS	DESIRED RESULT/TREND
Valued information and advice are provided to community groups and voluntary organisations	Percentage of customers satisfied with the Department’s Community Advisory Service	At least 90%
	Satisfaction from users of CommunityNet.Aotearoa	Maintain or Increase over time
	Percentage increase in the number of resources viewed on CommunityNet.Aotearoa	At least 10% per annum
CommunityNet.Aotearoa is delivered cost-effectively	Real cost per number of page views on CommunityNet.Aotearoa website	Decrease over time
	Number of page views per $1 administration cost	At least 30
Valued services are provided to ethnic communities	Percentage of customers satisfied with Ethnic Affairs’ advisory services	At least 85%
	Number of central government agencies using the revised ‘Ethnic Perspectives in Policy framework’ as part of their policy development process	Increase over time
People have a more inclusive attitude	Percentage of respondents who have a positive attitude towards migrants (Human Rights Commission Annual Survey)	Increase over time

Over the next three years, we also intend to develop a monitoring framework which will measure government agencies’ responsiveness to Ethnic communities against key indicators, including employment and health.

Communities are supported by fair and responsive local government and other organisations

What are we seeking to achieve?

Communities are supported by local government and a range of other groups and organisations.

The key results we seek are that:

• communities are supported by an effective system of local government
• ratepayers and citizens benefit from accountable, transparent and fiscally responsible local government
• communities have effective local governance, decision-making and engagement
• good understanding and collaboration exist between central and local government
• community organisations work with communities to meet their needs
• central and local government are responsive to the needs of diverse communities.

The Department administers the overarching legislation and works to ensure that the system of local government is providing for the wellbeing of communities. Our knowledge of the business of the local government sector enables us to give sound advice and support to enable councils to share good practice, collaborate between jurisdictions and rationalise certain services and investment decisions.

The goal is to optimise the economic, social and cultural benefits to key stakeholders, which include ratepayers, residents (including communities), businesses and central government.

We also seek to ensure that local government is fiscally responsible, providing citizens and ratepayers with good planning and decision-making on their behalf. We will work to ensure the fiscal implications of investment decisions are better understood by ratepayers and citizens.

What will we do to achieve this?

The Department administers the system of local government, develops relationships between local and central government and ensures resources to communities are being applied effectively. As part of this, we seek to ensure that central government works with local government to understand and provide for the potential impacts of new legislation or processes.

The Department is also actively involved in some specific issues facing local government. This includes supporting work to improve the governance of Auckland and neighbouring councils that provide infrastructure to support economic and community development. We also undertake a range of other activities associated with local government issues such as the administration of the Rates Rebate Scheme and public safety around dogs.

Auckland governance

The development of Auckland is critical because of the region’s contribution to the nation’s economic, social, cultural and environmental life. We will lead the policy response to address the issues raised in the report by the Royal Commission on Auckland Governance. The Commission was tasked with examining and reporting on the optimal local and regional governance arrangements required for the Auckland region in the foreseeable future.

Over the next three years we will:

• implement Government decisions arising from the Royal Commission’s recommendations (including any legislative change)
• manage any transition and implementation implications arising from the Royal Commission’s report
• provide detailed advice on the implications for the system and structure of local government.

This work will contribute to improving Auckland’s economic performance, including productivity.

Enhancing the accountability, transparency and fiscal responsibility of local government

We will be working to ensure that council decision-making and planning are clear and transparent. The Department will look at ways to improve the investment decision-making protocols of councils to improve overall both capital expenditure decision-making and accountability to communities.

Over the next three years, we will:

• identify and respond to issues around sound financial planning including capital budgeting to ensure the sustainable future funding of local government activities and services
• review local government decision-making, planning and consultation mechanisms
• support the Local Government Commission’s representation reviews.

Improving local and central government relationships

Our work fosters improved engagement between central and local government, including the promotion of economic development opportunities.

The Department brings together local government and central government through administering the Central-Local Government Forum and a range of other national and regional groups.

Ensuring the system of local government is working efficiently and effectively

The Department is responsible for legislation governing the system of local government. We are also responsible for supporting the enactment of local acts and regulatory provisions. We will continue to update the local government regulatory framework, including support for Bills and statutory regulations. The aim of this regulatory reform is to minimise the regulatory burden, update regulatory frameworks, and/or enhance transparency and accountability.

To further support this role, we are building a knowledge base of financial and non-financial information about local government in New Zealand. We will also continue to identify and respond to the wider issues facing local government in the future, including how to respond to an increasingly diverse population.

Supporting local government activity

In addition to maintaining oversight of the local government system, we will continue to support local authorities to undertake their functions. We will carry on with our core functions, which include supporting smaller councils, such as the Chatham Islands Council, that may require specific types of assistance and overseeing the local government elections. We will also continue to ensure that gambling is carried out in accordance with regulations and subject to local authority consent where required.

Over the next three years, we will:

• administer the Rates Rebate Scheme, which provides a subsidy to low-income homeowners on the cost of their rates
• support the local government elections in 2010
• work with local government and government agencies such as the Department of Labour to improve post-settlement outcomes for migrants and refugees, including encouraging the use of the Office of Ethnic Affairs’ services such as Language Line
• promote the use of an electronic monitoring system (EMS) to support local authorities’ gambling policy development.

Implementing the Charities Act 2005

The Department is responsible for providing policy advice and monitoring the Charities Commission. The Charities Commission was established to register, educate, report on and monitor charities that wish to obtain or retain exemptions from income tax. The charities register opened on 1 February 2007, with the initial registration period through to 1 July 2008. Over the next three years the Department will monitor and review the implementation of the Charities Act 2005, the establishment of the Register of Charities and the growth of the Commission’s educational role.

How will we demonstrate success in achieving this?

We undertake a range of research and monitoring activities to help us determine our success in achieving the desired outcomes. We will continue to develop an information and research base about local government, report on trends and disseminate good practice as appropriate. As part of a long-term programme, we will also monitor the operation of local government legislation to ensure the legislative framework is operating as intended for local government, ratepayers and citizens, and achieving the results expected.

In addition to this core monitoring work, we will use the following measures to assist our understanding of our progress with regard to the reform of Auckland governance and the effectiveness of the local government system.

Auckland governance

The reform of Auckland governance is a major initiative for the Department and the country. Successful implementation of the reform will be measured by:

• the establishment of a transition and support body to oversee the reforms and manage the change process
• the enactment of legislation, as required, that supports effective new governance structures.

Understanding how efficiently and effectively the system of local government is working

We intend to report the results of legislative monitoring (and evaluation work where it is undertaken) and best practice through the Local Government Information series.

The Policy Work Programme will be informed by the results of legislative monitoring activity with areas of change and improvement identified in the local government regulatory framework.

DESIRED IMPACT	INDICATORS OF SUCCESS	DESIRED RESULT/TREND
Residents are confident in councils’ decision-making	Percentage of residents that are confident in their council’s decision-making (Source: QOL survey)	Increase over time

What are we seeking to achieve?

A fundamental responsibility of the Government is to care for the wellbeing of the people of New Zealand. New Zealanders have been, and will continue to be, at risk from a broad range of natural and man-made hazards. The philosophy guiding civil defence emergency management (CDEM) in New Zealand is an all-hazards, all-risks, multi-agency, integrated, and community-focused approach. To implement this approach, a CDEM framework has been established consisting of the following elements:

• the CDEM Act 2002
• the National CDEM Strategy 2007
• the National CDEM Plan (the Plan)
• the Guide to the National CDEM Plan (the Guide)
• the Director of Civil Defence Emergency Management’s guidelines
• regional CDEM Group plans.

The Department has a leadership role in the development and maintenance of the CDEM Framework. Through the Ministry of Civil Defence & Emergency Management (MCDEM), the Department also exercises a leadership role at the national level in the CDEM sector in supporting individuals, communities and agencies in reducing risk, and preparing and managing the response and recovery from civil defence emergencies.

The National CDEM Strategy provides overarching direction for CDEM in New Zealand and shows how the nation will progress toward creating resilient communities. The intermediate outcomes the Department is seeking to achieve have been aligned with the goals of the National CDEM Strategy:

• increasing community awareness, understanding, preparedness and participation in civil defence and emergency management
• reducing risks from hazards to New Zealand
• enhancing New Zealand’s capability to manage civil defence emergencies
• enhancing New Zealand’s capability to recover from civil defence emergencies.

