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To maximise its contribution to the government’s desired outcomes, DPMC continues to focus on assessment and enhancement of its capability across all business units.
The success of the department depends on maintaining and developing a skilled workforce and making full use of its experience and knowledge. During the 2004/05 year, DPMC undertook two significant staff-assessment exercises:
A department-wide staff climate survey was conducted in February 2005, with 86 per cent of staff providing a response. The survey was designed to better understand staff views about various aspects of the department, in order to identify areas of concern and strength and to target future improvements and changes in DPMC. This was an initial survey, and so provides the department with a baseline from which to measure improvements in subsequent years.
Results showed that working at DPMC is rated highly. Staff are committed to the department, and have a sense of pride in DPMC: they are satisfied with the work they do and the tasks they carry out. There is trust in management, with management seen as demonstrating a high level of integrity and honesty. Positive ratings in the areas of cohesion and morale indicate that staff are united in working together to achieve objectives, and that they operate in a supportive and friendly environment.
On average, individuals rated their business unit and the department as a whole as effective – although there are some differences across the various business units.
The specific review of capability and capacity in the Policy Advisory Group (PAG) and the Domestic External Security Group (DESG) provided valuable assessments of these two business units. The review identified a need for additional resources in DESG because of the significant increase in its workload in the past few years. It also signalled that changes in capability requirements for the Policy Advisory Group have placed much stronger emphasis on that group’s need for written advice and relevant external experience. The key recommendations for both business units are being actioned.
During 2004/05, Secretary of the Cabinet and Clerk of the Executive Council Diane Morcom received the 2005 Foreign and Commonwealth Office Aotearoa Fellowship, in recognition of her current leadership experience and to accelerate the development of her leadership potential. The fellowship made it possible for Diane to attend the Senior Leadership Programme at Oxford and to visit cabinet offices in the United Kingdom.
Staff wellbeing remains a priority for DPMC, and in 2004/2005 there were developments in a number of human resource policies and practices aimed at improving staff wellbeing and conditions of employment.
Work continued on measures to improve the work/life balance of DPMC’s staff, with the main forum for these activities being our department-wide work/life balance (WLB) group. During the year, a number of WLB principles were developed and then approved by the senior management group: these principles set out how managers, employees and people seconded to DPMC are to operate in creating and maintaining an environment that values and practises WLB.
In late 2004, DPMC established a review team to look at all aspects of its current personnel manual – including remuneration and related benefits, leave provisions, safety and health, and other general conditions of employment. This is a major project that has involved extensive staff consultation and gathered a wide range of staff views, many of which have been incorporated into a revised draft of the manual. Further work is being undertaken to complete this initiative by the end of 2005.
Creating a safer work environment at DPMC is an ongoing goal. In 2004/05, the department’s Health and Safety Committee undertook an internal assessment of all our health and safety systems and processes. Its purpose was to determine whether DPMC was ready to apply for primary-level status as part of the ACC Workplace Safety Management Practices Programme (which is a voluntary programme aimed at encouraging good-employer practices in workplace health and safety). This in-house exercise highlighted areas where further action was required before a formal ACC audit could be carried out to obtain primary status. The Health and Safety Committee is about to complete an action list for improvements; after the improvements have been put in place, ACC will be asked to conduct its formal audit.
A DPMC subsidy for fitness-related programmes encourages staff to maintain a good level of physical fitness. The department also operates an employee-assistance programme and continues to administer a group health-insurance scheme for staff, through Southern Cross Healthcare.
As part of building its capability, DPMC regularly con-venes an internal audit committee whose purpose is to determine the adequacy, efficiency and effectiveness of the department’s management, financial and operating systems. Particular emphasis is placed on providing assurance to the Chief Executive that internal-control measures are working effectively. An independent chairperson from outside the department has chaired the committee since its inception in 2002.
In 2004/05 the committee met four times. Its current members are Ross Tanner (chair), Brent Anderson, Martin Bell, Jet Chiew, Suzi Archer, Clare Hill, Gregory Baughen.
During the year DPMC held a full-day workshop with representatives from all business units, as part of an information-strategy review. The aim was to help guide our future investment in information systems around key themes of commonality, integration, effectiveness, and efficiency.
We are now able to set priorities for our development workplan over the next two years. The initial focus is on strengthening the management of our electronic and hardcopy records, providing better access to electronic information, and further integrating our business units into the corporate network.
DPMC’s technical infrastructure has been reviewed and consolidated, in order to strengthen its robustness and security. All business units now have dual communication links; and our information-systems codes of practice have been consolidated – as have our email and internet policies.
Government House has been brought into the departmental intranet, and planning is underway to provide staff there with full access to network applications. In addition, Government House is in the process of automating its event management and co-ordination of the Governor-General’s diary: an electronic system for this was selected during the year.
The Cabinet Office has focused on improving the use of its existing systems and developing new internal information-management and IT resources. As part of these developments, a secure online Cabinet and Cabinet committee workspace was developed and launched for the use of staff in ministers’ offices; the same information is available to departments through the new public sector intranet. The Cabinet Office has also developed and launched a secure online workspace for an interdepartmental statutory appointments and governance group. Within the Office, the Honours Secretariat has begun a project to review its business processes and its requirements for a new honours database.