Comment
New Zealand's reforms to improve policymaking
New Zealand's Prime Minister’s recent endorsement signals that reforms are on track, says public servant and guest blogger, Sally Washington.
In April 2016, Nehal Davison, from the Institute for Government, concluded that big reforms to improve policymaking in New Zealand had reached a ‘critical transition point’, which risked tailing off. The New Zealand Prime Minister’s recent endorsement signal that the reforms are on track, says public servant and guest blogger, Sally Washington.
Prime Minister John Key launched three policy improvement frameworks produced by the Policy Project, a cross-agency team tasked with lifting policy quality and capability across the New Zealand Public Service.
He praised the Public Service (the equivalent of the UK Civil Service), but added that any good organisation had to look to the future – maintaining and building capability to continuously improve its offering to its clients and customers. He said he could see how the Policy Project frameworks would help the Public Service do a better job of advising ministers.
This high-level support is good news. It adds weight to the narrative that common frameworks will support more consistency in the quality of policy advice, the skills of policy practitioners and the capability of policy organisations, and ultimately improve overall system capability. The reform also has strong backing from senior leaders. Andrew Kibblewhite, Head of the Policy Profession (HoPP) and Chief Executive of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (DPMC), describes the three frameworks as ‘a mutually reinforcing infrastructure for improving policy quality and capability’. The new State Services Commissioner, Peter Hughes, has also weighed in, linking the Policy Project to the leadership and stewardship responsibilities of senior leaders.
I’m optimistic that the programme will forge ahead, building on the solid foundation of the frameworks. But I don’t expect plain sailing – there will be challenges.
Let me first describe the frameworks, and then share some insights on the ongoing challenges of a whole-of-government programme to improve policy quality and capability.
A policy improvement infrastructure
The three frameworks include:
- The Policy Capability Framework – sets out what makes for a high-performing policy team against factors such as stewardship (investing in capability for the future), systems and processes for delivering quality advice, and being customer-centric.
- The Policy Skills Framework – sets out what great policy advisers look like – what knowledge and applied skills they need, and what behaviour is expected of them. It can be used for professional development and recruitment.
- The Policy Quality Framework – sets out what great policy advice looks like and what enables it. It calls for policy advice that engages and helps decision makers; is clear about the problem; informed by evidence; balances what is desirable; is possible and cost-effective; and politically savvy.
Read Nehal Davison's report – Whole-of-government reforms in New Zealand: The case of the Policy Project
- Topic
- Policy making Civil service
- Country (international)
- New Zealand
- Publisher
- Institute for Government