The country’s fire services are key players in the civil defence sector but also respond to fire and other emergencies on a daily basis.

The Department has two key roles in respect of the fire services:

• monitoring the performance of the New Zealand Fire Service Commission, which is a Crown entity with over 10,000 personnel and an annual budget of over $300 million. In this role the Department is also responsible for reviewing the rate of Fire Service levy on behalf of the Minister. The levy funds the Fire Service Commission and Fire Service volunteer and paid brigades, and also partially funds the rural fire system
• providing fire policy advice. New Zealand’s two principal fire Acts are the Fire Service Act 1975 and the Forest and Rural Fires Act 1977. These provide for separate urban and rural fire management systems, although the two Acts are closely interlinked.

What will we do to achieve this?

To support the intermediate outcomes over the next three years, the Department is focusing on the following key strategic initiatives:

Undertaking initiatives to foster community resilience

The overarching goal for civil defence emergency management is to generate greater degrees of resilience in communities. The Department will contribute to hazard risk reduction initiatives by promoting and advocating hazard and risk reduction at the national, regional and local level, providing technical advice, and supporting research efforts including adaptations to climate change.

In addition, the Department has a role in supporting the work undertaken by communities to develop their resilience. A work programme has been established to develop definitions and indicators of resilience, and to then assess the implications of these findings for the work undertaken by the Department in the areas of welfare, lifelines and in critical infrastructure.

To counter the dependence of modern communities on infrastructure and interdependencies, the Department will initiate a programme to encourage infrastructure resilience and planning for managing consequences when failures occur.

The Department is seeking to assess the progress made towards greater resilience by developing mechanisms for:

• quantitative assessment of community preparedness
• logistics co-ordination in response and recovery activities; and,
• participating in programmes that promote adaptation to climate change.

Enhancing the capability of agencies to respond to emergencies

Building and maintaining stakeholders’ capability will remain a key focus for the Department’s effort. The Department is committed to supporting regional CDEM Groups as they undertake the development of their second generation plans.

The Department is working to support the efforts of the sector to assess the progress made in developing capability. The monitoring and evaluation programme will assist in determining the strengths and weaknesses in the CDEM sector through deployment of a capability assessment tool. This will be launched initially to CDEM Groups with a view to expanding the application to include government agencies.

The national exercise programme supports assessments of readiness and builds capability for civil defence emergencies. A national exercise, Pacific wave is scheduled in 2010 to test readiness for a major tsunami.

Following the development and publication of the CDEM Competency Framework in 2009, the Department will be working with education providers and CDEM stakeholders to identify possible gaps in the professional development of the CDEM sector and support the development and implementation of solutions to those gaps identified.

Leading the national response to civil defence emergencies

A further priority for the department will be strengthening our capability to support civil defence emergencies managed at the local level and to manage civil defence emergencies at the national level. Implementing an Information Management Programme will improve capability through the deployment of an Emergency Management Information System. Improved redundancy in facilities will be established by further investment in alternative emergency operations centre capability. The introduction of comprehensive National crisis Management Centre (NCMC) training modules and a training programme for personnel deployed to the centre in emergencies will enhance the overall capability to support and manage the response to and recovery from civil defence emergencies.

To ensure communities are safer from hazards and their risks, the Department will maintain an effective national warning system. A 24/7 system monitors information on specific natural hazards and is capable of disseminating warnings to central and local government agencies, some lifeline utilities, and the media. Specific projects will focus on enhancing public alerting capability.

Raising the public’s awareness and understanding of the risks associated with New Zealand’s hazards.

We seek to ensure that the public is aware and, ultimately, prepared for an emergency. The Department will continue to the public education programme centred on the “get Ready Get Thru” advertising campaign and the “What’s the Plan Stan?” teaching resources for schools. Ongoing research into the effectiveness of these efforts and determination of changes in the level of preparedness of individuals will be used to inform the continuous refinement of the public education programme.

Maintaining a supportive legislative, strategic and planning framework

The Department will continue working to ensure that the legislative, strategic and planning framework established at the national level, best supports the development of resilient communities.

Developing Better Fire Services

The New Zealand Fire Service provides fire protection in gazetted fire districts, which include about 93% of the New Zealand population. The rural fire management system, which is responsible for protecting most of the country’s land mass but few of its people, comprises 86 rural Fire Authorities, each responsible for fire control measures in its own area. This fragmented management system results in the duplication of resources in some areas and a lack of resources in others. It also means variable standards of administration and service, and variations in fire permitting, weather monitoring systems and the approach taken towards staffing and the training of firefighters.

The Government recognises there are significant gains to be made from encouraging the amalgamation of Fire Authorities into larger groupings. The Department will work with fire sector agencies to promote voluntary amalgamations. Following this the Department will consider the need for legislative change to promote further amalgamations.

The Department will also consider whether better fire services can be achieved by legislating to:

• widen the urban fire servies mandate for response to building fires in rural areas
• reshape existing fire service governance
• address inequities in the present fire service levy system.

How will we demonstrate success in achieving this?

A long-term measure of success is communities becoming more resilient and a reduction in the degree of risk posed by hazards. Alongside our partners in the CDEM sector, the Department participates in ongoing investigation and research to deepen our understanding of the level of risk posed by hazards to New Zealand and the extent to which the risk has been mitigated. Such high-level measures, however, need to be complemented with specific measures of the Department’s contribution towards the intermediate outcomes.

External audits provide a measure of the Department’s capability to respond to a national scale emergency. Previous investigations of CDEM capability in the Review of the February 2004 Flood Event (the Reid Report) and the State Services Commission Review of the Ministry of Civil Defence & Emergency Management during the February 2004 floods identified areas for improvement, which have been addressed systematically. We also undertake surveys to determine how effective we have been at meeting our stakeholders’ needs, which includes monitoring satisfaction ratings for our capability development activities. The Department also evaluates its effectiveness at notifying and responding to civil defence emergencies. Details of these measures are included in the Estimates 2009/10 under Vote Emergency Management – Performance Information for Appropriations.

The above mechanisms combined with the measures below will help us determine whether we have been successful in achieving the desired impacts.

DESIRED IMPACT	INDICATORS OF SUCCESS	DESIRED RESULT/TREND
National advertising campaigns support increasing public understanding of hazards leading to greater preparedness for civil defence emergencies	Percentage of people who understand the effects of disasters	Increase over time
	Percentage of people who are prepared at home	Increase over time
	Percentage of people who are prepared at home and work	Increase over time

In the longer term, the Department is developing monitoring and evaluation mechanisms that will provide assurance that the CDEM sector is complying with its obligations, achieving its objectives, and making progress towards the purposes of the CDEM Act and the goals of the National CDEM Strategy. In consultation with CDEM Groups, the Department has developed performance criteria that will provide for groups a standard measure of their capability. The Capability and Assessment Tool will begin to be rolled out to CDEM Groups in the second half of 2009. The performance criteria will also be further developed to enable the tool to be used by other CDEM stakeholders.

Once the monitoring and evaluation programme is in place, the information collected will provide a means to assess the level of capability developed across the CDEM sector. It will also provide a set of indicators on the development of resilience across the CDEM sector that could be employed to assess the impact of the Department’s contributions. The Department will report to Cabinet in 2010/11 on the implementation of the monitoring and evaluation framework.

In addition to the data that will be collected through the monitoring and evaluation programme, development of the National Crisis Management Centre training modules and programme will assist assessments of the capability to operate the National Crisis Management Centre during major civil defence emergencies for extended periods.

Cost-effectiveness

The challenges of identifying the cost-benefits of interventions for high impact low frequency events are considerable. The Department will continue to apply the principle that the consequences of an emergency for a community can be minimised by investing resources in measures that reduce risk, increase readiness and enhance abilities to respond to emergencies and recover from them. An example of the value of this approach is the recent allocation of greater resources by the Department towards strengthening New Zealand’s readiness for the risk of tsunami. That reflected a realisation that the level of tsunami threat to New Zealand was at least comparable with other significant hazards but had not received the same level of attention as those hazards. Furthermore, research pointed towards the potential to reduce a significant degree of risk through adequate planning, warning, alerts systems and public education.

