Speech at IPANZ Excellence Awards

This evening is the announcement of the finalists for the IPANZ Gen-i Public Sector Excellence awards, encouraging high standards and excellence in service of New Zealand.

Events such as this offer an opportunity to recognise the hard work and achievement of public servants, and their commitment displayed daily, around New Zealand and offshore.

A high performing, trusted, and focused State sector is vital to meet the needs of New Zealanders in these financially constrained times.

To achieve this, State sector organisations need to strive for excellence - and we can see that tonight with so many organisations represented here at these awards, working to make a difference for New Zealanders.

And, as the results just released from the Kiwis Count 2009 survey show, compared to 2007, New Zealanders are generally happier with the standard of service they're getting from front line public services.

Kiwis Count 2009 results show two thirds of New Zealanders surveyed now believe their last experience with a public service was 'an example of good value for tax dollars spent’, in comparison to just over half in 2007.

Overall trust in public services, and trust in the last service people experienced, has also improved.

This is a good result for the New Zealand State Services and puts us on a par with the best in the world.

 As you know peoples' expectations of government are changing.  People expect easy, open access to information. They want to interact with the government through various channels convenient to them.

People don't necessarily see or view "the government" as a whole, but they shouldn't have to navigate themselves around a sea of disconnected islands of public services. And people expect fairness, responsiveness and value for money from government and its services.

New Zealanders care less about who delivers the services they receive as long as they get a quality service. A quality service is timely, effective and value for money.  

This is particularly important in times of fiscal restraint when  taxpayers are looking for smarter, better public services for less money.

In this year's Budget the focus remains on delivering better and smarter public services within tight budgets.

 Because central and local government spending is equivalent to about 45% of GDP, it is important that the public sector works as efficiently as possible in delivering the right public services in the right way.

Delivering top quality services and regulatory settings is the way the public sector contributes to private sector productivity.

The challenge of working within the cap on new spending means that the pressure on departments to innovate and prioritise will intensify in coming years.

Most agencies will see no additional funding for several years.

Chief Executives will need to make enduring and significant changes to the way they operate, including reorganising their back office administrative functions, if they are to deliver the services the public want.

Across government this will mean exiting from low value expenditure and looking for new ways to deliver higher quality services more efficiently.

This is not an easy task.

The Government will work with the public sector to change approaches, expectations and ways of thinking.

We already have a cap on core government administration as the Government's focus is ensuring resources are moved to improve  front-line services.

The Government will continue to review spending and examine potential gains from cross-agency approaches to delivering common functions such as administrative and support services.

Agencies also need to consider all the options as to how services are delivered.

With no new funding for most agencies for the foreseeable future 3 – 5 years, then agencies everywhere will need to look for innovative, lower cost platforms and processes for meeting their taxpayer customer needs.

We can work smarter with the private sector and NGOs.

As part of the Better Administrative and Support Services programme, a range of administrative and support functions including finance, ICT, procurement, human resources, and a range of corporate and executive services are being benchmarked at eleven agencies from across the state sector.

This work will identify opportunities for reducing the cost and strengthening the efficiency and effectiveness of these services and future phases will act on these opportunities.

A similar process has been initiated in the health sector specifically looking at District Health Boards.
Changes to the organisation of the state sector can also enhance effectiveness.

Recent examples are the amalgamations of the Ministry of Research Science and Technology and Foundation for Research Science and Technology; New Zealand Food Safety Authority and Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry; and the National Archives, National Library and Department of Internal Affairs.

A key reason for these shifts is better service delivery for customers. We want people to receive what they need in ways that achieve better results.

For example, both the Ministry of Social Development and Inland Revenue are looking at ways to transform transactional services for customers through improved online services.

And we have mandated the social sector forum to help tackle social sector problems before they escalate and to provide people access to the range of services they need in one place.

The Whanau Ora programme is an example of this approach – where we expect agencies to work together to reduce bureaucracy and the multiplicity of contacts and measures in order to focus on providing a service that works for people.

Delivering sustainable performance improvements and better value for money requires high quality performance information. The Government is working to improve the quality of performance information across the public sector.

So, as you join me in celebrating the achievement of the finalists – and the work of everyone who has entered these awards – I encourage you to maintain the inspiration, energy, and focus which has brought you here tonight - and to continue to use this in making a difference in the lives of New Zealanders.

This is the third annual programme of Public Sector Excellence Awards initiated by the Institute of Public Administration New Zealand (IPANZ), and generously supported by Gen-i as lead sponsor.

I wish to thank Len Cook, President of IPANZ;  Paul Wilson, General Manager Wellington Key Clients; and Gary Crawford, Managing Partner PricewaterhouseCoopers, for their contributions to this programme – along with the judges who I understand have had a very difficult task in choosing tonight’s finalists.

