The Department of Internal Affairs

The Department of Internal Affairs

Te Tari Taiwhenua

Building a safe, prosperous and respected nation

 

Resource material › Corporate Publications › Annual Report 2012-13Pūrongo ā Tau

Part A: Contribution to Outcomes and Objectives

The Department includes a diverse range of functions. This section outlines how each of these functions has combined over the past year to contribute to the delivery of the Department’s outcomes, objectives and intended results.

Our Outcomes and Objectives

The long-term outcomes and objectives[1] we are seeking to achieve for New Zealanders are:

Outcomes

  • New Zealand’s diverse people and communities/hapū/iwi are resilient and prosperous
  • New Zealand is recognised for creating, sharing and using knowledge for social, cultural and economic well-being
  • The people of New Zealand have a strong and valued national identity, culture and heritage

Objective

  • To enhance trust in government and confidence in the performance of public sector organisations

Our full outcomes framework (titled ‘Performance framework’) which is provided in Appendix I, illustrates the links between our:

  • outcomes, intermediate outcomes and impacts
  • objectives, lead objectives and supporting objectives.

These links are shown in Appendix II (titled ‘Links between impacts, intermediate outcomes and outcomes/objectives’).

The Department uses outcome and impact indicators in the Statement of Intent and performance measures in the Information Supporting the Estimates – in combination with information such as financial management data, ministerial satisfaction surveys and independent surveys and reviews of services – to track and report back on our performance against objectives.

We have reported contributions and progress against indicators under each of our impact and lead objective areas.

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Contributing to Outcomes

The following section reports on our contribution to achieving outcomes and our progress on the priorities, initiatives and indicators outlined in our Statement of Intent.

Outcome indicators

We used the indicators below to track progress towards our outcomes.

Outcome indicators
Outcomes Indicators Trend Data source
New Zealand’s diverse people and communities/hapū/iwi are resilient and prosperous Increasing the proportion of people who feel a strong sense of community:

People who feel a sense of community in their local neighbourhood

2012: 53%
2010: 60%
2008: 58.4%
Quality of Life Survey[2]

People who feel isolated from others (some or most of the time)

2012: 15%
2010: 15%
2008: 16%
General Social Survey (Statistics New Zealand)
Increasing the number of people who feel they live in a safe and secure environment and are sufficiently prepared for emergencies, should they occur:

The percentage of households with emergency water for three days

2012: 51.5%
2010: 45%
2008: 60%
General Social Survey (Statistics New Zealand)
Increasing the proportion of people participating in civic society:

Percentage of people who would like to have more of a say in what their council does

2012: 56%
2010: 46%
2008: 48%
Quality of Life Survey[3]

Number of candidates standing for local authority elections

2010: 3,917
2007: 4,123
2004: 4,092
Local Authority Election Statistics[4]

Voter turnout at local authority elections

2010: 49%
2007: 44%
2004: 46%
Local Authority Election Statistics[5]
New Zealand is recognised for creating, sharing and using knowledge for social, cultural and economic well-being Increasing New Zealand’s readiness to use and leverage ICT to increase wellbeing:

Network Readiness Index ranking

2013: 20
2012: 14
2011: 18
2010: 19
2009: 22
Global Information Technology Report (World Economic Forum and European Institute of Administration)
Increasing New Zealand’s ability to create and use knowledge through improving literacy skills:

New Zealand’s index ranking reading literacy performance/OECD average

2009: 521/493 OECD PISA report[6]
The people of New Zealand have a strong and valued national identity, culture and heritage Maintaining a high proportion of people who say they belong to New Zealand 2012: 94.1%
2010: 94.5%
2008: 93.9%
General Social Survey (Statistics New Zealand)
Maintaining a high proportion of people who say it is easy/very easy to express their own culture:

Easy or very easy

2012: 84.5%
2010: 83.7%
2008: 82.3%
General Social Survey (Statistics New Zealand)

Sometimes easy, sometimes difficult

2012: 12.5%
2010: 13.4%
2008: 13.9%
Maintaining the number of countries allowing visa-free access to New Zealand passport holders 2012/13: 50+
2011/12: 50+
2010/11: 50+
2009/10: 50+
Henley Visa Restrictions Index Global Ranking 2013

While our work makes an important contribution to outcomes, the above indicators are influenced by factors beyond the impact of the Department’s activities and services. Due to the high-level and long-term nature of outcome indicators, some data we use to measure our contribution is not updated on an annual basis. We have reported on the most up-to-date data available.

Impact: People and communities understand and manage hazards and risks

We continued to improve New Zealanders’ understanding of local hazards and risks in their communities, and used what we learned from the Canterbury earthquakes to strengthen preparedness and response procedures, and the framework for recovery from major civil defence events. This work contributed to our outcome for resilient and prosperous communities.

We contributed to ministerial priorities in the following portfolios:

  • Internal Affairs
  • Local Government
  • Civil Defence

Increased communities’ resilience

Through the Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management (MCDEM), we have a lead role in building community preparedness, resilience and capability to respond to civil defence emergencies.

We continue to use lessons from the Canterbury earthquakes to improve our capability to respond to future civil defence emergencies, and raise awareness of what to do when civil defence emergencies occur.

This year we reported on the progress of the National Civil Defence Emergency Management Strategy,[7] and resumed updating the National Civil Defence Emergency Management Plan. The review of the Strategy showed that good progress has been made in the past five years in building New Zealand’s resilience and in our capability to manage civil defence emergencies. The updated Plan will take into account recommendations from reviews of the Canterbury earthquake response, including the Canterbury Earthquakes Royal Commission’s final report. We also began scoping a review of the legislation for recovery that will draw on lessons from the Canterbury earthquakes.

The Get Ready Get Thru campaign continued to help New Zealanders prepare for emergencies, with survey results showing that 69 per cent of people are aware of the campaign. We also continued to provide educational resources to schools and preschools through the What’s the Plan Stan and TurtleSafe campaigns. The proportion of New Zealanders prepared at home has remained stable at 32 per cent for the past three years.

New Zealanders prepared for emergencies
New Zealanders prepared for emergencies

Source: Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management Campaign Monitoring Research 2013

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Spotlight on New Zealand Shakeout

New Zealand’s largest ever earthquake preparedness campaign, New Zealand ShakeOut, was conducted in September 2012 with great success. The six-month campaign culminated in a nation-wide Drop, Cover and Hold earthquake drill at 9:26am on Wednesday 26 September 2012. Approximately 30 per cent of New Zealand’s population registered to participate in the event.

Evaluation of the ShakeOut exercise indicates that the campaign succeeded in increasing participants’ preparedness. The majority of people felt that the campaign was successful and would like it to be repeated (93.4 per cent and 95.9 per cent respectively). The Department has started planning the next New Zealand ShakeOut campaign for 2015.

Throughout New Zealand, regional Civil Defence Emergency Management (CDEM) Groups are responsible for responding to local civil defence events. Capability assessments of each of New Zealand’s 16 CDEM Groups have identified each group’s strengths and weaknesses. MCDEM is now supporting Groups to lift their capability and address weaknesses, ensuring that all New Zealand communities are prepared to deal with any civil defence emergencies that may arise.

Fire services play an essential role in community resilience. We are the lead agency working on the government’s response to the 2012 independent review of the New Zealand Fire Service Commission’s functions and funding.[8] The review put forward a range of legislative and non-legislative recommendations. We are working with the New Zealand Fire Service, government and sector organisations to develop policy proposals in response to these recommendations. Considerable preparation and consultation were undertaken in 2012/13, and the work programme will span 2013/14.

Spotlight on our contribution to the recovery in Canterbury

Providing practical assistance to Canterbury’s recovery and the rebuild in Christchurch is an ongoing priority for the Department. We facilitated funding to a range of recovery initiatives and community groups in the region, particularly through administration of the Christchurch Earthquake Appeal Trust. During the year the Trustees established a $31.5 million portfolio for ‘Large Permanent Projects’ that will make a positive difference to Canterbury’s long-term recovery. We also supported local authorities in Canterbury by making it easier to meet legislative requirements during the recovery. We reimbursed over $215 million to Canterbury councils for earthquake response costs incurred to June 2012.[9]

The National Libraries’ Services to Schools team in Christchurch is continuing to support earthquake impacted schools by developing modern library learning environments. This has included supporting schools to make temporary arrangements and also longer term projects to plan new school libraries. The team has also worked to ensure schools that had collection losses were supported with additional curriculum resources from the National Library’s collection.

Reduced social risks and harm

Through our regulation and compliance functions, we continued to improve communities’ understanding of the social risks involved in regulated activities, and to reduce the potential for harm in the community.

Reducing harm in the online environment is an ongoing priority. We worked with law enforcement agencies in other jurisdictions, the New Zealand Police and New Zealand Customs to combat the trade and distribution of child sexual abuse images through the Internet, and to detect and apprehend offenders. This collaborative work resulted in children being removed from abusive situations, and we continued to lead work in New Zealand on identifying victims in child sexual abuse imagery.

