Open Government Partnership New Zealand National Action Plan 2018-2020
Progress report for: June 2018 – January 2019
Commitment 5 progress report: June 2018 to January 2019
Commitment 5: Public participation in policy development
Lead agency: The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (DPMC)
Objective: DPMC will assist the New Zealand public sector to develop a deeper and more consistent understanding of what good engagement with the public means (right across the International Association of Public Participation’s spectrum of public participation).
Ambition: New Zealanders increasingly experience a timelier and collaborative approach to public participation when policies are developed, and consider their concerns, diversity of views, life experience, and time are valued in the policy process.
Improvements in public participation can result in better design of policy and services, and increase their legitimacy. Improving public participation requires an informed approach to applying public participation methods throughout the policy development process. Developing a deeper understanding of what good engagement looks like and providing guidance about best practice methods across government, will achieve a more consistent and coherent approach to public participation
OGP values: Transparency, Technology, and Innovation
Milestones
Milestone 1
Extend existing Policy Method’s Toolbox public participation guidance to include a decision tool that will assist agencies and Ministers to:
- Choose the appropriate engagement approach on the public participation spectrum when they tackle a specific [policy or service design issue
- Understand the characteristics and enablers of effective public participation at whichever point on the spectrum they choose
- Ensure that the engagement approaches selected appropriately include and reflect the diversity of those interested and affected by the policies.
Start/End dates: October 2018/March 2020
Progress: Underway
Milestone 2
Develop and share recent case studies documenting New Zealand innovation success stories in public participation in the policy development process
Start/End dates: October 2018/March 2020
Progress: Underway
Milestone 3
Identify a ‘live’ policy issue in which to trial public engagement in policy development that is higher on the public participation spectrum than inform or consult, as a demonstration project.
Start/End dates: October 2018/March 2020
Progress: Underway
Milestone 4
Widely disseminate the results of the above actions.
Start/End dates: March 2020/June 2020
Progress: N/A
What we have been doing
In the quarter ending 31 December 2018 the Policy Project (the team within DPMC responsible for Commitment 5) have:
- Briefed the Prime Minister on the National Action Plan and Commitment 5 and obtained agreement to criteria for selecting demonstration project
- Progressed the development of a draft project scoping document
- Commenced a domestic and international literature survey on learnings about:
- public participation decision tools
- best practice engagement at different IAP2 stages
- enabling diversity and inclusion in stakeholder engagement
- Commenced identifying candidates for recent case studies of innovation success stories in public participation in the policy development process
- Commenced investigating policy initiatives that are potential candidates for the live demonstration project involving public participation at point on IAP2 Spectrum higher than “consult”
- Made an application to the International Association of Public Participation to use and refer to the IAP2 Spectrum of Public Participation in its engagement guidance and tools, which was granted.
How we are including diverse voices
Identifying possible approaches to including diverse voices during project scoping. Planning discussions with various co-design specialists Discussion planned with EAP on engagement approach feasible within our available resources.
How we are keeping diverse communities informed
Preliminary thinking undertaken about how to keep diverse communities informed about the Commitment 5 project as part of project scoping. Discussion planned with EAP on possible approaches to keeping diverse communities informed.
What's next?
In the quarter ending 31 March 2019, we will focus on:
- Meetings with co-design specialists and other key stakeholders in public, private and community sectors to assist the project team to scope approaches to include diverse voices in the development of the guidance components
- Meeting with the EAP to discuss likely engagement options for Commitment 5, in light of feedback from co-design specialists and other key stakeholders
- Developing an engagement plan for the Commitment 5 project, and a communications plan for keeping diverse communities informed
- Completing the project scoping document, once the engagement and communications plans are finalised
- Beginning to implement the project plan, including making further progress on the literature survey and other desk research
- Conduct further research on demonstration project options, and develop paper for the Prime Minister with recommendation and related letters of approval (should an appropriate project be identified).
Links – Evidence of progress and milestones achieved
Briefing to the Prime Minister on Open Government Partnership National Action Plan 2018 – 2020
Note below the link to the State Services Commission website containing two of the documents mentioned in the appendices to the above paper:
- Cabinet paper: Open Government Partnership National Action Plan 2018 – 2020, 12 September 2018
- National Action Plan 2018-2020
http://ogp.org.nz/new-zealands-plan/third-national-action-plan-2018-2020/