Resource material › Corporate Publications › Statement of Intent 2014-18Tauāki Whakamaunga Atu
Managing Functions and Operations
On this page
- Managing in a changing environment
- Responding to the current fiscal environment
- Operating Environment
- Risk assessment and management
Managing in a changing environment
We identify long-term trends and issues through environmental scanning, strategic leadership sessions and engagement with key stakeholders to underpin strategic development. Our Executive Leadership Team (ELT) has collective responsibility for identifying the core capability and capacity requirements to support the Department to respond to external drivers in the short and long term. Our governance committees maintain oversight of the environmental drivers in their areas of focus.
Responding to the current fiscal environment
The broader economic and fiscal environment continues to strongly influence our wider operating environment. Expectations for more cost-effective public services and the need for fiscal restraint require an ongoing commitment to managing cost pressures and using resources efficiently.
A key strategic driver in the medium term is the need to deliver Departmental and Ministerial priorities within current baselines, while managing future cost pressures. The current fiscal environment requires departments to consider existing baselines as the first source of funding for meeting cost pressures, funding any new priorities, or for increasing funding to existing programmes.
Over the medium term, the department will focus on:
- realising the benefits of our combined functions and reducing duplication
- consolidating our structure and systems
- delivering efficiencies across the organisation.
We will continue to seek ways to develop new operating models to capitalise on our structure, explore ongoing and sustainable savings, and work more productively and cost effectively. We have an ongoing focus on baseline management and future savings will be allocated to initiatives that are aligned with government and strategic priorities.
The Department intends to accelerate what is an ambitious programme of business transformation and investment in digital channels, which will increase efficiencies over time. The key medium term decisions that the Department needs to make to address fiscal pressures, include:
- balancing the management of cost pressures within the baseline with the need to direct resources towards highest priorities
- actively identifying and reducing, or stopping, lower priority activities or services to free up resources for higher priorities
- the extent to which the Department invests upfront in transformational initiatives, putting pressure on current baselines to unlock greater efficiencies and savings in out-years
- improving the efficiency of the operating model to identify savings for cost pressures and transformation initiatives
- resolving the funding model for all of government ICT products development – operationalising the conceptual framework.
Operating Environment
Government and public expectations, and ongoing fiscal pressure, have changed the operating environment across government. Decisions are necessary to prioritise resources towards strategic outcomes. The Department’s evolving range of functions and responsibilities will increasingly require trade-offs between activities to ensure the highest priorities are delivered.
Like all public sector agencies, the Department is expected to deliver better results for New Zealanders by working across the system to achieve collective impact. Achieving results increasingly requires greater innovation and collaboration across sectors. Recent changes to core State sector legislation enable a more collaborative and shared approach between agencies to achieve improved outcomes. We intend to make use of these changes, including the flexible provisions contained within the Public Finance Act, to improve and enhance service delivery.
As well as delivering all-of-government responsibilities, the diversity of our functions means we face a range of challenges and changes in our operating environment over the medium-term, including:
- increased focus on the security and privacy of government-held information
- expectations that the system of local government will improve its responsiveness to ratepayers and its collective contribution to New Zealand’s economy
- ongoing implications from the Canterbury earthquakes, including changes to service delivery models
- increased complexity in the regulatory environment, including an increasing scope of regulatory responsibilities and technology advances in regulated areas
- responding to the ‘digital shift’ in information management, requiring new models of protecting, preserving and accessing government information and services, and balancing this with the provision of traditional services
- changes in demand for identity products, both in volume and expectations of customers
- responding to any new Inquiries and supporting changes in the Executive following the 2014 and 2017 General Elections.
Risk assessment and management
To achieve priorities and outcomes within the operating environment we need to actively understand and manage risk so we can maximise the opportunities, limit costs and achieve the desired objectives. This requires us to fully understand both our appetite and tolerance for risk, along with the nature and extent of the risk and opportunity when developing appropriate responses.
Our ELT is collectively responsible for the Department’s risk assessment and management. Governance committees provide oversight of risk and opportunities in their areas of focus to support ELT. The Risk and Assurance Governance Committee has a specific role supporting risk management practice and policies, providing oversight and guidance of risk management at an organisational level. Our External Advisory Committee also provides a level of external governance and advice on the management of risks.
Our risk management framework extends risk identification and mitigation to all levels of the Department’s activities. The framework is consistent with the Risk Management Standard ISO:31000:2009. Ongoing review and feedback will ensure that our risk management framework remains appropriate and delivers the right outcomes for the Department.