Feedback from market surveys indicates a high level of public awareness of the television campaigns, suggesting that these are an effective method of public education. The annual surveys also provide a means to assess the degree to which this awareness has translated into the desired result: greater preparedness at home and at work. The findings of these surveys will assist in the reshaping of the programme and thereby heighten cost-effectiveness.

As the monitoring and evaluation programme is developed, assessment of the cost-effectiveness of the Department’s contributions will be assisted by improved information on the level of readiness across the CDEM sector, the effectiveness of CDEM policies, and the progress towards the attainment of the high-level goals of the National CDEM Strategy and the purpose of the CDEM Act.

What are we seeking to achieve?

We aim to make communities safer by creating an environment in which the risks associated with gambling are minimised, any benefits are maximised, and communities are more satisfied with the balance that is achieved.

In the 2006/07 Gaming and Betting Activities Survey (Health Sponsorship Council), respondents were asked whether raising money through gambling does more good than harm, or more harm than good. Fifty-one percent believed more harm was done, and 29% believed gambling did more good than harm. This snapshot tells us how people perceive the effects of gambling on their communities. With improved gambling regulation and the actions we take, we expect to see this situation change over the long term.

The Department advises the Government on gambling policy and administers the Gambling Act 2003 and the Racing Act 2003. We also audit, investigate and enforce compliance of gambling activities with the Gambling Act.

The Gambling Act introduced a strongly regulated regime for gambling, putting in place new restrictions on gambling venues, additional licensing requirements and explicit provisions designed to increase integrity and prevent and minimise harm.

The Gambling Act prohibits the establishment of new casinos and the expansion of existing casinos, and allows the community to place restrictions on the location and number of gaming machine venues via publicly consulted territorial authority gambling policies. These measures, together with the tougher licensing requirements, have placed controls on the growth of gambling. Since the Gambling Act came into force in 2004, numbers of gaming machines, venues and societies have declined.

Maximising the benefits of gambling

Gambling is a significant economic activity in New Zealand. Current expenditure on major forms of gambling is around $2 billion.

Gambling is an activity that many New Zealanders enjoy as entertainment and that can create benefits for the community through the distribution of gambling revenue to deserving purposes. In addition, many people are employed in casinos, the racing industry, the gaming machine sector and other services related to gambling.

A priority for the Government is to ensure that money raised through gambling goes back to communities. In 2007/08, approximately $350 million of non-casino gaming machine profit was distributed to authorised purposes. Gaming machine funding represents approximately 18% of all funding available[7] to the community and voluntary sector.

New Zealand Lotteries are another important source of funding that contributes to the development of safer communities and our other outcome – strong, sustainable communities. In 2007/08, the Lottery Grants Board received $156.8 million from the proceeds of New Zealand Lotteries for distribution to communities.

Community-run gambling, such as raffles, sweepstakes and housie, can also provide important sources of funding for local initiatives.

Gambling-related harm

While there are benefits associated with gambling activity, it is also important to be aware of the negative impacts associated with some forms of gambling. The main potential negative impacts include problem gambling and its wider effects, and gambling-related crime.

There is also a need to ensure that gambling is operated responsibly and with integrity, with gambling operators providing safe environments for customers, distributing grants to genuine community needs, and taking action to address any dubious practices.

Problem gambling

Some New Zealanders gamble in ways which have a negative impact. Problem gambling is overwhelmingly associated with certain forms of gambling, especially gaming machines[8] and casino table games. Overall, numbers of new problem gambling clients have dropped since 2003, but problem gambling continues to affect certain groups in the population disproportionately. For example, Māori constitute approximately 30% of new problem gambler clients and Pacific peoples are a steadily growing proportion of new clients accessing the Gambling Helpline (13.6% up from 10.7% in 2006).[9]

The effects and costs of problem gambling are also borne by family members and the wider community (for example, the health and justice sectors). The Ministry of Health’s integrated problem gambling strategy, developed under the Gambling Act includes funding public health promotion, treatment and assistance for problem gamblers and their families, and gambling research. Costs of this strategy are offset by a Problem Gambling Levy on gambling operators.

Gambling-related crime

The Government places a strong emphasis on reducing crime and making our communities safer. Gambling is attractive to criminals because it is a cash-intensive industry and is present in most communities. There is a wide range of criminal activity related to gambling, such as theft of gambling profits, cheating, gambling operator fraud, and grant fraud. In addition, there is a range of other crimes that stem from gambling activity or occur at gambling venues, such as drug dealing, money laundering, and robbery. Problem gambling can also be associated with other crime such as theft from employers.

Our intermediate outcomes

In order to ensure that communities are more satisfied with the way the harms and benefits associated with gambling are managed, the Department is actively working to achieve the following intermediate outcomes.

INTERMEDIATE OUTCOMES	WHAT ARE WE SEEKING TO ACHIEVE
People participate in decision-making about gambling	Communities are well informed about gambling and gambling regulation People are engaged in influencing and resolving gambling-related issues in their communities
Community benefits from non-casino gambling are maximised	Communities are informed about and are able to influence where gambling profits go Returns to authorised community purposes are maximised
Gambling is operated with integrity	Gambling operators behave responsibly and with integrity Gambling is run fairly People have confidence in gambling regulation
Gambling-related harm is prevented and minimised	There is a reduction in the incidence of gambling-related harm Gambling operators act voluntarily to prevent and minimise harm related to gambling Gambling environments, products and technologies support harm prevention and minimisation
Gambling-related crime is prevented and minimised	Gambling operators and their associates are not involved in crime Gambling operators take action to make gambling venues safe from crime

The following diagram shows how the five intermediate outcomes encapsulate the overall outcome, and align with the Department’s activities and capability development.

Overall Outcome

What will we do to achieve this?

We contribute to the intermediate outcomes by providing strategic leadership and advice, ensuring that gambling legislation and the regulatory environment are supportive, engaging and informing stakeholders on key issues, and encouraging and enforcing compliance with legislation.

Providing strategic leadership and advice

The Department will continue to take a lead role in shaping the future of gambling. We will provide policy and strategic advice to the Minister and undertake research and other initiatives to ensure that New Zealand’s approach to gambling stays relevant and effective. A key concern is to maximise the returns from gambling for community purposes, particularly in the current economic climate.

Over the next three years, key initiatives include:

• providing advice on legislation and other actions required to maximise the percentage of gaming machine money returned to authorised purposes and improve integrity in funding practices. This is a priority as it will ensure that funding goes back to charitable and community purposes in order to fulfil the intentions of the Gambling Act
• implementing a Gambling Funding Engagement Initiative in 2009/10, which aims to get national funding organisations, government agencies and the gambling sector together to address issues relating to the quality of gaming machine funding.

Ensuring a supportive legislative and regulatory environment

In administering the Gambling Act, we will continue to monitor and review its implementation to ensure it is achieving its intended effect. The Department already has a Gambling Amendment Bill before the House. This is designed to resolve some drafting and implementation issues to ensure the Act operates as originally intended, and deliver some further enhancements to assist in achieving the objectives of the legislation. Over the next two years, the Department will support the progress of the Bill as required, and begin an evaluation of the effectiveness of the Gambling Act.

The Ministry of Justice has work underway to develop a Bill that will introduce new measures to combat money laundering and terrorism financing. The Department is one of three proposed anti-money-laundering supervisors. We would have responsibility for supervising casinos and a number of other types of entities, including (eventually) the New Zealand Racing Board. Over the next two years, the Department will support the development and implementation of anti-money laundering legislation.

Engaging and informing the sector and stakeholders

The Department will continue to educate and inform the gambling sector in order to increase voluntary compliance, integrity and good practice related to the prevention and minimisation of gambling harm.

Over the next three years, we will also undertake the following key activities:

• Continue to implement and evaluate a Community Engagement Model. This involves engagement with local groups, agencies and gambling operators to enable the Department to understand the needs and vulnerabilities of particular communities, and better target its compliance actions. Information and feedback gathered during the initiative will enable assessment of the extent to which communities, including different communities of interest, are involved with gambling operators and health providers to address gambling-related issues.
• Continue to work in partnership with the Ministry of Health to help prevent and minimise harm related to problem gambling.