Our Digital Child Exploitation Filter restricts access to unlawful websites known to offer objectionable material involving children, and it continued to be highly successful in 2012/13. We increased the number of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) using this service, and the filter now reaches an estimated 2.7 million users.

Unsolicited electronic email (spam) can be a serious impediment to productive use of the Internet. We continued to make it easier for the public to recognise and report commercial spam by expanding the 7726 short text service. Uptake of the new system exceeded expectations, with the number of text spam incidents reported increasing by nearly five times in the six months following its introduction.

Reducing the potential harm from problem gambling in the community is a focus for the Department. In 2012/13 we expanded the successful Multi-Venue Exclusion programme into a further nine regions, bringing the total to 24 regional areas across the country. This programme reduces harm caused by problem gambling by allowing problem gamblers to exclude themselves from multiple venues in an area. Establishing a regional Multi-Venue Exclusion programme is a collaborative effort with the Ministry of Health, service providers, societies and venues; and the programme has also helped create strong cross-sector networks.

Measuring progress
Indicators Progress Data source
Increasing the number of people prepared at home, work or both for civil defence emergencies:

People prepared at home

2012/13: 32%
2011/12: 32%
2010/11: 32%
2009/10: 24%
2008/09: 23%
MCDEM Campaign Monitoring Research (Colmar Brunton) 2013

People prepared both at home and at work

2012/13: 17%
2011/12: 16%
2010/11: 18%
2009/10: 11%
2008/09: 10%
Providing safe and secure online environments by increasing the coverage of the Digital Child Exploitation Filtering System run by DIA Censorship for ISPs of New Zealand Internet users 2012/13: 85% Internal Affairs regulatory data

Impact: Participants in regulated activities behave responsibly and with integrity

We improved and enhanced our regulatory functions to deliver new responsibilities and reflect our compliance approach of minimising harm and maximising benefit. This work contributed to our outcomes for resilient and prosperous communities and a New Zealand recognised for using knowledge for social, cultural and economic wellbeing.

We contributed to ministerial priorities in the following portfolios:

  • Internal Affairs
  • Community and Voluntary Sector

Delivered new regulatory functions

The functions of the Charities Commission were transferred to the Department on 1 July 2012, complementing our existing regulatory responsibilities. This has given us the opportunity to improve services to charities by leveraging the range of regulatory and community operations expertise and other resources within the Department. The Charities Services business group continued to provide registration, compliance, and education services to the charitable sector. The Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector appointed an independent Charities Registration Board to make decisions about the registration and deregistration of charities, delegating routine applications to the Department.

We laid the groundwork for new regulatory responsibilities that will help protect New Zealanders from financial crime and increase trust in the private security industry. A programme of communication with reporting entities included an engagement campaign informing them of their obligations under the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Act 2009, which came into effect on 1 July 2013. We also published guidance on various aspects of the Act, met with 216 reporting entities and handled 402 enquiries from reporting entities and other stakeholders. Engagement and support will continue after reporting commences.

We worked with the Ministry of Justice to improve the regulation of private security personnel and private investigators, implementing new policy and operational requirements and undertaking the first prosecutions under the Private Security Personnel and Private Investigators Act 2010.

Enhanced our compliance and enforcement approach

We strengthened our compliance approach to better reflect our goal of delivering regulatory services that minimise harm and maximise benefit, allowing us to be more purposeful and deliberate in our regulatory work.

Our response to non-compliance depends on the intent and context of the breach of regulation and the potential harm caused. We work to make compliance easy for those who are willing to comply, while using a range of stronger actions when we face wilful non-compliance. Investigations are focused on serious, deliberate and harmful non-compliance.

To support our new compliance approach, the first stage of the Integrated Gambling Platform (IGP) went live in June 2013. The initial release provides the Department with significant improvements in how we manage the processing of gambling licences. This will also enable the Department to manage the compliance regime for gambling more effectively.

In October 2012 we introduced a triage and prioritisation framework to improve the management of Charities Services workloads. The triage process supports an increasingly targeted approach to addressing medium to high-risk issues within the sector. As part of the development of an organisation-wide approach to compliance, we began aligning Charities Services compliance functions with those already existing in the Department. As we are continuing to establish the new regulatory regime for charities, Cabinet decided in November 2012 not to pursue a review of the Charities Act 2005 while the new regime is bedding in.

Improved the regulatory framework

In 2012/13 we supported Class 4 gambling reforms to increase transparency around grant decisions, better address conflicts of interest in the sector and simplify compliance for operators, venues and the Department. These reforms also aim to increase the proportion of gambling proceeds returned to the community. We also provided advice to the Government and to the Commerce Select Committee on the Gambling (Gambling Harm Reduction) Amendment Bill, which proposes further changes to the regulation of Class 4 gambling.

We worked with the Ministry of Health to develop the Gambling (Problem Gambling Levy) Regulations 2013.

We also initiated a review of the fees set in the Gambling (Fees) Regulations 2007, which prescribes fees that must be paid by licensed operators, including Class 4 gambling operators and venues and casinos. In 2013/14, we will focus on developing and consulting on options for amending the fee regulations.

Report on the use of search and surveillance powers

The Department is required to report on its search and surveillance powers under sections 171 and 172 of the Search and Surveillance Act 2012. During 2012/13 the Department did not exercise search or entry powers without a warrant, did not exercise warrantless surveillance powers and did not apply for any surveillance device warrants or declaratory orders. The Chief Executive did not receive any reports from judges under sections 48, 61 or 62 of the Act.

Measuring progress
Indicators Progress Data source
Gambling sector organisations and operators who are satisfied with information services 2012/13: 99%
2011/12: 90%
Internal Affairs survey
Declining percentage of recidivist offenders (out of total offenders) issued with a civil liability intervention for unsolicited electronic messages 2013/14: Baseline year Internal Affairs regulatory data
Decreasing the percentage of societies operating in the Class 4 gambling sector that have venues failing inspection 2013/14: Baseline year Internal Affairs regulatory data
Providing safe and secure online environments by increasing the coverage of the Digital Child Exploitation Filtering System run by DIA Censorship for ISPs of New Zealand Internet users 2012/13: 85% Internal Affairs regulatory data
Increasing sector awareness of their obligations under the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism legislation 2012/13: Achieved Internal Affairs regulatory data

Impact: People have the capability to participate in their communities and across communities

We enabled New Zealand society to benefit from ethnic diversity, empowered communities, and supported government and communities to work together. This work contributed to our outcomes for resilient and prosperous communities and a New Zealand recognised for using knowledge for social, cultural and economic well-being.

We contributed to ministerial priorities in the following portfolios:

  • Internal Affairs
  • Ethnic Affairs
  • Community and Voluntary Sector
  • Racing

Supported communities to invest in themselves

The Department supports significant levels of investment in communities, helping them to achieve their goals and aspirations. We provide advice, information and funding to assist the development of resilient and prosperous communities, hapū and iwi. We also achieve this through our services to charities and our role in ensuring that the returns to the community from gambling are maximised.

In 2012/13 we distributed nearly $20 million in Crown and trust funding and approximately $200 million in lottery funding to support a range of community events, activities and projects. We also coordinated over 70 ministerial board appointments for grant-making bodies, such as Community Trusts and Lottery Distribution Committees. In August 2012 we marked Lotto’s 25th birthday. Since New Zealand Lotteries was established in 1987, we have supported the New Zealand Lottery Grants Board to distribute over $3 billion in grants to the community.

During the year we continued to implement longer term investment in communities through the Community-led Development scheme. This initiative started in 2011 and we presented the first evaluation report on the approach in December 2012.[10] The evaluation found that, despite some challenges, the scheme is progressing and most of the milestones we set have been met. We are building lessons from the evaluation report into the current stage of implementation. For instance, we have gained valuable lessons on the importance of sharing across regional teams, providing professional development for staff and supporting regional teams to implement new initiatives.

Since 2011 the Christchurch Earthquake Appeal Trust has allocated over $62 million to community projects that support the recovery in Canterbury. The Department administers the Trust, which in total has raised more than $100 million in donations and pledges. Examples of initiatives funded by the Trust include $6.5 million for water attractions at the new Christchurch City Council Recreation and Sports Centre, and $330,500 to provide care and support to youth workers and youth organisations who have struggled to support greater volumes of young people with more complex issues since the earthquakes.

Our 2012 survey of social enterprises described a diverse, mature and active community and voluntary sector. We reviewed whether current legal structures support social enterprises to fulfil their objectives and concluded that, while legal structures are adequate, there may be opportunities to create an environment that provides better support for social enterprises to build capacity and reach their potential.

