Recognising excellence in the public sector

Speech announcing the finalists at the IPANZ Gen-I Public Sector Excellence Awards
5.30pm, Monday 17 March 2008, Russell McVeagh Law Offices, Level 24, Vodafone on the Quay building, Lambton Quay, Level 24
Wellington

Good evening and welcome to the announcement of the finalists of the Public Sector Awards.

These Public Sector Awards, initiated by the Institute of Public Administration New Zealand, are generously supported by Gen-i as a lead sponsor.

Obviously as Minister of State Services, I have a particular interest in the performance of New Zealand’s public sector. I am especially interested in seeing performance improve across the public sector. Recognizing excellence is one important way for us to both celebrate and learn from our success.

So it is pleasing to note that the Public Sector Excellence Awards aim to identify excellence across the public sector – including the work of local government as well as the State Services.

The awards seek to demonstrate the diversity of these achievements across the public sector and highlight significant public sector achievements. The other objective for the Public Sector Excellence Awards in recognising and endorsing those public sector agencies which demonstrate excellence, is to motivate others into making a difference.

For me it is the opportunity to leverage off those successes that is very important. While it is good to recognize and celebrate success we must also go further. As public servants we should also be committed to making sure that the successes of any of us are used to improve our overall performance.

So, these awards form an important part of the ongoing effort to develop a shared commitment to improving the performance of New Zealand’s public sector. The work that public servants do has a large impact on the social and economic well being of this country, and we need to explore every option to ensure that our goals are continual improvement, standard of service, and value for money.

Let’s turn to the awards themselves.

There are six award categories and a supreme award which will be given to the overall winner. The categories are:

• People Capability
• Managerial Leadership
• Joined-up Government
• Working Together
• Crown- Maori Relationships
• A Media Award

The first four awards reflect the spirit of the State Services Development Goals. Local Government authorities were eligible to apply in any of these categories.

I am also pleased to note that the Prime Minister has agreed that the Supreme Award is to be known as the Prime Minister’s Award for Public Sector Excellence. She hopes to attend the Awards ceremony in early May and present the Award.

The Awards programme has been funded by sponsorship. I want to thank all of those organizations here tonight who have sponsored award categories or who have funded tonight’s event: Gen-i, the State Services Commission, the Leadership Development Centre, Te Puni Kokiri, Russell McVeagh, Microsoft and Talent 2.

It is now my pleasure to announce the finalists in each category.

The finalists for the State Services Commission Award for People Capability are:

1. Land Transport NZ: Fostering Leaders Strategy
2. NZ Police: Development and Implementation of the New Zealand Police Leadership and Management Development Framework

The finalists for the Leadership Development Centre’s award for Managerial Leadership are:

1. Ministry of Women’s’ Affairs: Organisational Transformation
2. Tertiary Education Commission: Re-creating an organisation ( Change Management)

The finalists for the Crown- Maori Relationships Award sponsored by Te Puni Kokiri are:

1. Far North District Council: Tai Tokerau Iwi Chief Executives and Local/ Regional Government Engagement Model
2. New Plymouth District Council: The Rewa Rewa agreement

The finalists for Microsoft’s Joined-up Government Award are:

1. Inland Revenue Department/ MED: Companies On-line Project, Phase 2
2. Ministry of Justice: Electronic Filing of Infringement Notices
3. Department of Building and Housing: Quality, Connected and Accessible Client Services

The finalists for the Working Together Award sponsored by Russell McVeagh are:

1. Ministry of Social Development: Negotiations for the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Disabled Persons
2. Ministry of Social Development: The Great Little Cookbook
3. Ministry of Social Development/ Families Commission: Campaign for Action on Family Violence Phase one—Creating Social Change
4. Ministry of Social Development: Improving Outcomes for Young people in Counties/ Manukau ( Youth Gangs)

The finalists for the Media Award, sponsored by Talent 2 are:

1. Inland Revenue Department nomination of Sunday Star Times for reporting on Kiwi Saver by Rob Stock
2. Ministry of Social Development nomination of Waikato Times for a feature article on the work of the Child Youth and Families Service by Denise Irvine.

The final category is the Prime Minister’s Award for Public Sector Excellence.

This is the IPANZ Supreme Award, and the winner will be selected from the winners of the Awards above. We’ll have to wait to see who the finalists are for this one.

Thank you, and I look forward to the announcement of the winners in May.