EQC Minister welcomes Auditor General’s report

Minister Responsible for the Earthquake Commission (EQC) Gerry Brownlee has welcomed the Auditor General’s report released today highlighting the progress being made with the Canterbury Home Repair Programme (CHRP), and the continued benefits it is delivering.

Today’s report is a follow-up to a 2013 report by Auditor General Lyn Provost that recommended that EQC make improvements in five areas of the Canterbury Home Repair Programme.

These included how EQC audits repairs; communicates with customers; measures performance; configures the repair and project management services and identifies lessons learned.

Mr Brownlee says the report shows that the CHRP, which has repaired almost 68,000 homes, has met key government objectives for the programme, as well as making progress in all areas identified in the 2013 report.

“One of the Auditor General’s key findings is that EQC has managed to effectively manage repair-cost inflation through the implementation of the home repair programme, which was a primary reason for its establishment,” Mr Brownlee says.

The report identifies repair-cost inflation of 14.2 per cent between February 2011 and June 2015 – half the rate for new house builds in Canterbury, despite that sector being affected by similar cost pressures and industry cost structures as home repair work.

“The report also highlights the importance of EQC continuing to obtain reinsurance cover, which is vital for limiting what taxpayers and the private insurance industry pay for the Canterbury rebuild and any future event,” Mr Brownlee says.

Leadership of good health and safety practices is another important benefit of the programme.

“The CHRP regularly has fewer reported injuries than its target of no-more than six reported injuries per million hours worked, compared with the average of 46 reported injuries per million hours worked found in the benchmarking of a wider construction industry group in 2014,” Mr Brownlee says.

EQC will continue to work on improving the programme and how it works with its remaining customers.

“There are areas highlighted by the Auditor General where EQC is looking to improve, and as her report says, EQC is learning the lessons from the programme and is committed to applying them to its future work,” Mr Brownlee says.