Insider’s guide to NZ government (online course)
Session 4: Resources
Now that you’ve completed session 4, on this page you can find:
(1) contact details for the session slides
(2) the 2-page document listing all the government agencies in the State sector
(3) Some further reading
(4) FAQs (regularly updated)
(1) Session 4 slides
If you would like a copy of the slides for session 4 just pop us an email and we’ll get them through to you ASAP.
(2) Agencies in the State sector
Here is the 2-page document from session 4.
It lists all the Departments, Crown entities, SOEs and Mixed-Ownweship Model Companies that we looked at.
This document is published by the State Services Commission and updated regularly on their website as new agencies are created, merged, or disestablished.
(3) Further reading
Cabinet Manual, DPMC
Chapter 3 ‘Ministers and the State sector’ is like the written version of session 4. It explains all about about Departments, Crown entities, and SOEs & MOMCs - what their roles are and their relationships with their ministers. Not exactly a cover-to-cover read on a Saturday night 🎉….more a case of ‘dip in and out’ if you need to clarify any aspect of how different agencies function.
Agency staff numbers, Public Service Commission
Remember the quiz exercises we did on the number of staff in different agencies?
This document shows staff numbers (full-time equivalent) for all of the Departments. Unfortunately the State Services Commission does not provide staff numbers for Crown entities or SOEs and MOMCs. Also in the document is the figure of 364,000 people working in the State sector from a total workforce in NZ of 2.3 million.
(4) FAQs
I’m really confused by the terms ‘State sector’ and ‘Public sector’. Is there a difference?
Yes there is a difference.
The State sector is all the central government agencies we looked at in session 4, i.e. Departments, Crown entities, and SOEs and MOMCs. When you add in all the councils around the country, that gives you the public sector.
Think of it this way: central government (i.e. the state sector, 364,000 people) + local government (i.e. councils, 50,000 people) = public sector (414,000 people).
What are these Public Finance Act Schedule 4 companies/organisations I see listed in the 2-page document?
We didn’t have time go through these in session 4. But we can look at them quickly here.
The PFA Schedule 4 organisations (page 2) are structured much like Crown entities but they are even more removed from ministerial control. They really go about their business quite independently from ministerial influence. The tend to perform specific statutory function (i.e. a function laid down in the law that established them) for example the Maori Trustee or the Asia New Zealand Foundation.
The PFA Schedule 4 companies (also page 2) are more like State-owned enterprises. They are all companies owned by ministers, but rather than being profit-driven (as are the SOEs), they are delivering a policy function. For example, Education Payroll Limited was created to take over responsibility for paying teachers after the Novopay problems. Likewise Predator Free 2050 Limited has its policy function spelt out in its name.
Why do ministers get to appoint the members of Crown entity Boards?
Allowing ministers to appoint board members seems to reflect something of a compromise. Ministers remain responsible to Parliament for the performance of their Crown entities. So, it is argued, if Crown entities are going to be ‘arm’s length’ from ministers, then, ministers should be able to appoint to the boards people they trust to provide the right kind of guidance and oversight over that entity.
This said, there is a strong argument that the State Services Commissioner should have the power to appoint board members to ensure that all the people on the boards are genuinely merit-based appointments rather than being former MPs or simply a friend of the minister (it happens!).
What’s an ‘Independent Crown entity’?
Ok, there are different types of Crown entity. On the first page of the 2-page document, at the bottom of column 1, in all caps we have the heading CROWN ENTITIES.
Under that heading we have the sub-heading Statutory Entities.
There are 3 types of Statutory Entity: Crown Agents, Autonomous Crown Entities (ACE) and Independent Crown Entities (ICE).
There is a spectrum of ‘independence’ from minsters going on here. It’s generally considered that ministers have the highest level of control over Crown Agents, the ACEs’s are in the middle, while ministers have little control over the ICEs.
For example, we saw in session 4 how the Children’s Commissioner Andrew Beecroft publicly criticised aspects of government policy (benefit levels, living wage, social housing). The Children’s Commissioner is an ICE. Because of the legislation under which they operate, ICE’s are allowed considerable freedom to say/do what they want even if ministers might not like what they say/do!