Encouraging and enforcing compliance with gambling legislation

The work of the Department includes licensing and auditing gambling operations, investigating possible non-compliance and offences, and taking a range of enforcement actions including prosecution. These activities are supported by an intelligence-led, targeted enforcement focus. In addition, we will engage with the sector to ensure regulatory requirements and expectations are clear and reasonable.

We will also develop and implement a compliance programme for the introduction of player information displays on gaming machines. These displays are designed as a harm minimisation measure to provide information on a player’s session and help players to manage their gambling. Displays are mandatory from July 2009 and the Department will take appropriate action to ensure that all machines are compliant.

How will we demonstrate success in achieving this?

The Department has resources dedicated to enhancing data collection and monitoring of its performance. We use a wide variety of tools and measures, both qualitative and quantitative, to assess our success at achieving the desired impacts. Some of the key measures are highlighted in the table.

The sixth instalment of the five-yearly Participation in and Attitudes to Gambling Survey is due to be undertaken in 2010, and the Department intends to make information from the survey available to the public. This survey provides a wealth of information to inform our assessment of whether gambling is doing more good than harm. We will also undertake the Gaming Machine Profits Survey in 2010 to gather information on the destination and purpose of gaming machine grants, and ensure the results are available to stakeholders and the public.

DESIRED IMPACT	INDICATORS OF SUCCESS	DESIRED RESULT/TREND
People participate in decision-making about gambling
People in communities know how to influence and where to get information	Percentage of people indicating they know the gambling policy of their territorial authority (Source: Participation in and Attitudes to Gambling Survey)	Increase over time
Community benefits from non-casino gambling are maximised
Funds contribute to identified community needs and provide sustainable benefits	Percentage of those questioned being happy with the distribution of profits from gambling. (Source: Participation in and Attitudes to Gambling Survey)	Increase over time
There is an increase in the percentage gaming machine operators return to authorised purposes	Percentage of gaming machine profits returned to authorised purposes (Source: DIA data)	At least 37.12% and increasing over time
Gambling is operated with integrity
Operators demonstrate compliance with the legislation	Percentage of audits and investigations that show compliance with legislative requirements (Source: DIA data)	Increase over time
Operators in the gambling sector demonstrate responsibility and good practice	Number of operators demonstrating practice that exceeds minimum legal requirements, measured via interventions such as a ‘mystery shopper campaign’ (Source: DIA data)	Increase over time
Stakeholders are confident in the way gambling is regulated	Percentage of stakeholders believing the Department is an effective regulator of the gambling sector (Source: Gambling Stakeholder Survey)	Increase over time
Gambling-related harm is prevented and minimised
Operators adopt and implement responsible gambling policies that adhere to or go beyond the minimum required for legislative compliance	Number of breaches related to harm prevention and minimisation (Source: DIA data)	Decrease over time
Gambling-related crime is prevented and minimised
Operators adopt and implement policies /procedures to identify and eliminate criminal behaviour at casino venues	Number of casinos that have implemented such plans. (Source: DIA data)	Increase over time

In addition to the measures identified, we will carry out a number of other activities to enable us to better evaluate the effectiveness of our interventions in the future. Over the next three years, our ability to demonstrate success will be supported by:

• developing a grants database to monitor funds returned to the community
• continuing development of an Integrated Gambling Platform, an information technology initiative to enhance licensing systems, information-gathering, analysis and reporting
• further development of the existing Electronic Monitoring System to improve the gathering of quality information about the activities of gaming venues
• enhancing our audit models to gather qualitative information on good practice and operator responsibility as well as information on compliance with the minimum requirements of the Gambling Act.

Cost-effectiveness

Through a strategic approach to compliance and enforcement we intend to create a framework where our strong emphasis on encouraging responsibility in gambling operations, underpinned by effective enforcement, will achieve the desired outcomes in a cost-effective manner.

We build cost-effectiveness into the work we do every day and the new initiatives we undertake. For example, the Integrated Gambling Platform aims to streamline licensing transactions to improve productivity by moving from a paper-based to an online system. The Department will enhance its capability to achieve long-term gains in effectiveness by taking advantage of commonalities and shared expertise.

The majority of our services are funded from licence fees. These fees and the other main compliance costs of the Gambling Act regime – expenditure taxes, licence fees, duties and the problem gambling levy – are borne by the gamblers. This money is used to offset and reduce the costs of harm to society as a whole (eg. the impact on the criminal justice and health systems). The Department maintains memorandum accounts to ensure transparency in fee-setting and provide for stability in fee levels over the medium term. Fees reviews are undertaken periodically (most recently in 2007/08), ensuring external scrutiny of the cost-effectiveness of any proposed changes.

While we need data to evaluate our performance and drive improved delivery, we believe that we can contribute to reducing inefficiency through careful design of our measurement frameworks. For example, to inform our performance evaluation we seek out existing sources before commissioning our own research. These measurement systems will be developed with a view to understanding our effectiveness, efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

We will also take an intelligence-based approach to gain a better understanding of the innate complexities of our working environment and identify key leverage points. This will better equip us to make informed choices around interventions.

What are we seeking to achieve?

One of the driving goals of the Government is to grow the New Zealand economy to deliver greater prosperity, security and opportunities to all New Zealanders. The Internet plays an increasing role in society, driving economic prosperity and connecting citizens and communities. Fast and increasingly affordable, the Internet facilitates international cooperation, trade and the exchange of ideas.

However, these innovations also provide opportunities for criminals to engage in activities that undermine our social and economic wellbeing. The Department has a role in protecting people from two particular forms of exploitation – trade in objectionable publications, and the dissemination of commercial unsolicited electronic messages or “spam”.

The Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Act 1993 provides for the restriction of publications and prohibits the possession or trade of objectionable publications[10]. These publications are further classified into two types – objectionable material and restricted material. Objectionable material is harmful both because of the likely effects of viewing such material and because the material may be derived from situations in which harm is intended or caused to the subject. The exchange of and trade in objectionable material feeds off sexual exploitation, most disturbingly of children. Restricted material is likely to be harmful to specific audiences, particularly young people.

Spam is another form of exploitation that can be deceptively harmful. It constitutes 90% of incoming business email and, although perceived as a benign annoyance, can actually cause significant harm to individuals and industry. Like most criminal activity, the object of spam is to create wealth and it has been linked to fraud, theft, money laundering, dissemination of computer viruses and funnelling of funds to international criminal and terrorist organisations. With the passage of the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act 2007, the Department established a new compliance function to enforce the anti-spam law.

The five intermediate outcomes below reflect our aim of making communities safer by creating an environment in which people are protected from spam and objectionable material.

INTERMEDIATE OUTCOMES	WHAT WE ARE SEEKING TO ACHIEVE
Social harm related to restricted and objectionable material is prevented and minimised	Vulnerable persons are protected from restricted and objectionable material
Economic and infrastructural damage associated with spam is reduced	There is a reduction in the cost and impact of spam in New Zealand
Regulated sectors act responsibly and with integrity	The industry voluntarily complies with legislative requirements
Communities are informed and aware of relevant laws and the risks associated with the misuse of digital technology	The public understands the law relating to restricted and objectionable material, the consequences of breaking the law and how to protect themselves and others The public understands the law relating to spam, why spam can be dangerous or harmful, and how to prevent spam from causing damage
Crime related to restricted and objectionable material and spam is prevented and minimised	New Zealand-based businesses and individuals do not commit offences involving spam or restricted/ objectionable material New Zealand’s international credibility is maintained in relation to the prevention and investigation of e-crime

By focusing our interventions on these outcomes, we seek to ensure that people are protected from spam and objectionable materials that could compromise citizens, communities and the economy. Through our work we also contribute to international efforts to create a safer and more secure electronic environment.

What will we do to achieve this?

In order to contribute to the above outcomes, we will undertake a range of activities to give effect to the legislation, including providing information and advice, investigating and enforcing regulations, and monitoring and promoting good practice by other key organisations. Some of our key initiatives and priorities over the next three years are detailed below.