We supported the Minister for Racing in appointing an Independant Chair person to the New Zealand Racing Board in 2012, and again in 2013 following a judicial review. We also continued to provide secretariat support to the Racing Safety Development Fund. The $1.0 million per annum Fund supports projects that enhance safety in the racing industry and raise the quality of facilities at racecourses. Projects supported include horse containment fencing and starting gates, greyhound lure wire replacement, replacement of harness racing night lighting and upgrading of facilities for jockeys, harness riders, racing animals, and racing patrons.

Christchurch Earthquake Appeal Trust Total Funding Approved
Christchurch Earthquake Appeal Trust Total Funding Approved

Source: Christchurch Earthquake Appeal Trust (25 February 2011 – 30 June 2013)

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Empowered communities to develop their strengths

Charities, community organisations and volunteers make a significant contribution to New Zealand society. New Zealand is a generous society, with more than 30 per cent of New Zealanders volunteering and/or donating money over the past year. We supported the community and voluntary sector by providing policy advice to Ministers, conducting Charities Services functions, and providing advice, information, resources, funding and support to communities through our 16 service delivery offices.

We have improved services to the charitable sector by targeting our resources more effectively. For example, the Department’s network of regional community advisors assisted Charities Services staff with the delivery of education initiatives to the sector.

We continued to support better relationships between community organisations and government by promoting the Kia Tūtahi Relationship Accord across government. The Accord sets expectations about how government agencies and communities will work together. We supported the Accord by publishing case studies of engagement processes on our website, to demonstrate how Kia Tūtahi principles were applied and outline lessons learnt so far.

New Zealanders volunteering and donating money
New Zealanders volunteering and donating money

Source: Consumer & Media Insights Survey (Nielsen Media)

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Maximised the potential for New Zealand to benefit from ethnic diversity

Through the Office of Ethnic Affairs, we work to maximise the potential for New Zealand to benefit from ethnic diversity and maintain our reputation for social harmony. There is an increasing demand for our services as New Zealand society evolves and the population becomes more diverse.

The Office works to contribute to New Zealand’s economic strength by building connections between ethnic communities and mainstream businesses. The Ethnic People In Commerce New Zealand (EPICNZ) programme fostered connections among business communities. The EPICNZ programme includes initiatives such as a website[11] supplying business-related information and a business matching database, and the EPICNZ conferences, which this year were attended by over 500 people representing a range of ethnic small and medium enterprises and mainstream businesses.

The annual EthnicA conferences promote ongoing discussion about the benefits and challenges presented by New Zealand’s growing ethnic diversity, and encourage participation in New Zealand society. The theme of EthnicA 2013 was ethnic leadership – how sector leaders can best be developed and supported.

We also worked with private sector partners to provide migrant business people with information about services and funding available to them and facilitated investment in the wine, food and dairy industries by arranging for ethnic investors to visit regional New Zealand businesses.

Spotlight on our contribution to World War One centenary commemorations

The Department is responsible for a range of activities and projects aimed at supporting World War One commemoration events and associated activities. We contribute to cross-agency groups that are providing oversight of centenary activities. The Department’s Visits and Ceremonial Office will be responsible for planning and running events at the National War Memorial in Wellington, including our regular annual events (particularly ANZAC Day) and a number of special World War One commemorations.

During the year the Lottery Environment and Heritage Committee was rebranded as the Lottery World War One Commemorations, Environment and Heritage Committee. This Committee is responsible for the distribution of over $17 million to commemorate the impact World War One had on individual New Zealanders and on New Zealand as a whole.

Our digitisation programmes also make an important contribution. Archives New Zealand is digitising all New Zealand Defence Force military personnel files, and is working with the Alexander Turnbull Library and the Ministry for Culture and Heritage on a collaborative ‘War Stories’ project to create up to 40 videos featuring the lives of people affected by World War One. The National Library is supporting a range of digitisation projects including 8,000 pages of World War One diaries and letters and digitisation of oral histories held on cassettes.

Measuring progress
Indicators Progress Data source
Increasing the number of people supporting local communities through volunteering and giving:

Percentage of people aged 10 years or over who, in the previous 3 months, volunteered or donated money

Volunteered:

March 2013: 31%

December 2012: 30%
March 2012: 31%
December 2011: 32%
December 2010: 29%

Quarterly Consumer and Media Insight survey (Nielsen Media)

Donated money:

March 2013: 36%
December 2012: 34%
March 2012: 39%
December 2011: 40%
December 2010: 41%

Percentage of people participating in paid and unpaid community work

Undertook unpaid community work:

2012: 62.2%
2010: 65.4%
2008: 64.6%
General Social Survey (Statistics New Zealand)

Undertook voluntary community work:

2012: 30.6%
2010: 32.4%
2008: 32.6%
Maintaining a high level of satisfaction with the advice and support received by ethnic community groups to enable them to help themselves and participate in their community:

Percentage of stakeholders satisfied with the advice and support they received

2012/13: 96%
2011/12: 96%
2010/11: 96%
Internal Affairs Ethnic Affairs survey

Impact: People are able to access and use information important to their lives

We improved access to important information and knowledge through new and enhanced services, making it easier for people to use their personal identity information and to connect with New Zealand’s history and heritage. This work contributed to our outcomes for resilient and prosperous communities; a New Zealand recognised for using knowledge for social, cultural and economic wellbeing; and a strong and valued national identity.

We contributed to ministerial priorities in the following portfolios:

  • Internal Affairs
  • Community and Voluntary Sector

Enhanced access to information important to New Zealanders lives

After more than two years in development, the Department’s building on Molesworth Street (housing the National Library of New Zealand) reopened to the public on 27 November 2012. The redeveloped building includes atmosphere-controlled rooms for sensitive collections, and new gallery spaces and public meeting rooms. The new space allows visitors to connect with New Zealand’s history and heritage in modern and interactive ways. ‘Big Data’ was the first exhibition held at the new building, combining data held by Land Information New Zealand, the Wellington City Council, and other bodies with material held in the Library’s collections. We worked with the Royal Society of New Zealand to provide an accompanying discussion series.

The Confidential Listening and Assistance Service (CLAS) is available for people who have concerns about abuse, neglect or the way they were treated in State care before 1992. In 2012 we won the Institute of Public Administration New Zealand Award for ‘Excellence in Working Together for Better Public Services’ and the Prime Minister’s Award for Public Sector Experience for CLAS in conjunction with partner agencies the Ministry of Social Development and the Ministry of Education. The CLAS was extended until 30 June 2015, and we are working with the Ministry of Social Development to plan how to provide help for clients who come forward after the Service ends.

Spotlight on online renewal of adult passports

In November 2012 we launched a new world-first service allowing online renewal of adult passports. Approximately 70 per cent of passport applications are for adult renewals, and the online process is quicker and easier for both applicants and passport officers. Customers have been quick to take up the online renewal option and by late August 2013 over 100,000 people will have applied to renew their passports online.

The service also makes an important contribution to Government goals for enhancing New Zealanders’ ability to use government services in a digital environment. The introduction of the online renewal service has reduced our costs of production and made processing renewal applications quicker. This has allowed us to introduce a lower fee for online renewals and reduce the fee for all other passport applications.

Made it easy for people to use their personal identity information

The Department of Internal Affairs is responsible for managing New Zealanders’ identity information and making it available so New Zealanders can access their rights and entitlements. During the year we issued over one million identity documents and other products.

Identity documents issued
Identity documents issued

Source: Department of Internal Affairs data

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In addition to the introduction of online passport renewals, we made it easier for people to access government services and entitlements using their personal identity information by continuing to enhance igovt services and develop the RealMe service.

We also provide Apostille certification[12] to allow New Zealand issued documents to be used overseas. This year we introduced the electronic Apostille certificate (an eApostille), which improves our service by allowing Apostille certificates to be issued via email. We are the first country in the Asia-Pacific region to launch an electronic Apostille service.

Spotlight on igovt/RealMe

The Department’s igovt services provide New Zealanders with secure access to online services from participating government agencies. Thirteen agencies currently use igovt to provide access to 39 services. As of 30 June 2013, over one million igovt logons have been created, and these have been used to facilitate more than 12.4 million igovt transactions.

In 2012/13 we worked with New Zealand Post to develop the RealMe service. RealMe will extend igovt to the private sector, for use in organisations such as banks or insurance companies. RealMe will enable banking and finance companies to comply with customer due diligence obligations in the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism legislation.

The igovt/RealMe service is an important means of enabling New Zealanders to complete their transactions with government easily in a digital environment.

Supported access to information in the digital age

We continued to deliver government information online more efficiently, and in formats more suited to users’ needs. We are redeveloping the newzealand.govt site to provide users with an easy and connected online experience. The work we are doing has attracted international interest and we were invited to speak at the International eGovernment Forum in Bahrain on this project.

To ensure that all New Zealanders can access and benefit from digital information, the Department led and contributed to a number of programmes, such as the Adult and Community Education programmes and other government-funded initiatives that address digital literacy such as the Computer Clubhouses initiative (now rebranded as the High Tech Youth Network). We continue to support work led by the Ministry of Education on twenty-first century learning and digital literacy.

