Better Public Services: the advisory group report

Abstract

On 15 March 2012 the Prime Minister released the report of the Better Public Services advisory and governance group appointed in May 2011 (the report had been completed in November 2011 but release was delayed over the election period) (Better Public Services Advisory Group (BPSAG), 2011). Public attention focused on the creation of a new ‘business-facing’ government department, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, and on the ten expectations that collectively made up ‘a new results-driven focus for the public service’, to which the prime minister devoted his speech of 15 March 2012 (Key, 2012). Other initiatives, such as the pooling of justice sector budgets,1 have attracted little comment in the media but open up possibilities for greater inter-agency collaboration.