Better Public Service Targets Require Independent Auditing – NZ First Private Members’ Bill Series Part Two
Yesterday morning, we woke up to news that government agencies are quite literally “inventing numbers” in order to make themselves seem competent and measure up to the government’s public service performance targets.
This might seem pretty heinous – and it is – but consider the culture they’re operating in. They answer, after all, to a Government which thought it was perfectly fine and a-OK to make up out of thin air any range of numbers from the projected economic benefits of the TPPA (there’s no data to support a $2.7 billion dollar figure), through to the supposed revenue from selling off our power companies.
It is fair, right and proper that we be given information which allows us to assess how well particular government agencies and programs are performing. Equally, it is also unjust and iniquitous that the present Government’s bean-counter approach to politics has created a situation wherein public servants feel they *have* to lie, cheat and obfuscate in order to maintain their sources of much-needed integral funding.
I’ve personally seen this in the education sector, where a number of providers I’ve worked for have seemingly deliberately massaged measures of assessment and achievement in pursuit of better pass-rates – and the consequent rewards which follow.
The issues identified by the Salvation Army in their State of the Nation report, however, are far broader.
This isn’t just ‘cheating’ at already established and externally recognized rubrics of accountability.
This is the creation of entirely new metrics with the deliberate and specific object of *avoiding* accountability. It’s also the presentation of data in singularly unhelpful ways so as to prevent the casual observer (or even, apparently, the seeming-expert) from being able to keep reliable tabs on the performance-returns of public money.
It is exceptionally worrying that some of our most vulnerable – children under the aegis of CYFs foremost among them – appear to be the ones most directly affected by this number-crunching chicanery.
This is not a new issue, either.
Ever on the ball, NZ First’s Social Development spokesperson, Darroch Ball put a private member’s bill in the ballot mid-way through last year that would have addressed this situation, by ensuring independent scrutiny of public service targets. It also would have specifically addressed the CYFs issue through subjecting targets in this area to Children’s Commissioner oversight.
This would ensure accountability by placing the responsibility for verifying and validating performance in the hands of people dedicated to ensuring accurate and apt outcomes. Not self-interested parties with a vested motivation to make themselves look good. It’s simply common sense.
We cannot allow the worrying trend of government agencies being given free-reign to self-assess and self-pass to continue.
As we can see from the CYFs situation, it’s not simply an issue of taxpayer dollars and cents. It’s a pressing and urgent case of quality-of-life, quality-of-service, and even potentially risks to life itself.
I salute both Darroch Ball and the Salvation Army for putting this ongoing travesty under the spotlight.
Let us hope that Ball’s bill is adopted, and this flagrant abuse of process put to an end.
This National Government have always fabricated & fudged the numbers to construct reasons for policy.
And still indulge in falsely reported figures that are later found to be fictitious.
They are the masters of deception and are far removed from reality as many wall St speculators as Key was then and still is.
They will be found out eventually.
“You can fool the people some of the time but not all of the people all of the time.”
Unfortunately among National you see the prevailing paradigm of NZ business – which is not productivity or entrepreneurship but dishonesty.
Good to see you back, Curwen!
The government says that Audit NZ is already auditing government agencies and their performances. Indeed the Auditor General is in charge of Audit NZ and so the Office of the Auditor General does do annual audits.
Problem is, these “audits” are generally based on strict financial and other data analysis and evaluation, including basic “performance” data, so they do this rather like any usual business type audit.
Whether there are short cuts leading to human and social consequences, whether there are people falling through the cracks of “services”, that is not so much a concern to the Auditors.
Hence indeed, we need some independent, wider auditing, that examines what really goes on, and that looks at the human, social, economic and environmental costs, rather than just output type “performance” and financial “efficiencies”.
I would dare to suggest the Office of the Auditor General itself could do with an independent audit and inquiry, same as the Office of Ombudsmen, both of whom have thrown out valid requests for investigations, simply because they claimed they did not have the resources or could not bother!
