Hon Paula Bennett

Deputy Prime Minister

Minister for State Services
3 May 2017
New Better Public Services targets

A refresh of the Better Public Services targets will further improve the lives of New Zealanders, State Services Minister Paula Bennett says.

Prime Minister Bill English today outlined a new set of 10 targets which set the Government’s expectations for the public service, building on the success of the initial targets set in 2012.

“These targets are challenging. They won’t all be easily achieved but we’re not here to shy away from these challenges, we’re here to change lives,” Mrs Bennett says.

The new targets include:

• Having 90 per cent of pregnant women register with a Lead Maternity Carer in their first trimester

• Reducing the number of hospitalisations for children 12 and under with preventable conditions

• Improving the literacy and numeracy of children – focussing on higher achievement of students in year 8

• Reducing the number of serious crime victims by 10,000

• Achieving a 20 per cent reduction in the time it takes to house priority clients on the social housing register.

“Since we set the initial targets in 2012 we’ve made significant improvements to the lives of New Zealanders and we want to continue to build on that,” Mrs Bennett says.

“The previous targets saw fewer children getting rheumatic fever and being physically abused, helped make our communities safer and saw more people get off benefits and into work. These are the sorts of results that make a real difference to Kiwi families.

“We’re taking an all of government approach to ensure that the things that matter to New Zealanders are achieved. We’re focussing on education, having proper access to health and housing, having fewer victims of crime and making sure that our public services are accessible to all.”

The BPS targets also come with performance measures for the Ministries responsible for them. They will be a key part of Chief Executives’ performance reviews and will be published in departments’ annual reports,” Mrs Bennett says.

An action plan for each new result will be released in the coming months.

More information about BPS can be found HERE

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