Cover of the BIM

Part 9: Working with you

We look forward to working with you and discussing the most effective ways we can support you and your priorities as Minister.

We are keen to discuss with you how frequently and in what form you wish to meet with the Ministry and the frequency and type of information you would like us to report to you on. We expect that you will wish to be kept informed of progress on initiatives and work programmes, as well as financial, human resources and performance data.

Through a ‘no surprises’ approach, we will ensure you and your office receive timely advice on the management of issues that arise, and will let you know about information the Ministry is required to release under the Official Information Act.

We will provide you with Private Secretaries with a strong understanding of the Ministry and its areas of responsibility to help us to help you achieve your priorities. We will continue to work with these staff to support their development.

We are committed to providing high-quality policy advice that is free and frank, strategic and proactive, focused both on short-term needs and on issues that Government may want to focus on in the medium to long term. We will brief you fully on these issues, including any trade-offs that you may need to make.

We are looking to move towards a more transparent and active publishing culture. We intend this to stimulate debate and discussion across the sector and with key partners on a range of issues, through the timely publication of papers on critical issues. We will ensure that this process contains no surprises for you.

We look forward to the opportunity to work with you to achieve your priorities.

A snapshot of the Ministry of Social Development

We administer over $23 billion of government expenditure each year

We administer over $23 billion of government expenditure each year

We provide leadership across government...

  • Chairing the Social Sector Forum; Vulnerable Children's Board; Joint Venture Board
  • Housing the Children’s Action Plan Directorate
  • Hosting the Property Management Centre of Expertise
  • Coordinating two Treaty Settlement Social Sector Accords (Te Hiku and Tuhoe)

Key pieces of legislation we manage and administer...

  • Social Security Act 1964
  • Children, Young Persons and Their Families Act 1989
  • Adoption Act 1955; Adoption (Intercountry) Act 1997; Adult Adoption Information Act 1985 (operational administration)
  • Vulnerable Children Act 2014
  • New Zealand Superannuation and Retirement Income Act 2001
  • Social Workers Registration Act 2003
  • Children’s Commissioner Act 2003
  • Families Commission Act 2003
  • New Zealand Sign Language Act 2006

We work with over 1 million New Zealanders every year*...

  • 294,000 receive a working-age benefit
  • 3,000 young people receive a youth benefit
  • 147,000 Child, Youth and Family notifications
  • 5,000 children and young people in our custody, 4,000 in out-of-home placements
  • Over 2,000 agreements for funding community-based social services
  • 655,000 older people receive New Zealand Superannuation or other retirement income
  • 48,000 assessments of people’s social housing needs
  • Over 244,000 student loan and 149,000 student allowance applications processed to help students into study
  • Over 900,000 Community Services Cards help people access health care

* all figures approximate as at June 2014

We help New Zealanders to help themselves to be safe, strong and independent.

Through our services we work with almost every New Zealander by...

  • providing care and protection for children and young people, youth justice services and adoptions
  • providing financial assistance and support to working-age New Zealanders and helping people get into sustainable work
  • assessing eligibility for social housing
  • providing entitlements to seniors; and assisting students to overcome financial barriers to higher education
  • contracting and funding a mix of services, programme delivery, and community development initiatives designed to strengthen local communities and families, such as parenting programmes
  • focusing on specific groups through the Office for Disability Issues, Ministry of Youth Development and Office for Senior Citizens

Our structure and people...

MSD is led by Chief Executive Brendan Boyle. There are eight DCEs that support him in Policy, Service Delivery and Corporate.

We have approximately 10,000 people working in 300 locations across New Zealand

73% of MSD staff are female (60% of Public Service in 2013 were female). 62% identify as European, 23% as Maori, 13% as Pacific, 9% as Asian

We monitor four Crown entities...

  • The Children’s Commissioner advocates for children, independently monitors and assesses services provided under the CYPF Act
  • The Families Commission advocates for families, monitors and evaluates programmes and interventions across the social sector
  • The New Zealand Artificial Limb Service provides individualised services to rehabilitate amputees
  • The Social Workers Registration Board manages the registration of social workers, including overseeing the qualifications framework