Ensuring a supportive legislative and regulatory environment

The Department is charged with developing policy and providing accurate, timely and relevant advice to Ministers and other government agencies to ensure that the legislative and regulatory framework remains effective. We provide policy advice to the Minister of Internal Affairs on censorship issues. We also work closely with the Ministry of Justice, which administers the Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Act, and with the Ministry of Economic Development, which administers the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act.

Some of our key initiatives for 2009–12 are to:

• review the New Zealand child pornography risk profile to enable more targeted investigations
• continue to develop software applications to ensure investigation and enforcement in the censorship area remains effective against offenders’ ever-evolving methods of evading detection.

Informing and advising the public and encouraging voluntary compliance

The Department develops and provides information to stakeholders, other government agencies and the private sector through a range of media to help them understand and comply with regulations. It is important that the public is also aware of the law relating to spam and restricted and objectionable materials, why these can be dangerous or harmful and how to prevent them from causing damage. This helps us achieve a variety of objectives including protecting vulnerable persons from objectionable and restricted material, encouraging businesses to comply voluntarily with legislative requirements, and reducing the cost and impact of spam in New Zealand. Over the next three years, we will:

• work with the Ministry of Education and NetSafe group to enhance and develop new initiatives and education resources for children (eg. a cyber-bullying education programme) to promote their safety
• publish information for caregivers to support informed decision-making on children’s Internet usage
• continue to trial website filtering to assist in preventing New Zealanders from gaining access to websites containing objectionable material. This will restrict website hits and consequently diminish revenue to criminals.

Encouraging national and international inter-agency cooperation

E-crime has no geopolitical boundaries. It is important that we work with our national and international partners to ensure a common understanding, as well as a joint approach, to addressing censorship and spam issues. These relationships provide us with access to intelligence, information and innovations that further increase our enforcement capacity.

We will continue to take part in opportunities to share information with the international law enforcement community. For example, we have developed “Squirrelhunter”, a tool that assists enforcement agencies to detect file sharing of objectionable material on the Internet. This software is used in New Zealand and has been made available to 21 other countries to facilitate investigation and prosecution of individuals trading in material relating to the sexual abuse of children.

In addition, over the next three years, we will:

• take the lead in providing joint training opportunities for relevant agencies, in particular New Zealand Customs and Police, to ensure law enforcement staff are prepared to undertake joint operations
• develop approaches with international bodies, where appropriate, to respond to emerging risks, such as mobile text message-based fraud.

In this way, we seek to maintain our international credibility in relation to the prevention and investigation of e-crime and increase our global capacity to address e-crime.

Enforcing relevant legislation

The Department has identified approximately 7,000 websites that trade in images of child sexual abuse. In addition to providing policy advice, informing the public and key stakeholders and collaborating with other agencies, we will continue to investigate, enforce and prosecute illegal activities in order to convict criminals and deter potential offenders.

Since the penalties for making and distributing objectionable material increased from one year’s imprisonment to 10 years’ imprisonment there has been an increase in defended hearings, with resultant increased legal costs for the Department. Our prosecutions continue to be successful and we need to be vigilant to maintain credibility in this area.

Under the Films, Videos and Publications Classification Act 1993, the Department provides administrative support to the Film and Literature Board of Review, and monitors the performance of the Office of Film and Literature Classification on behalf of the Minister of Internal Affairs to ensure it is achieving the desired results.

The Department is developing the anti-spam function to continue meeting our obligation to enforce the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act 2007.

Over the next three years, we will:

• monitor information and communications technologies used for “spam”, especially “botnets”[11]. This includes continued operation of a New Zealand Internet Task Force involving interested public and private entities
• review arrangements with the telecommunications sector in New Zealand as well as monitoring and developing our capability to respond to the evolving technology used for spam
• develop new techniques and approaches for the delivery of court testimony when appearing as expert witnesses
• review funding of the censorship function and, in particular, legal costs associated with investigations/prosecutions.

How will we demonstrate success in achieving this?

The Department utilises a range of methods to determine whether it is being effective in achieving its desired outcomes. We analyse departmental data and other relevant surveys and reports to identify evidence of improvement or progress towards our desired outcomes. For example, we review information to see whether there have been signs of increased cooperation between agencies, improved public understand of e-crime issues, and sector compliance. Some of our key measures are listed in the table below.

DESIRED IMPACT	INDICATORS OF SUCCESS	DESIRED TREND/RESULT
Social harm related to restricted and objectionable material is prevented and minimised
More children are protected from restricted and objectionable online material and other forms of harm	Number of households applying Internet rules for under 18 year olds (Source: World Internet Project NZ (WIPNZ) report, and research conducted by NetSafe)	Increase over time
The number of people experiencing adverse impacts from Internet use decreases	Number of people believing the Internet has fewer adverse impacts (Source: WIPNZ report)	Increase over time
Economic and infrastructural damage associated with spam is reduced
Business and individuals take measures to reduce spam	Number of people who report receiving spam (Source: WIPNZ)	Decrease over time
The cost for businesses to protect themselves from spam is mitigated	The annual Computer Crime and Security Survey of New Zealand (Otago University) includes a variety of measures of the cost and nature of security protections	Increase in cost-effectiveness of security measures over time
Regulated sectors act responsibly and with integrity
The industry voluntarily complies with legislative requirements	Number of breaches of anti-spam or censorship law by the regulated sector (Source: DIA data)	Decrease over time
	Number of repeat breaches by previous offenders in the regulated sector (Source: DIA data)	Decrease over time
Crime related to restricted and objectionable material and spam is prevented and minimised
Fewer people based in New Zealand commit offences under the Films, Videos and Publications Classification Act 1993 and the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act 2007	Number of young people in New Zealand committing censorship offences, as identified through censorship investigations (Source: DIA data)	Decrease over time
	Number of New Zealand-based individuals committing spam offences, as identified through spam investigations (Source: DIA data)	Decrease over time

To complement these measures, we continually seek to improve our capability and tools to determine the success and effectiveness of our interventions. In the next three years, we will:

• undertake a programme to reuse obsolete desktop machines to analyse more than 500 million potential spam emails per month
• continue to collaborate with national and international agencies to improve our capacity and capability.

Cost-effectiveness

By thinking innovatively, we are able to achieve more with the same resources. We have developed a toolbox of sophisticated regulatory responses that are effective for use in a wide variety of circumstances. Over the 2009–12 period, our general approach will be to use education and targeted offence action. This provides a cost-effective approach to achieving our desired outcomes by promoting a very high level of compliance within the regulated sectors. It also enables us to respond to a range of breaches identified in the Acts.

We will also continue to develop low-cost, innovative technical solutions specifically tailored to our field of detection, investigation and prosecution (eg. Squirrelhunter), which also build our credibility with international agencies that adopt our technology.

The previous section outlined some of the ways we assess whether we have been successful in contributing to our desired outcomes. It is important that any success is cost-effective and provides value for money. To assess how effectively our funding is being used, we will compare the results of our activities to the cost of providing the service. This will enable us to evaluate the effectiveness of our interventions and, where possible, devise new methods for determining our cost-effectiveness.

What are we seeking to achieve?

As “kaitiaki” of New Zealanders’ core identity information (life events such as births, deaths, marriages or the record of their citizenship), the Department plays a crucial role in ensuring this information remains safe and secure. The information we maintain enables the New Zealand public to apply for individual entitlements, facilitates economic activity, eases international travel and helps individuals to trace their lineage and establish their identity.

Secure and protected records of identity and identity documents provide the confidence for New Zealanders and the commercial sector to conduct business openly and freely. The Department has a leadership role in promoting good governance in the managing of identity information across the State sector. This role is crucial to ensuring that New Zealand’s approach to identity is trusted and well led and our approach to identity information management reflects that our responsibilities go beyond the maintenance of life event registers. The Department’s identity information provides important input to official statistics, social services planning and research that will underpin national economic goals for the future. Our approach to management of identity records has helped build the very positive international reputation of the New Zealand passport, which allows New Zealanders to trade and travel overseas with ease.