Our DigitalNZ initiative helped organisations aggregate and share New Zealand digital content so that it can be used by the public. DigitalNZ is a collaboration between more than 120 partners, made up primarily of government agencies and local government groups such as libraries, archives and museums.

We also worked with disability communities, government web practitioners and external vendors to redevelop the Government Web Standards. The new standards will ensure government websites are accessible to all members of the public.

With the increased focus on development of online content and services to support learning in schools, use of online services through the National Library is increasing, and in 2012/13 there were 241,030 visits to the Services to Schools website.[13] A review of Services to Schools, completed in 2012/13, found that the services continue to be useful and identified some new priorities and drivers that influence our delivery of these services.

Supported open and transparent government

We support the Declaration on Open and Transparent Government by making a range of useful information held by the Department available for re-use. An example is the Charities Register, which includes information about each registered charity, enabling the public to access information about charities that are eligible for tax exemptions. We also published over 7,800 notices in the New Zealand Gazette. The Gazette gives the public and businesses access to legislative decisions, including land transfers, changes to legislation and bankruptcies. We publish the Gazette online each week.

We are developing a coordinated all-of-government approach to strategic information management. This approach is aligned with our ICT functional leadership role (see section on supporting the system of government to operate efficiently and effectively) and the Government ICT Strategy and Action Plan. This work will support appropriate sharing of personal information between agencies and encourage the proactive release of other information. An increasingly coordinated approach to information management will make the public more aware of how government collects and uses personal information. This will enhance government transparency, improve information security, and allow information to be used more efficiently and effectively.

We support open and transparent government by administering data.govt.nz, which provides access to a wide range of non-personal public government-held datasets. The total number of listings increased by 28 per cent in the year to 30 June 2013, and visits to the website increased by 8.4 per cent to 58,895 over the same period. The operation of the data.govt.nz website is an example of a coordinated approach to information management in action.

Information growth on data.govt.nz
Information growth on data.govt.nz

Source: Department of Internal Affairs data

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Measuring progress
Indicators Progress Data source
Increasing access to collections of information and the public record:

Institutions describing archival holdings online through the Community Archive

2013: 380
2012: 373
2011: 376
2010: 355
Internal Affairs Archives New Zealand data

Full text databases made accessible through New Zealand libraries in the Electronic Purchasing in Collaboration (EPIC) consortium

2013: 42
2012: 42
2011: 40
2010: 25
Internal Affairs National Library data

Visits to use specialist online resources and services for schools

2012/13: 241,030
2011/12: 172,095
2010/11: 145,277
Internal Affairs National Library data

Access to online records for New Zealand publications

June 2013: 423,562
March 2013: 383,960
Internal Affairs National Library data

Published content provided through National Library full-text platforms (pages published):

Papers Past

June 2013: 2,960,523
June 2012: 2,538,351
June 2011: 2,085,560
Internal Affairs National Library data

Appendices to the Journals of the House of Representatives (AtoJs Online)

June 2013: 319,112
June 2012: 253,866
June 2011: 128,151
Increasing access to information through uptake of common capabilities:

Percentage increase in people accessing information through RealMe

2013/14: Baseline year Internal Affairs Identity and Data Services data

Percentage increase in services available through RealMe

2013/14: Baseline year

Increasing use and re-use of information.

Searching and finding information for creating new knowledge through Digital NZ:

Number of items surfaced for re-use by DigitalNZ (excluding Papers Past and AtoJs Online)

June 2013: 339,918
March 2013: 269,459
Internal Affairs National Library data
Increasing the availability of re-usable online datasets held by government on the open data directory website, data.govt.nz:

Dataset listing page/percentage increase in the number of unique website visitors

2012/13: 2,339/8.4%
2011/12: 1,815/31%
Internal Affairs data and Identity Services data
Improving access to New Zealand’s collections of information and public record:

Accessibility of digital content in New Zealand – International ranking / score (1 = not accessible, 7 = widely accessible)

2013: 32 (of 144)/5.9 (mean 4.9)

2012: 31 (of 142)/5.9 (mean 4.9)

Global Information Technology Report (World Economic Forum and European Institute of Administration)

Impact: New Zealand’s documentary record is protected and available to current and future generations

We collected, protected and invested in the preservation of New Zealand’s heritage collections and taonga. This work contributed to our outcomes for resilient and prosperous communities; a New Zealand recognised for using knowledge for social, cultural and economic well-being; and a strong and valued national identity.

We contributed to ministerial priorities in the following portfolio:

  • Internal Affairs

Built and preserved collections of national importance

During 2012/13 we continued to build collections of national importance and enhanced preservation of these significant items through better and more efficient use of our resources and infrastructure. The National Library and Archives New Zealand have continued to develop a strategic partnership, collaborating on optimising services, improving efficiency and effectiveness, and lifting overall performance. Progress so far has focused on digital preservation through the use of mutually beneficial tools. In the coming year, shared work will progress preservation and access, storage, and public programmes.

The Active Archives project is establishing a single site housing New Zealand’s foundation documents, thereby providing a foundation for strengthening New Zealanders’ links to their national identity. Our work this year included continuing the project to relocate significant public archives (including the Treaty of Waitangi, the Declaration of Independence and the Women’s Suffrage Petition) to the redeveloped building in Molesworth Street. We have selected the archives for display, and provided preservation treatment where required. We are working towards opening the new space in April 2014.

Nationally significant heritage items added to the Alexander Turnbull Library’s collection in 2012/13 included a previously unknown Katherine Mansfield story. The story was discovered in papers recently acquired from the estate of her husband, John Middleton Murry, along with other material such as poems and notes. Also found among the papers was an unpublished article by D H Lawrence. In April the Alexander Turnbull Library received a donation of a handwritten account by the New Zealand diplomat Richard Sewell about New Zealand’s role in the 1979 hostage situation in Iran. The manuscript has been fully digitised and is available to read online.

We provided for the preservation of historic New Zealand films for the future by acquiring the Park Road Post Production Limited’s Film Preservation Labratory. The lab is the only one of its kind in the southern hemisphere, and its acquisition will allow the preservation of more than a thousand high-value films.

Developed digital programmes to improve the preservation and storage of information

As the shift to a digital world reaches a tipping point, digitisation programmes have become a key part of our strategy to protect New Zealand’s important documents and to improve the preservation and storage of information. We are continuing to progress the Government Digital Archive Project, which will ensure that ‘born digital’ information is protected and preserved for future access.

As part of our legislative mandate to collect, preserve and make New Zealand’s documentary heritage accessible, the National Library has an ongoing programme of harvesting the entire .nz domain and New Zealand-related web-sites in other domains.[14] The recently completed 2013 harvest processed approximately 550,000 web-sites comprising 196,171,588 URLs and produced 11 terabytes of data. Two earlier whole-of-domain harvests were undertaken in 2008 and 2010.

Archives New Zealand also re-digitised the 1893 Women’s Suffrage Petition and created a new online database to make it possible to search the petition by name of the signatories. Over 500 National Film Unit films have also become available online on the Archives New Zealand YouTube channel.

Archives New Zealand improved public access to highly used archives by improving the usability of our online index. This means that users can now identify files they are interested in online, whereas in the past they had to travel to Archives New Zealand in Wellington or pay Archives staff to analyse paper indices. In the past year 106,000 Coroner’s inquest files, 100,000 Colonial Secretary’s correspondence items and 10,000 Māori Land Purchase Department correspondence items have been individually described, and this project will continue over the next two years.

Measuring progress
Indicators Progress Data source
Increasing the percentage of heritage collections and public records protected and preserved for future generations:

Percentage of the Alexander Turnbull Library collections in the National Library Wellington building that are held in appropriate environments

2013: 100%
2012: 100%
2010: 55%
Internal Affairs National Library data

Percentage of Archives New Zealand holdings held in an appropriate environment

2013: 80.5%
2012: 73.85%
Internal Affairs Archives New Zealand data

Number of transfers received by Archives New Zealand

2013: 71
2012: 84
2011: 29
Internal Affairs Archives New Zealand data
Increased number of Alexander Turnbull Library collections will be available for future use by researchers:

Number of items damaged or lost in provision of services

2013/14: Baseline year Internal Affairs National Library data
New Zealand school students’ learning is supported through greater access to documentary heritage by increased usage of the National Library collection items 2013/14: Baseline year Internal Affairs National Library data

Impact: New Zealand’s personal identity information has integrity

We worked to ensure New Zealand’s personal identity information was secure, trusted and appropriately accessible. This work contributed to our outcomes for strong and valued national identity; and a New Zealand recognised for using knowledge for social, cultural and economic wellbeing.