I recommend some reading, studying and analysis re what goes on at MSD, and what does NOT seem to be going on at MSD and WINZ:
https://nzsocialjusticeblog2013.wordpress.com/2015/11/27/msds-selective-and-poor-responses-to-new-oia-requests-on-benefits-advisors-reports-mental-health-and-sole-parent-employment-services/
https://nzsocialjusticeblog2013.files.wordpress.com/2015/12/msds-selective-poor-responses-to-new-oia-requests-post-nzsjb-27-11-15.pdf
An earlier post revealing how MSD does dodge providing OIA info, and when they do, they only offer selected, little info:
https://nzsocialjusticeblog2013.wordpress.com/2015/04/10/mental-health-and-sole-parent-employment-services-msd-withholds-o-i-a-information-that-may-prove-their-trials-a-failure/
Yet they dare go around telling people, beneficiaries and even doctors that being on a benefit is bad for your health, is “addictive” and more dangerous than smoking 20 packets of cigarettes a day, all supposedly based on “science”:
https://nzsocialjusticeblog2013.wordpress.com/2015/08/09/msd-and-dr-david-bratt-present-misleading-evidence-claiming-worklessness-causes-poor-health/
https://nzsocialjusticeblog2013.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/msd-dr-bratt-present-misleading-evidence-on-worklessness-and-health-post-09-08-15.pdf
OIA requests and answers re this:
https://nzsocialjusticeblog2013.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/msd-o-i-a-rqst-re-dr-bratt-presentations-contacts-anon-ltr-w-questions-16-01-14.pdf
https://nzsocialjusticeblog2013.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/msd-o-i-a-rqst-re-dr-bratt-presentations-contacts-anon-16-01-reply-by-ce-27-02-14.pdf
https://nzsocialjusticeblog2013.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/msd-o-i-a-rqst-re-dr-bratt-presentations-contacts-anon-16-01-further-reply-12-11-14.pdf
Ombudsman complaint about MSD withholding info and presenting conflicting info:
https://nzsocialjusticeblog2013.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/ombudsman-complaint-o-i-a-to-msd-public-interest-re-dr-bratt-anon-xx-03-2014.pdf
https://nzsocialjusticeblog2013.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/ombudsman-complaint-msd-o-i-a-rqst-16-01-14-dr-bratt-presentation-info-ltr-xx-12-14.pdf
https://nzsocialjusticeblog2013.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/ombudsman-complaint-o-i-a-to-msd-dr-bratt-publ-int-prov-dec-compl-hilit-22-05-15.pdf
https://nzsocialjusticeblog2013.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/ombudsman-complaint-3xxxxx-msd-o-i-a-fr-16-01-14-bratt-presentations-anon-ltr-13-06-15.pdf
https://nzsocialjusticeblog2013.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/ombudsman-complaint-msd-o-i-a-rqst-16-01-14-dr-bratt-presentation-info-hilit-dec-23-06-15.pdf
Re the above links and info: So the Ombudsman did not bother holding the government and MSD to account, I wonder why?
I also recommend a read of a complaint about the under-resourced, apparently poorly performing Office of Ombudsmen, which was presented to our dear Speaker of the House of Representatives:
https://nzsocialjusticeblog2013.files.wordpress.com/2015/12/speaker-of-parliament-complaint-abt-ombudsman-hdc-complt-handling-anon-xx-05-15.pdf
Here are the Speaker’s response and a response to that by the complainant, who did not have much faith in the underresourced Office of Ombudsmen:
https://nzsocialjusticeblog2013.files.wordpress.com/2015/12/speaker-house-of-repr-complaint-abt-ombudsman-office-reply-anon-hilit-25-08-15.pdf
https://nzsocialjusticeblog2013.files.wordpress.com/2015/12/speaker-of-parliament-complaint-abt-ombudsman-rqst-f-inquiry-reply-to-dec-anon-05-09-15.pdf
What we have is a significantly compromised public service sector AND also COMPROMISED “watchdogs” who have had all their teeth pulled out under this government, due to SEVERE UNDERFUNDING.
I can assure this is the case, because recent responses from the Ombudsman’s Office confirm yet again, overloaded, high workload, lack of resources, a never ending story!
Hence NZ First does also get the cold shoulder treatment re the above raised with this good post here! The government does not want watchdogs with teeth, it wants to get away with more of the same it has got away with since it took power in 2008!
Would anyone seriously trust these virtually “corporate type” auditors (qualified accountants and the likes) to care for how ordinary people, particularly beneficiaries, children in state or contracted care and others dependent on government agency services???
http://www.auditnz.govt.nz/who-we-are/our-leadership-team
Wake up, people, the horse bolted years ago!
“Government” is a laughing stock, it is just there to oversee more contracting out, outsourcing and for the rest skeletal “state services”, nothing else, that is the executive of course.