PREFACE

This report presents the findings and recommendations of the review of the centre of the New Zealand State sector conducted over a four-month period in 2001 by a Ministerial Advisory Group including Public Service chief executives, external commentators and a representative of the Public Service Association.

In conducting its review, the Advisory Group considered previous research studies and texts, ran focus groups with frontline staff, commissioned case studies, held hui with Maori staff and consultants, interviewed a range of stakeholders, analysed available statistics, and submitted its work to peer review by commentators in New Zealand and abroad.

The Advisory Group concludes that, although the New Zealand public management system provides a sound platform on which to build, it needs to meet more effectively the needs of Ministers and citizens. It proposes improvements in three areas: integrating service delivery across multiple agencies; addressing fragmentation of the State sector and improving its alignment; and improving the systems by which State servants are trained and developed. The Government’s decisions in the wake of this report map out a programme of improvement, to be implemented over several years, that will result in a better performing State sector, and a more rewarding environment for those who work in it.

We wish to thank the members of the Advisory Group and the many people in the State sector and elsewhere who assisted in the review of the centre. This report, the result of their work, is a valuable contribution to public management in New Zealand.

Trevor Mallard Minister of State Services

Dr Michael Cullen Minister of Finance