We contributed to ministerial priorities in the following portfolio:

  • Internal Affairs

Maintained trust in the integrity of identity information

As guardian of New Zealand’s personal identity information, maintaining the integrity of this information is of paramount importance. During the year we improved several policies and processes in response to external inquiries. We are pursuing law changes to enable us to strengthen requirements on adult name change applicants to provide evidence of their identity. We also implemented improvements to the way we provide advice to the Minister making citizenship decisions. In October 2012 we completed a review of the law and processes for registering name changes.

The incidence of fraud and lost/stolen passports as a percentage of passports issued remained very low (0.006 per cent and 1.68 per cent respectively) in 2012[15]. The latest security features in our ePassport make forgery and counterfeiting very difficult. We continue to perform data cleansing using facial recognition technology, identifying individuals with New Zealand passports in more than one identity. All cases we identify are fully investigated, and with the assistance of the New Zealand Police, prosecutions are undertaken when appropriate. In future, RealMe will be used as an additional identification feature for any online New Zealand passport application, which will further enhance trust in the security of New Zealand passports.

The New Zealand passport has a high level of security and integrity, which reflects favourably on our ability to obtain visa-free access to other countries. During the year we began looking at options to modernise the Passports Act 1992, to address concerns about the passport validity period and ensure the Act is up to date with the changing technological and security environment.

We are also working jointly with Inland Revenue to examine the issues relating to becoming ‘authoritative’ sources of information, and the case for using this authoritative data to enable more timely and productive sharing of information between agencies. For Internal Affairs this authoritative data could include citizenship, birth and potentially other identity-related information collected as part of our legislative role. Authoritative data sharing is ultimately intended to get the best value for citizens out of the data the Department holds and result in more effective public services.

Total Instances of Fraud Identified per Calendar Year
Total Instances of Fraud Identified per Calendar Year

Source: Department of Internal Affairs Passports data

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Measuring progress
Indicators Progress Data source
Maintaining a low level of complaints about the Department on privacy breaches received or notified by the Privacy Commission 2012/13: 2
2011/12: 2
2010/11: 4
2009/10: 2
Office of the Privacy Commissioner
Maintaining a low level of incident reports relating to the issuance of passport on fraudulent grounds or fraudulent use of a passport 2013: 0.0003%[16]
2012:0.006%
2011: 0.013%
2010: 0.012%
Internal Affairs Passports data
Maintaining a high percentage of identity services customers who feel personal information is confidential and secure June 2013: No survey conducted[17]
June 2011: 97%
June 2010: 92%
June 2009: 99%
Internal Affairs Service Delivery and Operations survey
New Zealand passport is recognised as having high integrity 2013: 5th equal
2012: 5th equal
2011: 5th equal
Henley Visa Restrictions Index Global Ranking 2013

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Contributing to Objectives

The following section reports on our contribution to achieving objectives and our progress on the priorities, initiatives and indicators outlined in our Statement of Intent.

Objectives indicators

We used the indicators below to track progress towards our objectives.

Objectives indicators
Objective Indicators Trend Data source
To enhance trust in government and confidence in the performance of public sector organisations Increasing the number of people who have a high level of trust and confidence in the performance of public sector organisations:

Overall quality score for public services

March 2013: 72
December 2012: 72
2009: 69
2007: 68
Kiwis Count Survey – New Zealanders’ satisfaction with public services (State Services Commission)[18]

New Zealanders’ positive rating of overall trust in public services[19]

November 2012: 42%
2009: 33%
2007: 29%

New Zealanders’ positive rating of trust in their most recent service interaction[20]

November 2012: 75%
2009: 70%
2007: 67%

New Zealanders who agree that public services are an example of good value for tax dollars spent[21]

November 2012: 64%
2009: 64%
2007: 55%

Service quality score for Passports

March 2013: 79
December 2012: 79
2009: 77
2007: 75

Service quality score for registering a birth, death, marriage or civil union

March 2013: 80
December 2012: 84
2009: 75
2007: 72
Maintaining New Zealand’s ranking in the Corruption Perceptions Index 2013: Not yet available
December 2012: 1st
2011: 1st
2010: 1st
2009: 1st
Transparency International[22]

Although our work makes an important contribution to achieving objectives, indicators are influenced by environmental factors beyond the impact of the Department’s activities and services. Due to the high-level and long-term nature of objective indicators, many of our data sources are not conducted on an annual basis. We have reported on the most up-to-date data available.

Lead objective: Supporting the system of government to operate efficiently and effectively

We supported central and local government to deliver better services to New Zealanders, particularly through making it easier for people to interact with government online. This work contributed to our objective of enhancing trust and confidence in the performance of New Zealand’s public sector.

We contributed to ministerial priorities in the following portfolios:

  • Internal Affairs
  • Local Government
  • Ministerial Services

Provided functional leadership of all-of-government ICT

Better use of technology is central to Government’s goals for improving services to New Zealanders and reducing costs. As the Government Chief Information Officer (GCIO), the Department’s Chief Executive has a cross-government leadership role supporting more efficient and effective use of ICT.

The GCIO contributes to Better Public Services by driving system-wide strategy and uptake of common capabilities, enabling greater standardisation and integration of ICT investment across government. Key priorities over the past year included embedding the functional leadership role and building the necessary partnerships to enable transformational change.

Security and trust in systems are essential to ensure New Zealanders can use government ICT services with confidence. The GCIO supported a number of government ICT reviews, developing a range of recommendations to improve performance and trust in government systems. The GCIO’s review of publicly accessible systems provided advice and assurance on the security of information,[23] and actions to tighten privacy and information security standards are underway in response to the review’s findings. Following the review, Cabinet increased the mandate of the GCIO to provide system-wide assurance and give the public, Ministers, and other stakeholders greater confidence that ICT risks and processes within the State services are identified and managed effectively.

Spotlight on the ICT Strategy and Action Plan

The ICT Strategy and Action Plan to 2017, launched in June 2013, is led by the GCIO through the functional leadership role. The Action Plan is a whole-of-government plan for transforming service delivery through digital self-service channels and unlocking the full economic potential of government’s information holdings. 

The Action Plan will be centrally led and collaboratively delivered, with four areas of focus:

  • services are digital by default
  • information is managed as an asset
  • investment and capability are shared
  • leadership and culture deliver change

Underpinning the Action Plan is a strengthened system of assurance coordinated by the GCIO

It is anticipated that the Action Plan will generate savings of at least $100 million per annum across total government expenditure within five years, and improve oversight of ICT initiatives and management of information.

Spotlight on Better Public Services Result 10

Internal Affairs is the lead agency for Better Public Services Result 10: New Zealanders can complete their transactions with government easily in a digital environment. Cabinet approved the Result 10 Action Plan in August 2012. The Action Plan makes clear that government needs to use the digital environment more effectively when delivering services to New Zealanders, and includes the target that by 2017 an average of 70 per cent of New Zealanders’ most common transactions with government will be completed in a digital environment.

Achieving Result 10 will require agencies to work together in new ways. We have established the Digital Service Council (DSC) – a leadership group representing all eight agencies contributing to Result 10.[24] The DSC works as a collective, advising on government’s transactional digital services, with particular focus on achieving Result 10 targets.

The eight Result 10 agencies have now reported for the first full year. The year-to-date average uptake has risen from 30.4% in June 2012 to 37.3% in June 2013. The Department is a participating agency in Result 10, and the uptake of online passport renewals is one of the services contributing to the target.

We also continued to develop the alignment between Results 9 and 10 on shared aspects. An example of this is the Contact Centre Optimisation project, which aims to identify opportunities for Government contact centres to share resources, expertise, infrastructure and processes.

To maximise the impact of our Result 10 work programme, we are developing short-, medium- and long-term initiatives. We continue to progress short-term initiatives to support and accelerate digital service improvements, and are working with other agencies to develop the Result 10 Blueprint. The Blueprint will identify the medium- to long-term initiatives needed to achieve Result 10 targets.

BPS: Result 10 progress
BPS: Result 10 progress

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Delivered all-of-government ICT services and common capabilities

We continued to provide a suite of common all-of-government ICT services that support agencies to implement more cost-effective ICT. We contributed to improved government web communications by launching the Government Web Toolkit website which provides best practice guidance on how to provide easy online access to government information and services for business and the public.[25] We also helped improve government document management systems by participating in a cross-agency procurement initiative led by the Ministry for Primary Industries.

The New Zealand Government Cloud programme is a key common capability initiative. It will offer significant financial and non-financial benefits by allowing agencies to pay per use for ICT products and services delivered through networks, rather than maintain their own ICT infrastructure. The first government Cloud solutions are Office Productivity as a Service and Desktop as a Service. Work is underway with the Government Communications Security Bureau to produce guidance for agencies on security and risk considerations for Cloud computing.

We negotiated a new computer software licensing agreement with Microsoft that offers significant savings across the public sector by treating government agencies as a single customer. The agreement is on track to save an estimated $119 million over three years and has already realised savings of $35 million across government agencies.

