In order for the Ministry to achieve our objects we must have the capacity and capability in a number of areas to support our work.
The Ministry has a positive organisational culture and we see this as a source of comparative advantage in the competitive market from which we draw many of our staff. We consolidated our staffing levels this year, with recruitment mostly related to the continued growth in the Ministry’s functions rather than because of turnover. We are able to attract good quality people and our reputation as a good place to work is reflected in listing in Unlimited magazine’s “20 Best Places to Work” for a third consecutive year.
Retention strategies have also continued to be very effective during the year, with a professional development programme implemented for the year, and some specific priorities addressed. Preliminary work on a leadership development programme also commenced.
The Partnership for Quality between the Ministry and the PSA was strengthened further during the year with the renegotiation of our collective employment agreement for our non-managerial staff. Additional leave provisions in the agreement reflect our intention of promoting a healthy work/life balance. Further part-time positions were also established, enabling us to employ more highly-skilled people who have other demands.
During the year we reviewed and updated our performance management system and guidelines and our remuneration policy. We also undertook further work on our human resource information system to more effectively manage training data in support of the professional development programme.
Access to high-quality information, and the ability to utilise it effectively, is vital to ensuring positive outcomes for the Ministry’s work.
Our staff continue to enjoy access to very good library and research resources to support them in their work. An internal knowledge management survey was conducted during the year, and a number of key recommendations from the survey have already been implemented, including the development and implementation of an intranet for staff.
This work was complemented by an internal communications survey which elicited some very useful information about the preferred means of staff communication.
The implementation of a knowledge management strategy for the Ministry, both to enhance these existing resources and to ensure that the Ministry remains on an appropriate path, is now well underway.
An information technology audit was completed during 2004 and all of the key recommendations arising from it were addressed by the end of February 2005. A traffic monitoring system, covering both the internet and email, and an email storage management system were introduced during the year. Work also commenced late in the financial year on developing an IT Roadmap for the Ministry to ensure the effective planning implementation of our growing technology needs.
Redesign projects covering the Ministry’s corporate and NZHistory.net.nz websites proceeded to plan during the year, with the ‘build’ phase about to commence on the corporate website, and the ‘design’ phase soon to be undertaken for NZHistory.net.nz.
This year’s financial statements show that the Ministry has remained within its departmental appropriations.
Provision has been made in the balance sheet to return to the Crown a surplus of $29,000 on its operations for the 2004 - 05 year. This surplus is the result of additional revenue generated from third parties in relation to contracted histories for public sector clients.
Service performance shows the achievement, or over achievement in many instances, of output targets.
Audit New Zealand has again rated the Ministry’s performance for the year as ‘excellent’ in each of their five assessment categories covering financial and service performance.
