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How we monitor performance

The Government delivers many of its services through Crown entities and other organisations. This means that, although ministers remain accountable for the public resources, they depend on these funded agencies to deliver outcomes for New Zealanders.

We support ministers to oversee the performance of these Crown-funded entities across the arts, culture and heritage, media, and sport and recreation sectors, to drive sector performance for the benefit of all New Zealanders.

We do this by advising ministers on the sector’s sustainability, health and capability and the challenges and opportunities it faces.

As a monitoring department, we strive to operate in alignment with these two key documents:

  1. It Takes Three: Operating Expectations Framework for Statutory Crown Entities, whichsets principled expectations for ministers, entities and monitoring departments.
  2. The Foundations of Good Practice: Guidelines for Crown Entity Monitoring, which provides guidance and support to help monitors and boards meet the Government’s expectations for monitoring arrangements when performing their roles under the Crown Entities Act 2004.

It Takes Three: Operating Expectations Framework for Statutory Crown Entities (Public Service Commission)

The Foundations of Good Practice: Guidelines for Crown Entity Monitoring (Public Service Commission, PDF)

Monitoring funding

The Treasury Te Tai Ōhanga leads the New Zealand Government’s budget process and you can find more information about this process on its website.

Guide to the Budget process (The Treasury)

We administer Crown funding to entities in our sectors, which is allocated from the Vote Arts, Culture and Heritage and Vote Sport and Recreation funds.

Each entity commits, through the Estimates of Appropriation, to deliver outcomes for the receipt of Crown funding. We monitor the spending of this taxpayer funding.

Details of the sectors’ appropriations and capital injection are available on the Budget 2023 website.  

Budget 2023
 

Performance monitoring cycle

The performance monitoring cycle starts with setting clear expectations of entities. Then, as entities carry out their operations over the year, monitoring provides an important feedback loop for adjusting expectations and varying directions as circumstances change.

Letter of expectation and planning documents

Ahead of each reporting year, each entity receives a letter of expectation from the minister to be considered in developing its annual work plan or statement of performance expectations. At least every three years the entity must develop a statement of intent, which seeks to take a strategic four-year approach to its direction.

Entity reporting

The entity reports to us, as an agent of the minister, in its quarterly and annual reports to detail its progress in achieving these expectations.

Our role

As the monitoring department, we work with entities to ensure their performance reports provide enough detail on progress against goals in their statement of performance expectations and statement of intent, as well as government goals for public services. We develop metrics to effectively identify strengths and weaknesses in their performance against expectations and advise the minister on entities’ progress against their strategic goals.

Māori Crown relations

Te Ao Māori is a vital aspect of Aotearoa New Zealand identity and culture. An overarching expectation for all Crown-owned or Crown-funded agencies is they will support Māori culture to survive and thrive.

In the Enduring Letter of Expectations, ministers include an expectation that boards will ensure the entities they govern embody the Government’s good faith and collaborative approach to Māori Crown relationships by:

  • engaging appropriately and often with Māori on relevant issues
  • pursuing further opportunities for partnership with Māori entities and businesses
  • building staff Māori cultural capability including knowledge of tikanga Māori, te ao Māori, New Zealand history and how to address institutional racism.
  • improving the Treaty-consistency of policy and practices (for example, considering where whānau-centred policies can be used)
  • supporting the Maihi Karauna by promoting and supporting the revitalisation of te reo Māori.

Enduring Letter of Expectations (Public Service Commission, PDF)