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) enables agencies to buy computing infrastructure on demand from host vendors, reducing the need to purchase and maintain separate infrastructure. The benefits of IaaS grow with participation, and this year the number of participants increased from 11 to 42. Savings will exponentially increase as overall demand and usage goes up, resulting in potential savings of $250 million over 10 years.

In July 2013 we will achieve the 20 per cent threshold savings for all participating agencies for one.govt.[26] This brings the total savings to participating agencies, over the life of the contract to $20 million.

Improved effectiveness and efficiency of local government

The delivery of the Better Local Government programme continued to be a high priority over the past year. This programme contributes to the Government’s strategic priorities by improving the performance of the local government system, thereby enhancing local authorities’ contributions to economic growth and improving delivery of public services.

Legislation enacted in 2012 refocused the purpose of local government, introduced new financial prudence requirements and allowed the Minister of Local Government more flexibility in providing help to local authorities facing difficulties. The legislation also improved procedures for local government reorganisation and enhanced the role for the Local Government Commission when dealing with reorganisation applications. We have increased our support to the Commission so it can meet the additional workload.

Greater understanding and closer working relationships between central and local government are fundamental to lifting performance and improving services to communities. We established a Central Government – Local Government Chief Executives Forum to increase the opportunities for cross-sector engagement. A partnership approach will enable central and local government to work together to create a culture of continuous performance improvement in local authorities.

We continued to provide advice and support to local authorities and the Minister of Local Government to ensure communities are well served by local government. This included providing support to Commissioners appointed to the Kaipara District Council, working with Auckland Council (and other government agencies) on the implementation of the Auckland Plan, and supporting the Local Government Efficiency Taskforce and the Infrastructure Efficiency Expert Advisory Group to deliver reports to the Minister. These reports, and feedback on the Department’s discussion paper on development contributions, inform the development of legislation for introduction later this year.

Provided efficient services to Ministers and the Executive

The Department supported the Royal Commission on the Pike River Coal Mine Tragedy, which presented its final report in October 2012, and the Canterbury Earthquakes Royal Commission, which reported in November 2012. The Department is in the process of transferring the Commission’s records to Archives New Zealand. Upon conclusion of the Royal Commissions, we delivered a report about measures to improve the Inquiries Bill in light of lessons learnt, including promoting greater flexibility for some inquiry processes.

We provided services to the Executive to support efficient government, including providing VIP transport and travel, and staff in ministerial offices. We also organise and coordinate visits of Guests of Government, State and ministerial functions, and State and official ceremonies. In 2012/13 we hosted 69 visits of Guests of Government. These included the royal visit to New Zealand by the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall. We also organised visits by the King of Tonga, the President of Myanmar and the Sultan of Brunei; managed a number of commemorative events; and facilitated overseas delegations attending meetings in New Zealand.

Measuring progress
Indicators Progress Data source
Increasing the percentage of New Zealanders’ most common transactions with government completed in a digital environment June 2013: 37.3% average
June 2012: 30.4% average
Internal Affairs Result 10 data
Increasing uptake of common capabilities (RealMe, igovt services) See impact measures for: People are able to access and use information important to their lives
Increasing satisfaction with government online services:

People’s satisfaction with carrying out transactions with government online

2012: 68%
2009: 64%
2007: Not measured
Kiwis Count Survey – New Zealanders’ satisfaction with public services channels report 2013 (State Services Commission)

People’s satisfaction with completing transactions with government in a digital environment[27]

2013/14: Baseline year
Improving the value of all-of-government investment in information and communications technology:

Progress towards the goal of reducing government expenditure by $100 million per annum within 5 years

2013/14: Baseline year Internal Affairs Government Technology services data
Improving the accessibility of online government services:

People who have used the Internet to get information on government or council services

2013: Not yet available
2011: 57%
2009: 60%
2007: 45%
World Internet Project New Zealand Survey 2012[28]

People who have used the Internet to use government or council services that are delivered online

2011: 48%
2009: Not measured
Optimising support for Executive Government:

Satisfaction rating for the Department’s services from the Minister Responsible for Ministerial Services

2012/13: Very good
2011/12: Good/Very good
2010/11: Very good
2009/10: Very good
2008/09: Very Good
Internal Affairs Ministerial Survey
Enhancing the value of information available to support government decision-making:

Quality of policy advice public sector ranking

2013: Not yet available
2012: 2nd
2011: 11th
NZIER Benchmarking Report 2013[29]

Lead objective: Enhancing the productivity and accountability of public sector organisations

We supported central and local government agencies to increase their capability to serve their communities. This work contributed to our objectives for enhancing trust and confidence in the performance of New Zealand’s public sector.

We contributed to ministerial priorities in the following portfolios:

  • Internal Affairs
  • Local Government
  • Ethnic Affairs
  • Civil Defence

Enhanced recordkeeping capability in the public sector

Through Archives New Zealand, we provided leadership across public agencies in building capability to manage and preserve the public record. A review of the appraisal of public records has been conducted to ensure that archival value records can be clearly identified and preserved while allowing for the efficient disposal of public records no longer needed for current business. This review has resulted in a new appraisal statement, followed by a revision of the general disposal authorities for common public records, such as HR, finance and administrative records.

The Chief Archivist’s first report on audits conducted under the Public Records Act 2005 for the 2010/11 year was tabled in Parliament in December 2012. The Audit programme is designed to assess progress with the development of systematically managed recordkeeping capability in public offices. Audits in the reporting year focused on implementation of mandatory standards issued under the Act, recordkeeping directions and capability in public offices, and awareness of recordkeeping-related risk.

Enhanced nationwide civil defence and emergency management capability

Through the Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management (MCDEM), we assessed the capability of all 16 regional Civil Defence Emergency Management (CDEM) Groups over the period 2010 to 2012. In 2012/13 we worked with CDEM Groups to develop plans for making improvements, and assisted each Group to implement their adjustments.

We also started developing a Strategy for CDEM Capability Development in cooperation with the range of CDEM partners, for use in improving understanding and realising capability development aspirations. We reviewed guidance to enhance and strengthen arrangements for volunteer coordination, and we are continuing to consult with the CDEM sector.

We are currently updating the guidance documents we provide to CDEM Groups and partner agencies to include lessons learned from the Canterbury earthquakes response review. In 2012/13 we also supplied CDEM groups with guidance for managing their public information, and to support the inclusion of people with disabilities and those from culturally and linguistically diverse communities. We have started a review of guidance for volunteer coordination, and we are continuing to consult with the CDEM sector.

We are working to promote the use of community-based response planning to CDEM Groups. This type of planning provides opportunities to have communities engaged in readiness planning in their neighbourhoods, and to apply and reinforce the principles of the Get Ready Get Thru messages.

Supported better engagement between government and communities

Online engagement methods have enormous potential to improve the quality of government decisions – and consequently outcomes – by increasing stakeholder engagement and ownership of outcomes, and to do so more cost effectively than traditional methods.

We have been working on an all-of-government online engagement service to facilitate consultation and engagement between agencies and communities. A working group representing local and central government and non-governmental organisations developed a vision for the service and tested this with the supplier market. A community of practice, jointly led by Victoria University School of Government and the Department, has been launched to build knowledge and capability in effective online engagement.

Language Line celebrated a decade of service in 2013. Language Line provides immediate access to interpreters in 44 languages and is used by over 90 public sector agencies. Every week the Language Line service facilitates approximately 1,000 individual transactions with government, and in 2012/13 we received more than 48,000 requests for interpreting sessions. The Office of Ethnic Affairs are preparing to extend the Language Line telephone interpreting service into the private sector, where no similar service exists. Our translation service, which operates separately from Language Line, also received 7,902 requests for translation of 10,218 documents.

Language Line growth
Language Line growth

Source: Source: Department of Internal Affairs data

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Measuring progress
Indicators Progress Data sources
Average score for the capability of Civil Defence Emergency Management Groups to achieve the goals of the National CDEM Strategy 2012/13: Not yet available
2011/12: 60
CDEM Capability Assessment Tool[30]
Improving responsiveness of public agencies to the needs of diverse communities:

People who understand how their council makes decisions

2012: 55%
2010: 40%
2008: 38%
Quality of Life Survey[31]

People who feel they have an influence on council decisions

2012: 72%
2010: 62%
2008: 60%
Internal Affairs Ethnic Affairs data

Number of interpreting calls provided by Language Line per annum

2012/13: 49,038
2011/12: 38,837
2010/11: 32,308
Internal Affairs Ethnic Affairs data
Improving capability of public sector agencies to maintain the integrity of public records they hold:

Number of public offices audited under the Public Records Act Audit Programme

2013: 48
2012: 43
2011: 38
Internal Affairs Archives New Zealand data
Increasing the capability of public libraries to deliver digital and physical services to their communities:

Uptake of partner libraries for the Kōtui Shared Library Management System

2013: 17
2012: 8
Internal Affairs National Library data

Lead objective: Supporting specialist capability building in other nations

We contributed to enhancing trust in New Zealand’s government by using our expertise and resources to build capability in other nations, particularly in civil defence emergency management and information management.

