Publications produced during 2006

This is a list of the publications produced in 2006 (the most recent items are listed first).
Performance of the contact centre for Work and Income

December 2006: Work and Income, one of the main service delivery arms of the Ministry of Social Development, provides income support and work assistance to large numbers of New Zealanders. Its contact centre answers about 6 million calls a year. This performance audit assesses and reports on the contact centre’s management systems and the relationships between the contact centre and the rest of Work and Income...

Residential rates postponement

November 2006: Overall, councils’ rates postponement policies are well designed, and councils are administering them in the interests of their communities. However, we have identified some areas where councils could improve their rates postponement policies and procedures...

Allocation of the 2002-05 Health Funding Package

October 2006: We undertook this audit to provide Parliament with a better understanding of where the Health Funding Package had been allocated between 2002 and 2005. The Ministry of Health had good documentation to support decisions on allocating the package. However, it is not possible to say from this audit how the Health Funding Package was ultimately spent, because district health boards, and many Ministry directorates, did not keep separate records of Health Funding Package funds...

Making good use of resources

October 2006: Article published in the Chartered Accountants Journal and reproduced here by kind permission of the Editor of the Journal.

Principles to underpin management by public entities of funding to non-government organisations

June 2006: This good practice guide takes a principles-based approach to guide public entities’ decisions when they enter into funding arrangements with NGOs. The guide has been developed for both the central government and local government sectors – and the Auditor-General expects all public entities to demonstrate that they have considered and acted in keeping with these principles...

Ministry of Education: Management of the school property portfolio

June 2006: School property is the second largest publicly owned property portfolio in the country, with a capital value of $7,000 million. The Ministry of Education has better controls in place than when we last audited school property management in 2001. However, it has only partly addressed our recommendations for improving its overview of the overall condition of the school property portfolio and the maintenance that school boards undertake...

Local authority codes of conduct

June 2006: The Local Government Act 2002 created a new legal requirement for each local authority to adopt a code of conduct for its elected members. We examined councils' experiences in developing and using their codes...

Management of the West Coast Economic Development Funding Package

May 2006: In May 2000, a once-only payment of $120 million was made to help the West Coast region’s economy adjust to the Government’s policies to end the logging of indigenous forest. Of this funding package, $92 million was placed with the West Coast Development Trust, and the remaining $28 million was divided equally between the 4 West Coast local authorities. This report looks at how these 5 entities have managed the use of the funding package...

Management of heritage collections in local museums and art galleries

April 2006: This report provides museum staff with an independent assessment of collection management policies and practices against recognised principles of sound collection management, illustrates good practice, and suggests ways for museums and art galleries to work more effectively as individual institutions and collectively as a sector...

The Treasury: Capability to recognise and respond to issues for Māori

March 2006: Public service departments need to be able to respond effectively to the Government’s social and economic goals for Māori. This is particularly the case with the Treasury, which not only provides fiscal and economic advice on its own account, but provides a second opinion to the Government on other public service departments’ initiatives affecting Māori...

Achieving public sector outcomes with private sector partners

February 2006: This report draws on the experience of overseas jurisdictions, and provides examples of partnering arrangements that have been entered into in this country. The aim is to inform leaders and decision-makers about the key issues they need to consider across the public sector and for individual projects...