Part 2: About the focus of our proposed work programme

Overview of proposed work on our 2013/14 Service Delivery theme

The theme for our 2013/14 work programme is Service Delivery. Our planned performance audits and other work for 2013/14 focus on the question of how quality, effective, and efficient service delivery can be optimised to provide for more diverse service supply and access to meet people's different needs.

We intend to report on:

1. delivering services in a digital environment;
2. client-focused service delivery by the Accident Compensation Corporation and the Ministry of Social Development;
3. service delivery through third parties (including Whānau Ora and maternity services);
4. education for Māori educational success – continuing our programme of audits;
5. local government asset and service-level management;
6. Auckland Council – review of service performance for:
   • Watercare Services Limited and its customer services operations; and
   • Auckland Council's building consent processes;
7. governance of council-controlled organisations; and
8. the Primary Growth Partnership.

Themes we will focus on in carrying out this work are:

• how entities are demonstrating their understanding of the services they deliver through their planning for and targeting services;
• how entities are effectively working together across boundaries to deliver services;
• how entities are evaluating the quality and effectiveness of service delivery; and
• how entities are assessing, and working to improve, the value for money they obtain.

We provide a brief description of each proposed audit or study in the Appendix.

Concluding work on our 2012/13 theme Our future needs – is the public sector ready?

In addition to these reports addressing our Service Delivery theme, we will complete our reports toward our 2012/13 theme Our future needs – is the public sector ready? This will include an overview report on the results of our work on this theme. In addition to the overview report, the reports we expect to conclude during 2013/14 toward the Our future needs theme are listed in Figure 1.

Figure 1
Our future needs performance audits started in 2012/13 and due to be finished in 2013/14

Sector reports to Parliament on the results of our audits

We will also prepare sector reports under our Public Audit Act 2001 responsibility to report on the results of our audits.

Those reports are likely to cover:

1. central government;
2. local government;
3. health;
4. education (schools);
5. entities in the social sector; and
6. state-owned enterprises.

For each report, we will consider whether to include relevant matters arising from our work monitoring the various Canterbury rebuild projects that involve public funds and resources.

We will also report on the progress of public entities with implementing our previous inquiry and performance audit recommendations.

Our reports to Parliament on the results of annual audits routinely comment on:

• non-standard audit opinions;
• the effectiveness of internal controls;
• the timeliness of financial reporting; and
• financial reporting developments.

Inquiry reports

Our inquiry work is reactive and so we cannot plan the number or topics in advance. We allow for between 3 and 10 substantial public reports each year. For 2013/14, our inquiry work will include reporting on at least two major inquiries:

• into decisions by Delta Utility Services Limited to invest in residential development at Luggate, near Wanaka, and at Jacks Point, Queenstown; and
• completion of our inquiry into the Mangawhai community wastewater scheme.

Looking ahead to 2014/15

In 2014/15, given the proposed changes in legislation, structural form of public entities, service delivery mechanisms, and accounting standards affecting the public sector, we propose to look at governance and accountability.

Alongside this proposed focus on governance and accountability for our 2014/15 work, we will propose a five-year rolling work programme that we will ask members of Parliament to comment on. The work programme will include what we are required to do by law – for example, annual audits of every public entity, our proposed performance audit topics and overall auditing themes for each year, sector reporting schedule, and our resource plans for major inquiries and other reporting.