We contributed to ministerial priorities in the following portfolios:

  • Internal Affairs
  • Civil Defence

Supported disaster management in other nations

In conjunction with the International Development Group of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT), the Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management (MCDEM) contributed to enhancing disaster risk management in the Pacific. Specific programmes were undertaken in Cook Islands, Tokelau, Samoa, Niue and Tonga. We assisted national emergency management staff to implement projects including:

  • the assessment of disaster management arrangements
  • the development and refinement of national disaster management plans
  • a comprehensive programme to strengthen tsunami risk management that has included the installation of tsunami warning systems and community-based response planning.

Supported record-keeping in other nations

Through Archives New Zealand, we support the development of recordkeeping capability in the Pacific. We provided a staff member to act as Secretary-General of the Pacific Regional Branch of the International Council of Archives, and delivered training courses for records staff in Pacific nations. In addition, we actively supported the work of the UNESCO Memory of the World programme and the New Zealand Memory of the World Committee to document the most significant heritage material internationally.

The National Library of New Zealand and National Library Board of Singapore have an agreement of cooperation. In January 2013 the National Library Board of Singapore hosted an invitation-only roundtable to look at the changing relationship between national libraries and archives. The National Librarian attended the roundtable and delivered a presentation on the strategic partnership between the National Library and Archives New Zealand.

The National Library also renewed its Arrangement on Cooperation with the National Library of China, originally signed in February 2006. The Arrangement provides a high-level framework for joint operational activities which could be beneficial to citizens of both countries.

Leveraged our international connections in the Pacific and Asia

The Department maintains a leadership role in the International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) travel document-related working groups. Our contribution ensures that New Zealand plays an active role in the development of standards, specifications and guidelines that affect passports and border environments – including our own. We also maintain ongoing involvement in the Five Nations Passport Group, which also includes Canada, Australia, the UK and the USA. This involvement ensures a collaborative approach to capability-building among our closest international peers.

We continue to be involved in Pacific initiatives, providing advice and guidance to Tokelau and Samoa over Passport, Citizenship and Births, Deaths and Marriages activities in the last year. All of this work was carried out in conjunction with MFAT.

During the year our Censorship Unit provided training to the Korean National Police on detecting the use of the Internet by child sex offenders. This training provided an opportunity for Interpol’s Crimes Against Children group to develop a presence and relationships in Asia.

Measuring progress
Indicators Progress Data sources

MCDEM contribution to managing international obligations through specialist advice to the lead agency Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.[32]

New Zealand to make available fully trained and prepared UNDAC[33] and APHP[34] members to disaster-affected countries:

  • number of active UNDAC members available
  • number of active APHP members available
  • 50 per cent of available UNDAC and APHP members participating in a UN regional exercise or training activity per year
2012/13: 9
2012/13: 2
2012/13: 27%
(3 members)[35]
MFAT/MCDEM
MoU data
Support strengthened disaster risk management capability in 5 Pacific Island Countries covered by the MFAT/MCDEM MoU through the development of National Action Plans and their effective implementation:

percentage of the 5 Pacific Island Countries under the MoU that have current National Action Plans for Disaster Risk Management

2012/13: 100% MFAT/MCDEM
MoU data
Increasing leadership and implementation through strategic collaboration and partnerships:

International usage of National Library collaborative tools, technologies and expertise

2013/14: Baseline year Internal Affairs National Library data

International cooperative arrangements in place with the National Library

2013: 2 (+ National Library of China)

2012: 1 (Arrangement in place with Singapore National Library Board)

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Building Organisational Health and Capability

Ensuring the Department is a robust, sustainable and fit-for-purpose government agency is a high priority. This year we focused on building leadership, culture and engagement and laying the groundwork for delivery of our business priorities. We also continued to consolidate our structure and operating models, sharpening our focus and building our capacity to deliver high-quality services.

Consolidated the Department’s structure

This year we continued to improve our structure, reducing duplication so we can deliver our functions more efficiently and effectively and reflecting the changing nature and scope of our work. We completed several reviews of particular functions, and created two new branches to better accommodate our increased ICT leadership responsibilities and our activities related to information management. Charities Services also merged with the Service Delivery and Operations branch of the Department from 1 July 2012. A number of charities employees transferred to the Department.

Improved people capability and organisational culture

Our Workforce Strategy, developed in 2012, focuses on developing leaders and building culture, capability and capacity. It has provided a clear framework for developing and progressing initiatives to build a capable and efficient workforce to support the Department to deliver on its’ strategy.

A range of initiatives were implemented during the year to improve engagement and build culture, including the Creating our Future programme. Thirty Creating our Future workshops were led by the Executive Leadership Team and attended by over 1,200 staff. These discussions led to a set of agreed behavioural principles about how we want to do things at the Department in order to be successful. We are now working to embed the principles throughout the Department.

We recognise that confident and capable leaders will play a key role in delivering on our strategic priorities, and during 2012/13 we also implemented a Leadership and Management Development Framework designed to build our leadership capability to achieve expectations. The Framework includes an intensive induction programme for new managers and a refresher training programme for existing managers. These programmes provide managers with the tools they need to support their staff and be effective managers. A pilot programme of core management skills for mid-level managers is also underway to support high performance and engagement. The pilot is due to be completed by October 2013.

The results of our March 2013 staff engagement survey showed a small but significant improvement in staff engagement. This is an encouraging indication that the Department’s focus on this area is having the desired positive influence on our culture.

Strengthened capability to deliver ICT leadership functions

We assumed responsibility for Result 10 in March 2012. Locating both the responsibility for Result 10 service transformation and GCIO in a single department enables these functions to be more closely aligned.

Work continued to develop an enterprise-wide ICT Strategy and Roadmap which aligns with the Government’s broader strategy to guide future initiatives and investment. Within this ICT strategy, focus continues on transforming core services to make the department more productive, while also ensuring ICT is flexible, reliable and more secure. We made a number of significant investments over the year to enhance public-facing services across critical service delivery platforms, including passports, igovt, grants management, and gambling compliance.

We continued to extend the ICT Foundations programme, which is delivering a modern, secure and fit-for-purpose environment. The programme covers network transformation, Infrastructure as a Service, cyber security, modernised desktop, video conferencing, and mobile device connectivity. As ICT functional leader across all of government, the Department will lead, deliver and operate an ICT function that is recognised across government as an ‘exemplar’.

In addition the Department has also been focused on building its capability through the Corporate Infrastructure Programme, a four-year programme designed to ensure the Department’s infrastructure is fit for purpose and sustainable. From 1 July 2013 this programme of work is being combined with the existing ICT Foundations programme and will be known as the Corporate Foundations Programme.

Completed Performance Improvement Framework review

In 2012 we undertook our own review under the Performance Improvement Framework (PIF), identifying a number of opportunities for improvement. The formal review by external PIF lead reviewers confirmed that we had correctly identified our main challenges, particularly the need to make significant progress quickly on core infrastructure issues that impact on the daily working environment of staff.

We had already begun to address these issues and continue to make changes through the ICT Foundations programme, the Creating our Future workshops and the Corporate Infrastructure Programme. We continue to work closely with central agencies to create a new way of working that is consistent with our roles and responsibilities as a functional leader.

Improved system and infrastructure capability

We have implemented a number of all-of-government procurement initiatives, including supply of computers, printing, desktop stationery, motor vehicles, recruitment panels, electricity supply, and travel. This has also included redesigning business processes to increase ordering efficiency and reduce processing costs.

During 2012/13 we worked on a number of shared services initiatives with other agencies. This included the Financial Application and Service Transformation project. This project was set up to establish a shared financial services arrangement with the Inland Revenue Department (IRD).

Implementation of the new arrangement is due to begin in November 2013. With IRD operating as the service provider to the Department, we will be able to standardise processes and share the transactional aspects of our finance functions. This arrangement will make better use of existing investments within the public service.

During the year we took on responsibility for leading the Optimise HR initiative, which contributes to the Better Public Services programme. Six agencies[36] are participating in Optimise HR to develop a value for money all-of-government HR service that is trusted and high performing. The shared service will focus on providing high-value strategic HR advice, specialist expertise, and consistency in the delivery of core HR operational services, processes and systems. In 2012/13 work has been focused on the development of a business case which is due to be completed in November 2013.

We are one of the agencies participating in the Optimise Finance programme and the all-of-government Property Management Centre of Expertise, which is led by the Ministry of Social Development. We have reduced our accommodation footprint in the past year by making better use of existing spaces and accommodating new functions within our current footprint. Specific initiatives include establishing co-locations with other government agencies in regional centres, for example Nelson, Greymouth and New Plymouth.

