Presentation by State Services Commissioner and Head of State Services, Iain Rennie
Commentary from Len Cook, former Government Statistician of Statistics New Zealand and past President of IPANZ.
Abstract:
The New Zealand state sector has undergone considerable change over the past five years. It is now expected to deliver more with less. With the passing of the State Sector Amendment Act in July 2013, the public sector is poised to undergo the biggest transformation in a generation.
On the one hand, Government has stressed that its policy is smarter and delivering better public services through a range of initiatives, including better policy coordination and an enhanced performance management framework. However, its leadership needs to work closer together across the whole of government to achieve overall Government goals, not just as individual agency Chief Executives.
In addition, how can the State sector recruit and keep talent, especially given the pull of the Auckland job market, and the private sector’s demand for high quality leaders. What does the state sector need to do to respond to the new challenges and avoid project failures such as Novopay? Is it adequately equipped to deal with these challenges?
The Head of State Services, Iain Rennie, will outline current and planned initiatives on achieving better public services, and proposed future developments, enabled in part by the State Sector Amendment Act.
Offering commentary will be Len Cook. As past President of IPANZ, he has been a frequent commentator on state sector reforms.
This event promises to be a stimulating and informative one for the many thousands of Auckland based State sector employees, as well as the wider community who have an equal interest in the delivery of better public services.
Free admission.
Light refreshments will be provided.
Register online today.
Bio details:
Iain Rennie took up the position of State Services Commissioner on 1 July 2008, and was reappointed for a second, three year term, on 1 July 2013.
As the State Services Commissioner and as Head of State Services, Iain’s role is to provide leadership and oversight of the state services. He appoints public service chief executives and manages their performance. Under the State Sector Amendment Act 2013, he now has greater responsibility for developing senior leadership and management capability, including appointments to key positions within the public service. He is also responsible for driving state sector reform and is currently spearheading changes to the way leaders are developed within the public sector.
Iain has been in the public service since 1986. The bulk of his career was spent at the Treasury, where he was Deputy Secretary for nine years prior to taking up the position of Deputy State Services Commissioner in 2007.
In 2004, Iain was seconded to the DPMC, as Acting Director for the Policy Advisory Group. He was also seconded to the Office of the Leader of the Opposition as Economic Advisor from 1989 to 1990.
Iain has a BA (Hons) in Economics from Victoria University of Wellington.
Len Cook is the former NZ Government Statistician (1992 to 2000) and National Statistician and Director of the Office for National Statistics, United Kingdom and the Registrar General of England and Wales from 2000 to 2005. Len stepped down as the President of IPANZ in March 2013 and was acting head of the Families Commission until June 2013.
He has a particular interest in social policy, demography, statistical methodology, and the application of information technology in statistical systems. He is interested in the promotion of research methodology in public policy analysis and decision-making.
Len now works on projects that extend the use of statistics in public life, including retirement provision and ageing. Len continues to participate in a number of government initiated reviews.