The Department is responsible for administering the Citizenship Act 1977, which sets out entitlements to New Zealand citizenship at birth and the requirements that must be met by applicants for the grant of citizenship. Citizenship is a step that assists in the settlement of migrants and the development of social cohesion, and in this way contributes not only to this outcome but also to Strong, sustainable communities/hapū/iwi. More generally, there is also a contribution to the Safer communities outcome, since the integrity of our people, data, systems and services, together with our work on identity information management across government, helps to protect New Zealanders against identity fraud and threats to their privacy.

Our contribution falls into three key areas reflected in the intermediate outcomes, as follows:

• good governance of identity for all New Zealanders
• reliable and accessible identity services enable transactions between individuals and government agencies
• identity information management is secure and protects New Zealanders from fraud.

These intermediate outcomes contribute significantly to the integrity and security of our nation and to an all-of-government approach to the management of identity information.

What will we do to achieve this?

In terms of day-to-day services to the public, during 2009/10 we expect to:

• issue over 450,000 New Zealand passports and travel documents
• register over 110,000 births, deaths, marriages and civil unions
• issue over 250,000 birth, death, marriage and civil union certificates and printouts
• recommend over 27,000 applications for grant of citizenship to the Minister of Internal Affairs.

Looking out three years to 2012, we will be progressing a number of key pieces of work to contribute to the three intermediate outcomes.

Good governance of identity for all New Zealanders

We will continue to provide identity information management leadership and advice and contribute to all-of-government initiatives. In 2009/10, we intend to establish a clear plan to improve the management of identity information across government, and lead or co-lead actions to achieve this.

The Department will also provide leadership in identity information management across the public service, in collaboration with partner agencies, and will be leading or jointly leading a number of initiatives designed to support good governance in this area. These initiatives include:

• leadership roles in the Identity Assurance Framework and the Cross-Government Biometrics Group
• implementation of the Data Verification Service (DVS) and collaboration with partner agencies to develop the igovt Identity Verification Service (IVS), part of the igovt All-of-government Authentication Programme
• leadership of the ‘Identity at the Border’ workstream, part of the Border Sector Initiative.

We will also promote, pilot and implement the Evidence of Identity (EOI) Standard across government, including provision of advisory services and guidance material. The purpose of the Evidence of Identity Standard is to provide good practice guidance on establishing an individual’s identity so that identity is established in a consistent manner across government agencies and to ensure the appropriate use of identity documents. It will also better protect agencies and the public against potential identity fraud.

Our custodianship of the EOI Standard and associated work includes: developing and maintaining a good practice guide for initial establishment of an individual’s identity by agencies; advising other government agencies about the EOI and piloting the Standard with selected agencies. Over the next three years, we will continue to evaluate the pilots, update the EOI Standard, and progress the EOI Standard to the next level of the e-Government Interoperability Framework (e-GIF) to become a “Recommended” standard.

Identity information management is secure and protects New Zealanders from fraud

Secure records of core identity information protect New Zealanders from identity fraud and crimes enabled by such fraud, as well as providing the necessary data to enable other government agencies to verify entitlements to payments and benefits. We provide identity documents, data matching and identity verification services that facilitate the everyday transactions of New Zealanders and help bind communities. Our ongoing activities to uphold the integrity of the New Zealand passport are intended to reduce passport fraud and ensure high levels of confidence in the passport are maintained, allowing New Zealanders to trade and travel overseas with maximum ease.

Over the next three years, this work includes a Passport Redevelopment Programme to replace ageing technology and implement a new passport system. This will enable the Department to handle the increase in application volumes resulting from the move to a five-year passport. It will also maintain the reputation of the New Zealand passport as a world-class document of identity and ensure the continued facilitation of cross-border travel and overseas trade relations.

Another key project is the moderation of historic death data against birth records. This project flags a relevant birth record in a way that makes it clear whether the individual named in the record is deceased or not. This will reduce the opportunity for identity fraud through the use of birth certificates relating to deceased persons. By the end of 2009, we anticipate that the data matching of deaths to births will be complete and residual records that required matching manually will have been cleared systematically and matched individually.

From 2009–12, we will:

• implement the newly designed passport book and personalisation technology, commence building the new passport system and complete the redesign of the organisation structure and business processes for passport issuance. The second phase of the Passport Redevelopment Programme and completion of the Programme is planned for 2010/11
• review approximately 612,000 death records for the period from 1967 to 2008, including manual clearance of around 400,000 of these records.

Reliable and accessible identity services enable transactions between individuals and government agencies

The Department manages a secure data repository environment containing identity records that are legally sharable with other government agencies to help carry out core functions. This infrastructure provides an important element of a networked State service that assists in the delivery of services for New Zealanders. We are also developing an igovt Identity Verification Service (IVS) that will enable individuals to verify their identity for online government transactions (whether for their own personal use or on behalf of an organisation). This service will avoid the costs and inconvenience of repeatedly verifying a person’s identity face-to-face with multiple agencies and hence provide value for money for individuals, agencies and the Crown.

Accessible State services are also fostered through our committed customer services that are performance focused. We have customer service counters in four centres in New Zealand, two overseas regional offices (Sydney and London), and a national contact centre. To further promote reliable and accessible services, we will:

• implement an igovt Identity Verification Service (IVS) so people can use the Internet as a more convenient way to verify their identity to government agencies online, and in real time, to a high level of confidence. This will enable New Zealanders to conduct business with government agencies more easily and in a more cost-effective and timely fashion. The initial implementation of the IVS is to be piloted with Births, Deaths and Marriages in late November 2009. Expansion of the service to other service agencies is expected with the next stage of limited implementation. Full implementation of the IVS is dependent on the passing of the IVS bill in 2009 to enable full service in 2010/11 as well as agreement on future funding
• develop birth, death and marriage online registration services. This will improve efficiency and access for registration of key identity information. During 2009/10, pending prioritisation, we will complete the implementation of a Marriages/Civil Unions Online application service and undertake full implementation of this with the Ministry of Justice (Courts) and local authorities.

How will we demonstrate success in achieving this?

Achieving this outcome is wholly reliant on the New Zealand public’s willingness to provide their identity information. This willingness depends, in turn, on the integrity of our staff, data and systems, and contributes to the Development Goal of trusted State services.

We will use a range of tools to assess our performance and progress towards the provision of trusted State services. In terms of the day-to-day services we provide to the public, we monitor a range of quantity, quality and timeliness performance standards for our citizenship, passport, birth, death, marriage and civil union activities. We combine this operational measurement with customer perceptions obtained via surveys to monitor our overall success and identify areas for improvement. This includes asking customers to rate the dependability of our services and whether they believe we are doing a good job of preventing identity fraud. Past surveys have consistently indicated that we provide an outstanding service and that people trust our work. The key performance indicators from these surveys are aligned with key aspects of what we are trying to achieve in support of our outcomes.

The Department has also taken part in independent, external assessments to provide additional information about our performance. We have utilised a mystery shopper programme on a quarterly basis from 2007 (this will be moving to a six-monthly basis in 2009) and entered the annual CRM Consulting Customer Service Awards since 1997 to better understand how well we are performing. The results have consistently shown a high level of performance. The average score from mystery shoppers over the past two years is 87%, which indicates a ‘very good’ level of service (90% is needed for an ‘excellent’ rating). In addition, in both 2007 and 2008, the Identity Services Contact Centre won the overall award for the best Public Sector/State-Owned Enterprise Contact Centre. We will continue to participate in these processes, as they allow the Department to review customer services for continuous quality improvement.

Passports are another significant area of our work. With the New Zealand passport, our citizens currently enjoy visa waiver access to over 50 countries worldwide. Visa waiver access is acknowledgement of the excellent quality of our work and reflects our strong reputation with overseas jurisdictions. Of particular note is New Zealand’s membership in the US Visa Waiver Programme. We are one of only 34 countries in the world that have this status, and membership in the programme provides New Zealanders with the ability to travel to or through the US and remain there for three months without the need to apply for a visa. The Department will continue to seek membership in these waiver programmes, which demonstrate the effectiveness and security of our passport work.