In 2012/13 we developed a new property strategy to improve the way we use owned and leased facilities. The 2012/13 year also marked the completion of the National Library building upgrade, which is part of the Department’s core building infrastructure.

During 2012/13 we also established an asset management framework, and planned for its implementation over the next three years. As a result, an asset improvement project has been established to meet Government and Treasury expectations in relation to asset management. Foundation project work is underway and the quality of building valuations and subsequent asset recording has been improved for 2012/13 financial reporting. The first Departmental Asset Management Plan will be produced in 2014.

Maintained sound financial management

The Department’s medium-term priorities focus on ensuring we can respond and adapt to evolving Government priorities and public expectations in terms of service delivery.

A key priority for 2012/13 was to continue the work that we began during 2011/12 to consolidate structures, systems and processes across the Department and reduce duplication to work more efficiently and effectively. This work has enabled us to operate within a fiscally constrained environment.

We have funded 2012/13 cost pressures by reprioritising funds to support high-priority activities such as the Royal Commissions of Inquiry and the administration of the Christchurch Earthquake Appeal Trust.

Actual expenditure in 2012/13 was five per cent lower than the Supplementary Estimates budget. This was mainly due to an underspend in personnel and other operating expenses as a result of lower demand for Identity products and delays in projects.

In-principle expense transfers are used to carry forward funding for specific projects from one year to the next where a factor outside the Department’s control has caused a delay in a specific and discrete project and the costs cannot be met from the baseline of the following year. In-principle expense transfers from 2012/13 to 2013/14 up to a maximum of $11.4 million were approved.

Our workforce profile[37]

At 30 June 2013 we had 2,045.20 full-time equivalent (FTE) permanent and fixed term staff. We continue to carefully manage vacancies to address variances with our staffing cap, which currently sits at 2,396.30 FTEs. There has been an increase in establishment and FTEs due to the inclusion of the Sydney and London FTE into the Department’s HR system in March 2013.

  • The average age of our employees is 40 years, with 29.4 per cent under 35 years and 17.9 per cent over 55 years. We are experiencing the ageing workforce trend exhibited across the rest of the public sector.
  • We have a gender split of 59 per cent female and 41 per cent male. This is similar to the overall public sector profile.
  • More than 65 different ethnicities are represented in our workforce. Of our employees:
    • 8.3 per cent identify as Māori, compared with a public sector average of 16.4 per cent
    • 5.8 per cent identify as Pacific, compared with a public sector average of 8 per cent
    • 6.9 per cent identify as Asian, which is below the public sector average of 7 per cent.
  • The Department’s overall voluntary turnover is 14.9 per cent, compared with the public service average of 11.4 per cent. Turnover has trended upward over the past three years, in line with the rest of the public sector.
  • Average annual sick leave is 6.5 days, compared with the public service average of 7.6.

FTEs – Five-year trend

FTEs - Five-year trend

Larger version of image  Long description

Human Resources
Indicators Progress Data sources

We attract high-quality people in the most cost-effective way possible and create a positive experience for applicants and managers:

End-to-end recruitment process complete within 60 days[38]

2012/13: 48%
2011/12: 53%
Internal Affairs HR data

We have a healthy turnover rate and do not experience low or sudden drops in our retention rate:

Reduce current core unplanned turnover rate against the public sector

2013:
DIA – 14.9%
Public sector – 11.4%

2012:
DIA – 14%
Public sector – 11%

Internal Affairs HR data
Staff have a comparatively high level of engagement and this supports the Department in being a high performing organisation:

Increased engagement levels for staff in annual engagement survey

2013:14.2%
2012: 9.3%
DIA Annual Engagement Survey

Percentage of DIA Engaged level to exceed State sector benchmark by 2017

2013: 14.2% (State sector benchmark 21%)
Operations
Indicators Progress Data sources

The Department effectively manages its footprint and generates savings

Implementation of Property Strategy commencing 2013/14:

Total office accommodation per person will reduce from the current 20.77 square metres per person (BASS) to a range of 14–16 square metres per person by 2017/18

Square metres per FTE (BASS)

2013: Not yet available[39]

2012: 20.77sqm[40]

Report on the Crown Office Estate (Government Property Management Centre of Expertise)
Financial
Indicators Progress Data sources

The public and Government have confidence in our financial information:

Unqualified independent audit opinion shows the Department’s financial information is fairly presented

2012/13: Unqualified
2011/12: Unqualified
2010/11: Unqualified
Annual independent audit

The Department has a reputation for being timely in its payments:

Invoice to payment cycle is equal or better than the public service average as published in Dun & Bradstreet

2012/13:
DIA: 39 days
Public service: 41 days[41]

2011/12:
DIA: 35 days
Public service: 44.2 days

Dun & Bradstreet Report
The Department’s corporate infrastructure is robust and fit for purpose:

Shared financial services with IRD operational from October 2013

2013: N/A[42] Internal Affairs finance data

Optimise HR – as lead agency complete next phase by 2013

2013: Achieved Internal Affairs HR data

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Footnotes

[1] Outcomes relate to areas in which we provide immediate services to the wider public and consequently affect their quality of life. Objectives describe how we seek to support public sector and other organisations to deliver better and smarter services to, and with, the people of New Zealand.

[2] Next survey results will be available late 2013/ early 2014.

[3] Next survey results will be available late 2013/ early 2014.

[4] Next results will be available in 2014.

[5] Next results will be available in 2014.

[6] The 2012 OECD PISA report will be available on 3 December 2013.

[7] The National Civil Defence Emergency Management Strategy can be accessed from the Civil Defence website. The National CDEM Plan is part of the Strategy.

[8] The report of the Fire Review Panel can be found on the Department’s website at www.dia.govt.nz.

[9] The Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA) processes all claims for costs incurred after 30 June 2012.

[10] The evaluation report can be found on our website at www.dia.govt.nz.

[11] www.epicnz.co.nz

[12] Apostille certificates are available for use in countries that have signed the Hague Convention abolishing the requirement of legalisation for foreign public documents.

[13] http://schools.natlib.govt.nz/

[14] Harvests include all publicly accessible material, in line with Legal Deposit regulations. They do not include password-protected or commercial sites without the express permission of the owners of those sites.

[15] Annual calendar year data.

[16] Calendar year to date.

[17] No survey was conducted in 2012/13 as a review was conducted to determine the survey’s fit for purpose. Following the review, a new survey has since been developed for 2013/14 onwards.

[18] The latest data is sourced from the Kiwis Count March 2013 Quarterly update.

[19] 2013 information for this indicator will be included in the Kiwis Count June 2013 Quarterly update due for release in late October/early November 2013.

[20] 2013 information for this indicator will be included in the Kiwis Count June 2013 Quarterly update due for release in late October/early November 2013.

[21] 2013 information for this indicator will be included in the Kiwis Count June 2013 Quarterly update due for release in late October/early November 2013.

[22] The 2013 Corruptions Perception Index will be released in December 2013.

[23] The GCIO reviewed publicly accessible systems in the State services at the request of the State Services Commissioner after a security breach at Ministry of Social Development Work and Income kiosks. The review covered 215 publicly accessible information systems across 70 government agencies. The GCIO’s report can be found at www.ssc.govt.nz/GCIO-publicsystemsreview.

[24] The eight ‘Result 10 agencies’ that have services in the basket of 10 indicator services are the Department of Internal Affairs, New Zealand Police, Customs New Zealand, Inland Revenue Department, Ministry of Social Development, Department of Conservation, Ministry of Business, Innovation and Enterprise (Immigration) and New Zealand Trade and Enterprise.

[25] https://webtoolkit.govt.nz/

[26] Open Network Environment (one.govt) is a secure IT network used by government agencies to collaborate and share information.

[27] This indicator replaces the previous indicator on “People’s satisfaction with the internet as the most recent contact channel with government.” The previous indicator is no longer being specifically reported in the State Services Commission’s Channels Report.

[28] 2012 survey results will be available November 2013.

[29] The revised NZIER Benchmarking Report will be available in November 2013.

[30] The CDEM Capability Assessment Tool is not due until 2015.

[31] The next survey results will be available late 2013 or early 2014.

[32] The programme is managed by a Memorandum of Understanding and is led by MFAT.

[33] United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination.

[34] Asia Pacific Humanitarian Partnership.

[35] The low participation level is attributed to two UN training sessions being cancelled.

[36] Ministry of Social Development, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment, Careers NZ, Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority.

[37] Data referring to public sector averages is from the 2011 Human Resources Capability Survey, State Services Commission.

[38] Includes average 13 days advertising, five days for successful applicants to consider signing and seven days for promulgation.

[39] 2013 data will be available when the Report on the Crown Office Estate as at 30 June 2013 is released.

[40] Information from Benchmarking Administrative and Support Services (BASS) Report 2012.

[41] This is the New Zealand average, as the public sector average has not yet been published.

[42] A phased rollout is planned, starting November 2013.

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