Tā Te Kawa Mataaho Kawenga Role of Te Kawa Mataaho Public Service Commission

The Commission’s purpose is to lead the Public Service to perform for New Zealand. We will take a position when required, we back public servants, and we protect the integrity of the Public Service. We ensure that the system is focused on delivering the services that New Zealanders want, need and expect.

The Public Service Commissioner is the Head of Service, and leads the Public Service and wider public sector agencies to work as one system to deliver better services and better outcomes.

The Commissioner acts to protect and enhance the legitimacy and integrity of the Public Service, and the spirit of service that sits at the heart of the Service and everything it does.

The Commission provides leadership and oversight of the Public Service, ensuring that it carries out its purpose.

We will take a position when required.

We will back public servants.

We will protect the integrity of the Public Service.

And we will refocus the system to deliver the services New Zealanders want, need and expect.

The Public Service Act provides the overall mandate for system leadership and some specific powers and levers that assist the Commission in carrying out its wider role. Under the Act the Commissioner provides leadership and oversight of the Public Service.

The Commissioner’s scope of influence is greatest within the Public Service where the Commissioner has employment responsibilities for chief executives. Aspects of the Commissioner’s mandate, including the integrity mandate, extend to parts of the wider public sector.

Under the Public Service Act, the Commissioner’s functions include:

• leading the Public Service to deliver better services and achieve better outcomes for the public
• promoting and reinforcing integrity, good conduct, and transparency and accountability in the Public Service, including through standards and guidance
• being responsible, in conjunction with departmental chief executives, for developing senior leadership and management capability in the Public Service
• promoting the development of workforce capability and capacity, including in the employment relations area, including oversight of pay equity bargaining
• appointing the leaders of the Public Service and acting as the employer of chief executives of departments and departmental agencies. This includes appointment, reappointment, and performance review
• advising on improvements to the design and operation of the system of government agencies
• reviewing the performance of departments and departmental agencies and assisting agencies to improve, as well as conducting investigations and inquiries in relation to public agencies.

It is important that the Commission is prepared and organised to adapt in response to new priorities and meet fiscal expectations. This means helping each group and the Commission as a whole to operate at its best, with good organisational health and capability to deliver, as a high performing and sustainable organisation.

A deliberate organisational development plan is in place to achieve progress across key areas of our organisational capability and performance, including:

• maintaining strong fiscal responsibility, including ensuring that our resources are efficiently deployed within the organisation to priority areas of work for the Government.
• building a modern and flexible workplace that is a great place to work and be productive, based on an inclusive respectful and positive working environment, including providing trusted advice, tools and information. 
• developing assurance and accountability, role modelling and keeping our organisation safe, resilient and sustainable.
• growing an agile, diverse and capable workforce, building cultural competency and eliminating the pay gaps (including our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion plan and implementing Te Angitū, our Māori capability strategy and action plan)
• Digitally enabling our work through the information systems strategic plan and improving the data we hold about the public service workforce and performance of the system, and ensuring that insights are available to support interventions and decision-making (including by the Commission, ministers, and other public service leaders).