the department of internal affairs Statement Of Intent 2010–13

STRATEGIC DIRECTION

Context

As outlined in the Chief Executive’s overview, this document has been prepared when the Department is in a time of transition. It is the first Statement of Intent developed with the current Minister of Internal Affairs, and it is the last that will be developed before the Department has an expanded focus with the integration of three agencies – the Department of Internal Affairs, the National Library and Archives New Zealand.

In light of this, and in response to the expectations of Government that we continue to deliver more and better services with the same or fewer resources, the Department will be reviewing both the nature of the services it provides and the ways in which it provides them. This will be reflected in the Department’s 2011–14 Statement of Intent, along with an entirely new outcomes framework.

In terms of this year’s Statement of Intent, we have outlined the Department’s unique profile and strengths, and the approach we will take over the next three years to achieve maximum impact, build capability and continue to deliver our core services to achieve positive outcomes for New Zealand.

Our Ministers’ priorities

The Government objectives are to grow the economy, create sustainable new jobs and better equip New Zealanders to deal with the economic challenges they face.

The diverse functions of the Department mean that we work in areas that are relevant to these objectives and a number of the Government’s policy drivers, in particular better public services and better regulation.

The priorities of all our Ministers have been considered when determining our activities and the services we will provide. The areas of emphasis identified by those priorities have also been reflected in the Department’s amended purpose statement and are central to the areas of focus that describe how we will achieve that purpose. The activities required to meet the Ministers’ priorities are also recorded in the Department’s revised outcomes framework set out in this Statement of Intent.

The Minister of Internal Affairs has emphasised a key ownership priority affecting the Department as a whole. This priority is to build the capability of the Department to allow it to be the preferred home for selected government functions that require high quality service delivery to people, communities and government. This will contribute to improving the performance of the wider public sector.

In achieving this priority, we will build on our existing mandate for a range of initiatives, including:

• Common information and communications technologies (ICT) capability, such as our work on improving ICT supplier relationships across government to increase innovation and reduce costs, increasing the use of the internet to deliver information and services, reducing the costs of communications across government, improving security of government information, improving people’s access to government information, improving service delivery through the development and promulgation of standards and technology for interoperability of government systems, and increasing the standardisation of delivery of ICT services to improve collaboration and reduce costs
• Delivering shared services. Developing shared service capability to deliver cost-effective ICT services to other agencies
• Ensuring the integrity of identity information, for example by providing leadership in identity information management across government by developing the igovt Identity Verification Service – a component of the Identity Common Capability Programme – and seeking passage of legislation to make an identity Data Validation Service available to the private sector
• Building capability in operational regulatory and compliance functions within organisations by developing nationally recognised qualifications and training for compliance staff in State sector and local government agencies, and guidance material to support a more efficient and effective whole-of-government approach to compliance functions.

Alignment between our portfolio areas, ministerial priorities, Government objectives and policy drivers is illustrated in the following table.