These awards have been funded by sponsorship and I also wish to thank the organisations here tonight who have sponsored award categories or who have funded tonight’s event: Gen-i,  PricewaterhouseCoopers,  Russell McVeagh,  Microsoft, Talent 2,  The Treasury,  Te Puni Kōkiri,  the State Services Commission  and the Leadership Development Centre.

There are six Award categories this year, which are:

• Excellence in improving public value through business transformation


• Excellence in working together for better services


• Crown-Maori relationships


• Networked government


• Public sector communications


• Improving performance through leadership excellence

There is also the Supreme Award, which will be awarded to the overall winner. The Supreme Award recognises:

• Outstanding achievement in the project nominated


• A sustained commitment to excellence


• Vision, innovation and results in public sector management

I am pleased to announce that the Prime Minister, the Honourable John Key has confirmed that the Supreme Award in this programme will continue to be known as the Prime Minister’s Award for Public Sector Excellence.  At this stage I will be attending the Awards ceremony on Friday 18 June to present the Prime Minister’s Award on his behalf.

It is now my pleasure to announce the finalists in each Award category.

Improving Public Value through Business Transformation - 
Sponsored by the Treasury

‘Excellence in Improving Public Value through Business Transformation’ is a new award that recognises the significant fiscal challenge that the Government faces. It seeks to acknowledge those who have responded to the call for ‘smarter, better public services for less’.

The finalists for this Award are:

• The Ministry of Social Development for the ‘Food without Stigma – the Work and Income Payment Card’ project

• Counties Manukau District Health Board for the ‘Six hours can be ours’ initiative

• Land Information New Zealand for the ‘Landonline 100% Electronic Lodgement’ project

Working Together for Better Services –
Sponsored by Russell McVeagh

Excellence in Working Together for Better Services’ recognises outstanding performance and the achievement of joint outcomes and other shared accountabilities across clusters of agencies.

The finalists for this Award are:

• Ashburton District Council for the ‘Ashburton District Social Wellbeing Strategy’ project

• Ministry of Social Development for the ‘Settling In (Migrants and Refugee)” project

• Department of Conservation and Horizons Regional Council for the ‘Kia Wharite’ projects

The judges have also requested that I make special mention of a project, which although it is not a finalist, they wish to highly commend – and that is the New Zealand Police and Te Puni Kōkiri for the Māori Wardens Project.

Crown – Māori Relationships –
Sponsored by Te Puni Kōkiri

The Crown-Māori Relationships Award recognises the complex and diverse range of relationships between Māori and government that provide the conduit through which Māori can contribute to policy and planning processes in the areas that affect them.

The finalists for this Award are:

• Taupo District Council for the ‘Joint Management Agreement’

• Department of Conservation for ‘Te Pukenga Atawhai’

• Opotiki District Council for the ‘Opotiki Harbour Development’project

Networked Government –
Sponsored by Microsoft

‘Excellence in Networked Government’ recognises outstanding performance and achievement in the use of information and communications technologies and networks in the daily business of government, and improvements in the integration of government information, business processes and service delivery.

The finalists for this Award are:

• New Zealand Customs Service for the ‘SmartGate Service’

• Department of Conservation for ‘Online Courses’

• New Zealand Police, New Zealand Fire Service Commission, and St John Emergency Communications for the ‘InterCAD Project’

Public Sector Communications -
Sponsored by Talent2

‘Excellence in Public Sector Communications’ is a revamped award this year, which recognises the design and delivery of innovative public sector communications strategies that have significantly increased public awareness of a government objective.

The finalists for this Award are:

• Ministry of Health for the ‘Swine Flu Public Information Management Programme’

• Ministry of Social Development  and the Families Commission for the ‘Campaign for Action on Family Violence’

• New Zealand Transport Agency for the ‘Waterview Connection Community Engagement’

Improving Performance through Leadership Excellence - 
Sponsored by the State Services Commission and the Leadership Development Centre

Improving Performance through Leadership Excellence recognises leaders who are “walking the talk” in identifying and developing high potential individuals in their organisation and providing opportunities for development in the public sector.

The finalists for this Award are:

• New Zealand Customs Services for the ‘Customs Integrated Development Framework’

• Ministry of Social Development for the ‘Ministry of Social Development Leadership Cascade’

And that brings us to the end of tonight’s announcements.

I want to again congratulate all of the finalists, and all of the groups who have worked hard and submitted your projects for consideration for these awards.

It is pleasing to see that so many of you have found ways to improve the services that you provide to New Zealanders. It is also encouraging that many of these projects have involved working across agency and sector boundaries to find ways to better deliver these services.

I look forward to seeing you all at the Awards Ceremony on June 18th.
Thank you.