DESIRED IMPACT	INDICATORS OF SUCCESS	DESIRED RESULT/TREND
High level of overall satisfaction of Identity Services customers	Percentage of customers that are pleased with the overall service they received	At least 80%
	Average rating from mystery shoppers	At least 75% (or a “very good” rating)
Identity information is secure/confidential	Percentage of customers that felt they could trust us to keep their personal details secure and confidential	At least 80%
Documents are accurate	Percentage of customers receiving products that said their products were correct the first time (ie. not requiring any correction)	At least 80%
Products are delivered on time	Percentage of customers that felt their products were delivered on time	At least 80%
Forms are easy to understand and complete	Percentage of customers that felt forms were clear and easy to understand	At least 80%
Communication is open/honest	Percentage of customers that felt that communication with Identity Services was open and honest	At least 80%
Passport fraud is reduced	Number of known incidences of passport fraud	Decrease over time[12]

In addition to the identified measures, we will be carrying out research to improve our understanding of and ability to measure identity-related crimes. This will involve the development of a database that will allow the systematic analysis of recorded identity-related crimes and will ultimately enable us to better assess our interventions.

Looking ahead to the medium term, we will also be undertaking work to determine our success in other key interventions, such as EOI and IVS. Our goal is that all government agencies that use identity information management procedures will use common, nationally understood, and recognised processes. To assess our success in this area, we will be establishing processes to measure the number of people who use the Internet as a convenient way to verify their identity, and the organisations that subscribe to the EOI Standard.

Cost-effectiveness

We seek to increase the cost-effectiveness of our activities by undertaking initiatives, such as EOI and IVS, which provide for greater consistency across government services and reduce the duplication of identity information management services.

Our membership in the United States of America (US) Visa Waiver Programme is an example of how our services are cost-effective for the New Zealand public. The US is our second largest trading partner and many New Zealanders visit the US for business. Membership in the Programme allows unfettered business travel and therefore contributes economic benefit to the country.

If we were not a participant in their Visa Waiver Programme, New Zealanders wishing to travel to the US would need to attend a personal interview at the US Consulate-General in Auckland and pay a visa fee of over $100. Many people would also have to pay travel costs to reach Auckland.

Given that New Zealand passport holders made a total of 238,215 visits in 2006[13] alone, membership of the US Visa Waiver Programme has meant savings in both time and money for a large number of New Zealanders.

The majority of our services under this outcome are funded from fees charged to members of the public using our services. Fees for services and products offered by the Department (such as the issuance of New Zealand passports, grants of New Zealand citizenship, registration, certification and licensing of marriages, civil unions, births and deaths) are generally set on the basis of full cost recovery. The Department maintains memorandum accounts to ensure transparency in fee-setting and to provide for stability in fee levels over the medium term. Fees reviews are undertaken periodically and ensure external scrutiny of any proposed changes.

What are we seeking to achieve?

“Good government” depends on the effective functioning of Executive Government processes.

To achieve this, we have identified the following three intermediate objectives:

• The range of services and processes needed to be effective is available to the Executive, both inside and outside Parliament.
• Guest-of-Government visits help build international relations.
• Ceremonial events help celebrate and develop an understanding of New Zealand culture and heritage.

Through these three intermediate objectives, our work also contributes to shared outcomes with the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (DPMC), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT), the Ministry for Culture and Heritage (MCH) and the Parliamentary Service, as shown in the table below.

New Zealand’s international reputation is supported by providing the Executive with opportunities to showcase New Zealand to visiting dignitaries with each visit programme being carefully tailored to the Executive’s objectives. New Zealanders’ sense of pride in their country is supported by ensuring events that commemorate important aspects of our history and culture reflect the values and traditions they prize.

What will we do to achieve this?

Our work is necessarily carried out in a collaborative environment. While we have our own set of roles and responsibilities in delivering support to members of the Executive, we often work closely with the other agencies operating in the parliamentary campus. Similarly, our work in delivering the guest-of-Government programme and ceremonial events requires a great deal of collaboration.

We will continue our focus on delivering coordinated, accessible services across the parliamentary campus to strengthen the management of information and communications between and within the various agencies of government, and with constituencies and the public. Our focus includes an awareness of security and business continuity concerns as well as value for money and energy efficiency.

The Department will need to adapt to meet these challenges. Better coordinated information technology (IT) systems and processes will continue to be a key focus in this regard, capitalising on recent upgrades in technology.

We will continue to provide support services, including staffing, transportation, housing and logistical support, to enable the Executive to work effectively. In 2008, we successfully managed our part in the change in the Executive following the General Election. We will ensure that any lessons identified as a result of this work are incorporated into our planning for future changes.

OUR INTERMEDIATE OBJECTIVES SUPPORT THE WORK OF MANY OTHER AGENCIES
The range of services and processes needed to be effective is available to the Executive, both inside and outside Parliament		Guest-of-Government visits help build international relations	Ceremonial events help celebrate and develop an understanding of New Zealand culture and heritage
Links to the outcome for Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet Executive Government is well conducted and continues in accordance with accepted conventions and practices	Links to the outcome for Parliamentary Service Provision of high-quality services to Parliament	Links to the outcome for Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade Economic growth and international competitiveness advanced through New Zealand’s international connections	Links to the outcome for Ministry for Culture and Heritage Increased visibility and accessibility of culture, cultures in New Zealand and cultural activities

Key initiatives in the medium term are:

Further enhancements to the information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure used by ministerial offices

This will enable further collaboration across the parliamentary campus and as first steps we are investigating with the Parliamentary Service opportunities for jointly delivering support services for ICT. This initiative will be predicated on ensuring a high level of information security and will contribute significantly to the cost-effectiveness of future changes of Executive, will enable more effective support by leveraging economies of scale across the Department and, most significantly, will be a key enabler for greater collaboration across the parliamentary campus.

Identifying greater efficiencies in the VIP Transport fleet

We have completed our modernisation of the chauffeur-drive fleet used for Ministers and other dignitaries. This will deliver greater fuel efficiency as well as reduce other ownership costs. We will investigate options for introducing further efficiencies through improved resource utilisation while maintaining the availability, quality of service and security of our clients.

Ongoing support for staff in ministerial offices

Ministerial office staff operate in a demanding environment. We will continue to ensure they have the appropriate training and other support. In particular, we plan to introduce an awareness programme aimed at providing new staff with the information necessary to exercise good judgement through awareness of legislative requirements and the constitutional conventions which underpin our system of Executive Government.

Enhance collaboration with other agencies

In addition to our work across the parliamentary campus, we work with other agencies in the organisation of visits and ceremonial programmes to ensure they meet Government objectives. We will continue to enhance our linkages with these agencies, principally the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. We will use the stakeholder feedback study carried out in 2008 as a basis for implementing service improvements.

How will we demonstrate success in achieving this?

There is a range of measures we will use to demonstrate our success in delivering services and processes to the Executive, both inside and outside Parliament.

In many cases, determining the effectiveness of our services is difficult because of their unique features. This means that benchmarks are not readily available. For example, while the VIP Transport Service has many of the elements of a taxi service, the privacy and safety requirements are different. These features are unique to our services. Similarly, the need for confidentiality, security and a detailed knowledge of protocols distinguishes the work of the Visits and Ceremonial Office (VCO) from what might otherwise be seen as an event management service.

Therefore, our emphasis is on measuring the way in which we deliver the services. We do this in two main ways. Firstly, we seek opportunities for greater efficiencies by collaborating with other agencies on the parliamentary campus and will participate in contracts with them where we can identify advantages in doing so. Secondly, we ensure that each service is delivered in the best way, either using in-house resources or outsourcing or sometimes a combination of both.

The Department is responsible for managing transitions for Executive Government. A general election is the most significant example of a transition. However, we also need to be prepared for other changes which, while of lesser size, still need to be handled effectively and efficiently to ensure that the business of government continues smoothly. We will ensure that we continue to be ready to meet the Government’s need for continuity in a time of transition by undertaking bi-monthly formal reviews of our documentation and processes. This will allow us to determine whether the transitions have been completed successfully, within previously agreed timeframes and to a high level of satisfaction.

In addition, we have identified the following key indicators and measures to show that we are making a difference in what we do. To reflect the nature of our responsibility in the process, we have chosen proxy measures in some cases.