Portfolio	Ministerial priority	Government objective or policy driver
Internal Affairs	Build the capability of the Department to allow it to be the preferred home for selected government functions that require high quality service delivery to people, communities and government	Better public services
	Improve compliance with gambling laws and the integrity of funding practices	Better regulation
	Improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the fire sector	Better public services
Ministerial Services	Improve information and communications technologies services to Members of the Executive	Better public services
	Review the policies related to the ownership of ministerial accommodation	Better public services
	Ensure the success of the guest-of-government and State functions programme related to the Rugby World Cup 2011	Economic growth
Ethnic Affairs	Empower ethnic communities through increased government responsiveness	Better public services
	Maintain New Zealand’s reputation as a successful model of social harmony through celebrating our multi-ethnic and multi-faith society	Economic growth Reduce New Zealand’s vulnerability
	Maximise ethnic business people’s transnational and cultural skills for domestic economic gains	Economic growth
Civil Defence	Undertake a nationwide assessment of current civil defence capability across all Civil Defence Emergency Management Groups	Reduce New Zealand’s vulnerability Better public services
	Develop national guidance on Civil Defence Emergency Management logistics coordination and subsequent rollout across all Civil Defence Emergency Management Groups	Reduce New Zealand’s vulnerability Better public services
	Enable the National Crisis Management Centre to operate during extended civil defence emergencies	Reduce New Zealand’s vulnerability Better public services
Racing	Support the New Zealand Racing Board and key industry groups as they develop an efficient and cost-effective racing industry	Economic growth
	Support the New Zealand Racing Board as it finalises a strategic direction for racing	Economic growth
	Encourage the racing industry to support racing clubs’ on-course infrastructure	Economic growth
Local Government	Implement Auckland Governance reforms	Economic growth Better public services
	Improve local government transparency, accountability and financial management	Economic growth Better public services
	Conduct a review of the local government structures outside of Auckland	Economic growth Better public services
	Conduct a first principles review of the Dog Control Act 1996	Better regulation
Community and Voluntary Sector	Review the Charities Act and Regulations, and monitor the Charities Commission’s performance	Better regulation
	Build digital literacy and capability in order to connect communities	Investment in infrastructure
	Promote good practice regarding successful engagement between government and the community and voluntary sector	Better public services
	Support the development of Whānau Ora	Better public services

Changing our purpose statement

This is an amended purpose statement for the Department, intended to more clearly set out our overall purpose and function.

The purpose statement now uses the word ‘people’ rather than ‘citizens’ to better acknowledge that we provide services to all people – residents, citizens, those wanting to become citizens, immigrants, and visitors.

The statement now also reflects the extent to which our work contributes to the success of New Zealand’s economy.

‘Respected’ nation acknowledges our activities that contribute to the ability of New Zealand to be part of the global community, such as enabling New Zealanders to travel abroad, as well as our contribution to ensuring New Zealand maintains its reputation as a corruption-free country, underpinned by respect for the rule of law.

These wording changes more fully capture the extent of the Department’s work, but its core purpose remains as it has for 170 years – to serve and connect the people of New Zealand to their communities and their government.

Our areas of focus

We achieve our purpose by making both a direct and indirect contribution to supporting quality engagement between people, communities and government. We do this directly through the services and support we provide to people, and indirectly through the support we provide to the wider State sector. These two areas of focus are articulated for the first time in this Statement of Intent:

These statements capture the totality of what we do and achieve, and the ways in which we effectively carry out our duties.

We have always made a direct contribution to improving the quality of life in New Zealand through the services we provide and our active role in local communities, but the transfer of Government Technology Services to the Department last year, and an increased mandate to provide shared services and leadership to the wider State sector, means that we now also make a significant indirect contribution by working with other State sector agencies to support them to provide better public services.

The areas of focus reflect the diverse functions of the Department and nature of the contributions that each of those functions makes to the wellbeing of New Zealanders and the communities in which we live.

They do not replace our outcomes but, rather, they provide a high-level overview of the ways in which the Department undertakes its role.

Our outcomes

The Department’s outcomes set out what we are trying to achieve over the long term and reflect the diversity of roles we undertake and the variety of services we provide.

This year we reviewed our outcomes framework to reflect the changes in the operating environment and to more fully describe the contribution of all of our diverse functions to achieving the Government’s objectives and Ministers’ priorities.

The changes to our outcomes framework are summarised in the following table.

Outcome	Change for 2010/11
Strong, sustainable communities/hapū/iwi	We reviewed and refreshed the framework and its constituent activities based on the Department’s new areas of focus and in consideration of contributions to the new outcome.
Safer communities	We integrated the components of three ‘Safer communities’ outcome frameworks into a single framework to better capture and describe the combined contributions of the Department’s activities. We also reviewed the alignment of activities in consideration of contributions to the new outcome.
New Zealand’s approach to identity is trusted and well led	We reviewed and refreshed the framework and its constituent activities based on the Department’s new areas of focus and in consideration of contributions to the new outcome.
Improved State sector performance and better service experience	We developed this new outcome to reflect our expanding role and contribution to the State sector. It incorporates our two previous objectives: ‘Executive Government is well supported’ and ‘Common information and communications technology services deliver improved State sector performance and better citizen experience’.

