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5. Strengthening our Capability

Setting Strategic Direction

Identifying outcomes and priority areas of work

Over the past two years the Ministry for the Environment has been working towards better defining its role in leading environmental sustainability and the outcomes on which the Ministry’s work should be focused. By the start of the 2007/08 financial year we had identified four high-level outcomes and begun refining the measures used to monitor progress.

This work continued in 2008. The Ministry has now identified eight priority areas of work that contribute to our four high level outcomes: environmental sustainability in key sectors, climate change, fresh water, oceans, waste minimisation, urban design and development, environmental reporting, and environmental governance.

Longer term outcomes have been developed for all of these priority areas and in some cases contributing outcomes have also been identified. Further work on outcomes and the measures used to demonstrate progress will be undertaken in 2008/09.

Measuring progress

Measurement of progress towards achieving environmental outcomes is complex because of the length of time it takes to see changes and the many players involved. Environmental indicators enable us to track progress over time towards the longer term outcomes and to report on trends in the New Zealand environment.

The Ministry released its second state of the environment report, Environment New Zealand 2007, in January 2008. This uses a core set of environmental indicators and other supporting information to report on the state of New Zealand’s environment and demonstrate progress towards the outcomes.

Cross-government collaboration

In addition to clarifying the direction of its own work and activities, the Ministry has a strategic role in working with other government agencies on environmental sustainability. We are working through the Environmental Sustainability Deputy Secretaries Group to support strategic thinking and initiatives in the area of environmental sustainability.

Strategic business plan and strategies for change

The demands on, and expectations of, the Ministry for the Environment have changed substantially over the past few years. The Ministry needs to take a significant step up in its capability and organisational performance so it can operate effectively in an increasingly complex area.

In 2008 we developed a strategic business plan to set out the broad direction we will follow in building capability and improving performance. This is supported by five strategies for change and a series of projects that will improve our effectiveness and our systems.

The strategies for change focus on:

  • Setting and achieving longer term goals – establishing the framework of longer term and intermediate outcomes that should drive the Ministry’s work.

  • Developing our people – building the knowledge and capability of the management team, clearly setting performance expectations and assessing performance, and strengthening the capabilities that will be needed in the future.

  • Developing quality systems and processes – improving support for our Ministers, strengthening policies, procedures and practices, and taking a more systematic approach to risk management.

  • Improving our engagement with key stakeholders, especially Māori.

  • Working effectively across the Ministry and with external agencies – strengthening our ability to work across a range of policy areas and the governance of cross-Ministry and cross-agency work programmes.

Measuring efficiency and effectiveness

The core environmental indicators reported in Environment New Zealand 2007 provide the base information for measuring progress towards long term outcomes. In addition to five yearly comprehensive national state of the environment reports, we will prepare regular (in many cases, annual) updates on the core set of environmental indicators.

The Ministry is continuing to refine its longer term and intermediate outcomes, including its priority areas, using the State Services Commission’s guidance for departments on managing for outcomes. Focussing on outcomes in this way ensures there is a clear evidence base for policy choices, and enables evaluation programmes to be designed that will clearly demonstrate the performance of policy options and progress towards outcomes.

In developing the 2008 – 2011 Statement of Intent and related business, the Ministry focused attention on how we will demonstrate the success of our interventions. Further work on this will be undertaken in 2008/09.

Risk management

In 2007/08 an internal auditor was appointed, reporting to the Chief Executive. To assist the Ministry improve risk management, the internal auditor has conducted several operational reviews and established an internal audit schedule for 2008/09. An Audit and Risk Committee has now been approved and will meet for the first time in October 2008.

We recognise that strengthening our organisational policy framework will lead to improved accountability and, therefore, have a positive risk mitigation effect.

The Ministry is committed to developing a more integrated and consistent approach to risk management. We are in the process of documenting our approach to organisational risk management and will use this to support the evolution of a risk awareness culture at the Ministry for the Environment. Our aim is to regularly identify, understand and respond effectively to risks in our operating environment.

 

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