Hurahura Research
Our research role
The Public Service Commission and the New Zealand public service are continually working to improve how public services deliver for New Zealanders. As we work on improving public services now, we must also keep an eye to the future, so that New Zealanders have a public service that better meets their needs and remains relevant in a changing world.
Part of the Commission’s core function is to provide leadership and over-sight of the public service and ensure the purpose of the Public Service Act is carried out. From time to time, Commission staff need to do a deeper dive to understand a problem. Sometimes this involves a literature review or empirical research and analysis. Other times it can involve engaging with public administration theory to develop new understandings, or reflective practice and insights.
This collection of papers have been commissioned, written or contributed to by Commission staff members in order for us to get a better understanding of various challenges facing the public service, so that we can continue to work on improving how public services deliver for New Zealanders. The Commission’s aim in sharing the papers here is to make these ideas and analyses available to a wider audience, and to inform and encourage public debate, with the ultimate aim of informing our work.
If you have any questions, would like reports in a different format or are interested in discussing this work, please email: info@publicservice.govt.nz.
Disclaimer: The views, opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in these papers are strictly those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the Commission or the New Zealand Government.
Please note: Prior to August 2020, the Public Service Commission was known as the State Services Commission. Documents published prior to this date refer to the Commission by this earlier name.
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Career Progression and Development Survey 2000: Results for the New Zealand Public Service
Part of the background work undertaken by the SSC during the 1998/99 financial year on Crown entities. Discusses the roles and powers of Responsible Ministers in relation to Crown entities, and the support they can recei…
Report of the Advisory Group on the Review of the Centre
This report presents the findings and recommendations of the Review of the Centre of the New Zealand State sector conducted over a four-month period in 2001 by a Ministerial Advisory Group including Public Service chief …
Working Paper: A Cross-Jurisdictional Scan of Practices in Senior Public Services: Implications for New Zealand
The paper looks at the broader dimension of management development and focuses on the senior public services of various jurisdictions. From this international scan, it draws lessons on senior management development for N…
The core elements of New Zealand’s public sector management model as originally formulated
This paper offers a guide to the core ideas or propositions underpinning the New Zealand public sector management model as it was articulated by Treasury officials in the late 1980s.
A Framework for Measuring Training and Development in the State Sector
This research examines some of the reasons for the current scarcity of information on training in the State sector, and aims to develop a framework of measures to gather information likely to be of interest to Government…
Cost-Benefit Analysis of the Mainstream Supported Employment Programme 1998
Overall, this cost-benefit analysis indicates positive results from the programme for all parties involved, from both economic and financial perspectives. Intangible benefits of the programme, such as attachment to the w…
Building Advice: The Craft of the Policy Professional
This paper focuses on new ideas about, and orientations to, the craft of policy analysis and the production of high quality advice. Recent and seminal works in the policy field, mostly academic, are reviewed in this pape…
Strategic Social Policy Advice: Improving the Information Base
This paper was prepared for the State Services Commission as part of work on improving strategic social policy advice. It sets out the requirements for an information base for strategic social policy, and describes facto…
Building Advice: The Craft of the Policy Professional - Working paper
This paper focuses on new ideas about, and orientations to, the craft of policy analysis and the production of high quality advice. Recent and seminal works in the policy field, mostly academic, are reviewed in this pape…
Gaining Through Training Developing High Performing Policy Advisors
There is currently a shortage in the supply of skilled policy staff; there is also a dearth of recognised public-sector-wide policy training. This paper examines the latter aspect of this dilemma, and suggests a way forw…
Pieces of the Puzzle: Machinery of Government and the Quality of Policy Advice
This paper examines how current machinery of government arrangements influence the quality of policy advice. The paper draws extensively on interviews undertaken as part of the SSC project on Improving the Quality of Pol…
Declining Government Performance? Why Citizens Don't Trust Government
In 1964, 75% of the American public believed they could trust their government to do the right thing most of the time – by 1995 only 15% did so. New Zealand studies reflect a similar trend. In 1985, 8.5% of New Zealander…
Learning and Returning: The Use of Secondments and Rotations in the New Zealand Public Service
This paper summaries the results of a survey undertaken by the State Services Commission to gather information on the extent and nature of the use of secondments by Public Service departments, and identifies issues affec…
Crown Entities: Review of Board Appointment and Induction Processes
Part of the background work undertaken by the SSC on Crown entities during the 1998/99 financial year. Reports the findings of a review of the appointment and induction process used for Crown entity board members. Discus…
High Fliers: Developing High Performing Policy Units
This component of the State Services Commission's work on Improving the Quality of Policy Advice investigates how policy agencies develop and maintain high performance in providing quality policy advice. It outlines a de…
Barriers to Women's Career Progression: A Review of the Literature
This paper reviews some of the vast amount of available literature on barriers to women's career progression. It identifies three key themes, Human Resource Management (HRM); organisational culture and family issues, tha…
Crown Entities: Roles of Ministers Crown Entities and Departments
This paper summaries the results of a survey undertaken by the State Services Commission to gather information on the extent and nature of the use of secondments by Public Service departments, and identifies issues affec…
Crown Entities: Review of Statements of Intent
Forms part of the background work undertaken by SSC on Crown entities during the 1998/99 financial year. Reports the findings of a review of the 1997/98 statements of intent (SOIs) of 41 Crown entities. Discusses the var…
Crown Entities: Organisational Design
Discusses the conditions and criteria under which an organisation should fall within the legal Crown (i.e. a Public Service department), and whose under which the organisation should be outside the Crown. In the latter c…
Crown Entities: An Overview of SSC Developmental Work
On 15 July 1999, the Minister of State Services announced the Crown Entities Initiative. Behind these announcements considerable development work had been undertaken by the SSC. This paper provides an overview of this an…
Improving Accountability: Setting the Scene
Background information on the accountability system of the New Zealand Public Service. The paper presents the key "problem areas" of the accountability system, as identified through consultation with key stakeholders.
Canadian Policy and Expenditure Management Systems and New Zealand's Strategic Result Areas: A Comparative Study
In 1989, the Canadian government declared its Policy and Expenditure Management System (PEMS), an integral part of Canada's public management system, that had been in place for over a decade, a failure. PEMS aimed to imp…
Measuring Human Resource Capability in the Public Service
Defines organisation and human resource (HR) capability and discusses their importance to State sector capability. Reports on progress in developing key indicators for measuring HR capability.
An Ethics Framework for the State Sector
A framework for ethics that clarifies the State Services Commission's role and responsibilities relative to chief executives of departments and other public sector organisations is discussed in this paper.
Medium-Term Fiscal Modelling: Update Report
Discusses trends in government expenditure which utilise both a backward-looking examination of historical data and a forward-looking 50-year projection of fiscal trends - in particular, the extent to which these trends …