We’ve developed a new strategic direction
We put people at the centre of everything we do. We identified two overarching strategic priorities in our 2017–2022 Statement of Intent [19]:
- to enhance outcomes for people who seek assistance from us
- to strengthen our capabilities as an organisation to ensure we deliver high-quality people-centred services.
We assess our progress on these strategic priorities in 2017/2018 on pages 21 to 77 of this annual report.
Following the transformation of the system for the care and support of vulnerable children, which led to the creation of Oranga Tamariki—Ministry for Children in April 2017, we have developed a new strategic direction to guide the delivery of our services and drive the development of our organisation into the future. The new strategic direction, outcomes and impacts framework and key shifts we need to make are summarised in Appendix 3.
Before 1 April 2017
In 2011 the previous Government began a work programme to transform the way New Zealand cares for and supports vulnerable children. This culminated in new legislation and (from April 2017) a new department.
In January 2017, in light of the forthcoming organisational change, we began developing a new strategic direction to redefine how we will work to support and help New Zealanders in the future.
Since 1 April 2017
1 April: The Ministry for Vulnerable Children, Oranga Tamariki (renamed as Oranga Tamariki—Ministry for Children in January 2018), comes into being and assumes from MSD functions relating to care and protection of children and young people, youth justice, and community funding for services related to the welfare of children, young people and their families. Funding for other community groups remains an MSD responsibility.
April: Legislation comes into force to raise the upper age for care and protection to 18, to ensure that children and young people have their views taken into account in the development of service and policy, and to enable a broader range of professionals to perform a wider set of functions.
Cabinet agrees to the creation of the Social Investment Agency.
October: The Government announces its intention to conduct a major overhaul of the welfare system.
2018
May: The Government appoints a Welfare Expert Advisory Group (WEAG) to support the welfare system overhaul. WEAG will recommend ways to ensure people have an adequate income and standard of living, are treated with respect, can live in dignity, and can participate meaningfully in their communities. WEAG will report its recommendations to the Government in February 2019.
Cabinet agrees to establish a new Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, incorporating some housing functions from MSD, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, and the Treasury, from 1 October 2018 [20].
June: Following a co-design approach between our staff, clients and client advocates, the Minister for Social Development launches in New Plymouth a new face to Work and Income, including a new set of client commitments and an online eligibility guide.
August: We publish a new Statement of Intent [21] articulating our new strategic direction, the outcomes we want to achieve, the impacts we want to have, and the three key shifts we need to make to realise that direction (these are summarised in Appendix 3) [22].
Footnotes
[19] The 2017–2022 Statement of Intent was published in September 2017 and can be found at http://www.msd.govt.nz/documents/about-msd-and-our-work/publications-resources/corporate/statement-of-intent/2017/soi-2017-2022.pdf.
[20] In August 2018 the Government announced that our provider-facing purchaser role for emergency, transitional and public housing would also transfer to the new Ministry in October 2018.
[21] https://www.msd.govt.nz/documents/about-msd-and-our-work/publications-resources/corporate/statement-of-intent/2018/statement-of-intent-2018-2022-print-version.pdf
[22] During the coming year we will develop a set of organisational performance measures to indicate our progress in achieving these outcomes and impacts. We will report on these measures in our next Annual Report.