This is the beginning of a process to more fully review the Department’s outcomes. That work will continue in 2010/11 as we consider how to integrate the new functions (of the National Library and Archives New Zealand). This will result in an entirely new outcomes framework.

The activities we undertake to achieve our outcomes are outlined in the ‘Operating Intentions’ section.

The connections between our purpose, strategic areas of focus and outcomes are illustrated in the diagram below.

 

Our strategic approach

The Department has a unique profile of strengths derived from the depth and breadth of skills required to successfully deliver the range of services we provide. Our strengths have been developed on the basis of a long history of successfully managing diverse functions within one organisation.

We have identified the particular areas of strengths that will best enable us to respond to and manage in the current operating environment and we will systematically work to maximise the impact of these strengths.

These are strengths that, in combination, are unique to the Department – other organisations may have one or other of these strengths, but none has all four of these areas of expertise within one organisation.

The strengths identified here are not intended to capture everything the Department does, nor all of our areas of expertise.

They are not derived from a single function but from the diversity of functions within the Department – it is the collection of unique functions within one organisation that gives us great depth and breadth of experience to draw from. For example:

Providing shared services is a strength we have developed through providing a range of services to external clients, and the development of an internal model of shared corporate services. We are particularly strong in the area of ICT, providing expert advice and managed services to other government agencies. Within the Department, we operate a client-service provider relationship for ICT services, and will use this model to offer shared technology services more broadly within the State sector. We have recently become the agency responsible for establishing all-of-government contracts for IT equipment, as host of the Government’s Centre of Expertise in Procurement.

Building and maintaining relationships is a strength we have developed as a result of the relationships our various functions require us to have with the public, customers, community groups and other stakeholders, within communities and the State sector, and between communities and other agencies. This includes relationships with wha¯nau, hapu¯, iwi and Ma¯ori communities, ethnic communities, Ministers and government representatives (through our responsibility to support Executive Government and the Visits and Ceremonial Office), regulatory agencies and stakeholder groups, and both government and private sector agencies through the provision of shared technology services. Our relationships are also strengthened through the work of our community development and civil defence advisors throughout the country, which helps to build the capability and resilience of communities.

Managing and regulating risk is a strength we have developed through the breadth of our work and the variety of ways we respond to risk. Our expertise covers development of robust policy frameworks to support regional and local governance and maximise voluntary compliance in areas such as civil defence, through to the regulatory regimes and enforcement capability in areas such as gambling, censorship and anti-spam. We also manage and regulate risk through our monitoring and supporting of Crown entities. This expertise across a broad spectrum means we have the judgement and knowledge to deliver the most appropriate response to a variety of stakeholders and situations. For instance, we are able to determine the most effective and efficient ways to deliver high quality regulation and achieve compliance, and thereby avoid imposing unnecessary costs as a result of that regulation. We also have particular expertise working with government – local, regional and central – which enables us to provide quality advice on governance arrangements.

Managing civic information. Civic information is information of particular value because it is gathered, maintained, classified or organised by government for the present and future benefit of our people and nation. Examples include archives, collections of national cultural importance, identity records, publicly accessible datasets and government statistics. Our strength in managing civic information has been developed primarily through our management and leadership of New Zealand identity information. We ensure that the integrity of civic information is protected, while enabling it to be available to people when needed and appropriate, for the benefit of New Zealand as a whole. We do this in ways that comply with provisions for protecting the privacy of personal information. It is the combination of our strengths that enables us to understand what the information needs are (building and maintaining relationships) and to deliver information in a cost-effective way (providing shared services).

Maximising our strengths

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Strategic framework

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