DESIRED IMPACT	INDICATORS OF SUCCESS	DESIRED RESULT/TREND
Executive Government is well supported	Percentage of Ministers expressing satisfaction with services provided by the Department	At least 90%
The range of services and processes needed to be effective is available to the Executive, both inside and outside Parliament.
Staff availability and quality	Percentage of positions vacant at the last working day of each month	Not greater than 5%
	Percentage of Senior Private Secretaries that are offered a personalised mentoring programme	100%
Quality ICT services	Percentage of systems that meet the criteria specified in the Service Level Agreement	100%
Safe and secure transport services	Number of chauffeur-drive traffic accidents where the driver is found to be at fault	Maintain or decrease over time
	Percentage of VIP chauffeurs who hold Gold certification	At least 70%
	Percentage of VIP chauffeur-drive services filled by contractors	Less than 20%
Guest-of-Government visits help build international relations	Percentage of visit programmes that achieve visit objectives	100%
Ceremonial events help celebrate and develop an understanding of New Zealand culture and heritage	Percentage of event programmes that achieve programme objectives	100%

Over the next few years, we are also seeking to identify and implement measures that will enable us to report how effective we have been at enabling Members of the Executive to interact seamlessly with other elements of the parliamentary complex. Success in this area will be a function of the extent to which the five agencies (the Department, DPMC, the Parliamentary Service, MFAT and MCH) work together to eliminate unnecessary barriers. The main indicator of this will be the successful alignment of Ministerial Office ICT systems with those of the Parliamentary Service and other agencies, where appropriate. Another indicator will be the extent of collaboration among parliamentary agencies. We are investigating measures that will help us determine how successful our participation in cross-agency forums and committees is at removing barriers to interaction.

Cost-effectiveness

The Department is continually looking for options to improve its performance and provide more cost-effective services. In the next few years, we will be identifying ways to demonstrate the cost-effectiveness of our activities. We see travel and accommodation for guest-of-Government initiatives as a fruitful area for this and will be monitoring this closely.

In addition, our service contract for ICT services in ministerial offices will expire during 2009. This provides us with a good opportunity to review the cost-effectiveness of our current approach by allowing us to compare the costs of a contestable outsourcing tender and consider alternatives, in particular the benefits of a joint arrangement for service delivery with the Parliamentary Service. When the first of the new vehicles is replaced during 2010, we will also be able to report on the cost-effectiveness of the fuel efficiency for the chauffeur-drive vehicle fleet.

What are we seeking to achieve?

In March 2006, Cabinet agreed that the all-of-government ICT operations should transfer to the Department of Internal Affairs from the State Services Commission (SSC). The SSC and the Department are working together to ensure a smooth transition of the Government Technology Services (GTS), which will take place on 1 July 2009. With the transfer, the Department will become responsible for developing, deploying and operating common online services across the State sector.

The Government sees the transfer of GTS to an operational agency as an opportunity to develop a shared service centre for the State sector within the Department of Internal Affairs. The Department, through GTS, will implement a plan for greater interoperability of ICT systems in the State sector to assist in reducing costs and improving citizens’ experience, through the design and delivery of common systems and processes.

The Department, through GTS, will seek to increase the use of common ICT systems and services across the State sector in order to increase trust and confidence in the Internet as a channel for transactions with government agencies; enable agencies to interoperate cost-effectively; and provide citizens and businesses with better, cheaper and faster access to government services through online service delivery.

The intermediate outcomes we are seeking to achieve for this objective are:

• increased interoperability and cost-effective information sharing
• increased use of common ICT services across the State sector
• increased agency and citizen trust and confidence in the online channel
• improved access to government services through the online channel.

This work contributes to the State Services Development Goals of using technology to transform the provision of services for New Zealand.

What will we do to achieve this?

In order to ensure the efficient and effective use of technology within the State sector, the Department will provide government information services, online identity infrastructure, and communications network services.

Providing government information services

We have two areas of delivery in government information services – provision of information to the public using the government’s web presence and the provision of information to State sector agencies using the intranet.

The website newzealand.govt.nz provides the gateway for public access to government information and services online, while the New Zealand Government Web Standards provide the foundations for developing a high-quality user experience with government via the online channel. We are responsible for the management and use of the .govt.nz domain.

We support agencies to enable the delivery of quality and cost-effective front-line services through the online channel by providing advice in web standards, identity, risk management, web governance and usability.

Within the State sector, the Public Sector Intranet (PSI) and Shared Workspaces assist public servants to work collaboratively with each other and share knowledge and resources to improve public sector productivity.

Over the next three years, we will:

• provide web advisory services to agencies and work with agencies to manage their websites strategically, to reduce costs across government, improve the citizen experience and increase citizen trust and confidence in government online
• promote the revised New Zealand Government Web Standards, which are aligned with international standards and provide best practice tools and resources
• enable the public to find New Zealand government information and services by developing the newzealand.govt.nz government portal
• review and drive rationalisation of the .govt.nz domain to ensure better use of this valuable resource
• provide improved collaboration tools and services that assist public servants to work together and share knowledge and resources to improve public sector productivity by further developing the Public Sector Intranet and other web infrastructure.

Providing online identity infrastructure

The Internet is an increasingly important channel for exchanging information and conducting business transactions. However, the Internet was built without any means for transacting parties to easily or confidently identify each other. If this issue is not successfully addressed, government will be forced to forgo potential efficiency and effectiveness improvements offered by the Internet; and the potential to use technology to transform the provision of services for New Zealanders.

An all-of-government response is being developed to avoid multiple low-quality divergent investments at sector, agency, and business unit level and this remains a priority.

Over the next three years, we will:

• continue to use our expertise in providing a secure digital identity information infrastructure to advise other State sector agencies on risk assessment and best practice
• promote existing standards and secure global alignment with the New Zealand Government’s approach
• increase agency uptake of the igovt Logon Service, allowing more members of the public to use the service and identify themselves online
• provide online delivery infrastructure for the development of the igovt Identity Verification Service, part of the igovt All-of-government Authentication Programme, as outlined on page 45.

Communications network services

The Government Shared Network (GSN), established in 2005 by the SSC, is a secure, all-of-government telecommunications broadband service for government agencies, supporting collaboration, greater interoperability and improved service delivery. The GSN connects 11 agencies in 129 locations around New Zealand.

In January 2009, Ministers concluded that this particular service was not financially viable and agreed that the GSN services will no longer be provided by the Government. The exit from GSN started in February 2009 and is expected to conclude in December 2009.

From 1 July 2009, the Department will be overseeing the managed exit of agencies from the GSN. The aim of the exit is to ensure that existing users go through a well-managed, syndicated procurement process for suitable replacement provider(s), with the aim of minimising the financial impact on agencies.

A priority over the medium term will be to develop new, and improve existing, shared services to achieve greater interoperability in the government ICT sector. Over the next three years we will:

• develop telecommunication interoperability standards for Government
• procure and manage a network services “Master Services Agreement” for agencies with common use provision for possible uptake by the wider State sector
• evolve the SEEmail product and standards for secure email exchange in the public sector.

How will we demonstrate success in achieving this?

With the transfer of GTS to the Department, the focus for this Statement of Intent is to highlight some current measures that can be used to demonstrate our success. These measures are identified below. In the coming years, the Department will be developing more specific metrics to assess our success in achieving the desired impacts. The integration of GTS functions within the Department will be more fully reflected in the Statement of Intent 2010–13.

DESIRED IMPACT	INDICATORS OF SUCCESS	DESIRED TREND/RESULT
Increased interoperability and cost-effective information sharing	Evidence of cost displacement from new projects (Source: Government Use of ICT Survey) Evidence of reuse of common government information and a reduction of duplication of tools and resources (Source: Internal survey)	Increase over time
Increased use of common ICT services across the State sector	Duplication of agencies investing in common services (Source: Internal survey) Usage of common services (Source: Internal survey)	Decrease over time Increase over time
Increased agency and citizen trust and confidence in the online channel	Evidence of an increase in government services being delivered and used via the online channel (Source: Internal survey)	Increase over time
Improved access to Government services through the online channel	Consistent user experience with Government and a single point of entry into Government services through www.newzealand.govt.nz (Source: Internal survey)	Consistency