The Commissioner gets it
The Herald reports:
There are too many meetings in the public service, too many layers of management, too much duplication, not enough clarity about its role and not enough focus on outcomes, new Public Service Commissioner Sir Brian Roche told chief executives in a letter ahead of their first meeting.
He said improvements in efficiency, decision-making, and responsiveness were needed.
Good to see the new Commissioner gets it.
Among the problems he cited were a lack of data use in decision-making, and assumptions being made about the Treaty of Waitangi.
“We are not using enough data to improve the quality and timeliness of decision-making,” the letter said.
“A lot of what we try in terms of policy is impeded by assumptions [rather than analysis] that ‘this will breach the Treaty’.”
The public sector also needed to be more responsive.
“There is a perception we are not listening to what ministers need [or] want.”
Ministers would certainly share that perception!
Asked by the Herald to expand on concerns about the Treaty of Waitangi, he said conclusions that certain actions would be a breach of the Treaty needed to be “well-founded on legal principles and precedent; it’s not just some as it were low-level official saying ‘Oh this looks like a Treaty breach’.’”
Yes!