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25 February 2021 - Expert Advisory Panel and Officials Group Meeting Minutes

Open Government Partnership: EAP & Officials Meeting

MEETING MINUTES

Thursday 25 February, 2021 - 12:30 pm - 5:00 pm      

Room 3.01c, Level 3, Pastoral House, 25 The Terrace; and Teams video conference

Expert Advisory Panel attendees

Suzanne Snively, Farib Sos, Sean Audain, Simon Wright Rachel Roberts, Sarah Colcord

Agency Officials

DPMC, MOJ, MOE, DIA, Archives NZ, Dept Stats, Office of the Clerk, MBIE

Te Kawa Mataaho Public Service Commission Officials

Catherine Williams, Stephen Moore, Victoria Hume

Apologies

Phil Newman

 

Agenda & Topic

Expert Advisory Panel meeting 12:45 – 2:00 pm

1 - Welcome and Coffee

2 - Topics for discussion

NAP 4 Engagement

  • Te Kawa Mataaho team took EAP through the online engagement tool, that launched earlier that day.
  • Noted that this phase is brainstorming ideas, next phase is working them up with agencies, submitters (and EAP), not every idea will become a commitment.
  • Online ideas will be taken to workshops for people to comment on (in the same way we put workshop ideas onto the tool).
  • EAP were encouraged to share the platform with their networks.
  • The option of a 4-year plan – phase 1 and 2 – was discussed, with an initial discovery/exploratory/research phase of commitments then possibility of budget bid for phase two commitments.
  • Methodology for commitment generation was described – small groups (idea generators) working directly with agencies.
  • Other engagement suggested by EAP - Probus, Rotary, Lions, business sector – big audiences to speak to eg Rural Women NZ are very good at hosting online events – could partner with them to host an event.
  • It was discussed linking with IPANZ, PSA to get public servants involved in NAP4.
  • EAP suggested approaches, such as learning labs, should be used for wicked problems.
  • EAP’s view is that there is no bottom-up process in the Climate Commission’s report.
  • Agencies with commitments in the 2016-18 plan could share their experience though a virtual event.
  • Te Kawa Mataaho will work with senior leadership within agencies to get buy in.
  • Opportunity to unpack what open government in the Public Service Act means
  • Managing participant expectations: need clear communication about what phase two of commitment generations looks like.
  • Build an environment where it is safe to explore with trust and authenticity.
  • External stakeholders need to understand the environment public servants work in, including ministerial and Cabinet sign off – transparency is as much about what cannot be done.
  • Commission needs to be clear about what we are doing and why they are doing it so that stakeholder expectations are clear.
  • Seek out the silent majority to give them a voice and ensure they are not drowned out.
  • A short-term approach will not achieve long term goals.
  • Need to sustain the relationships we build – can the EAP act as leads in relationship development and management over time?

Expert Advisory Panel & Officials Group Meeting 2:00 – 5:00pm

3 - Afternoon Tea

4 - NAP 3 Quarterly Reports

Officials took group through their upcoming March quarterly updates.

General discussion points:

  • Use open government principle (in the Public Service Act) to amplify OGP with public servants (via PSA for example), with senior leadership (including functional leads), and Minister with his colleagues.
  • Question whether the Plan should be tabled in Parliament.
  • We need to emphasis the “partnership” aspect.
  • Build a narrative to help tell the story e.g., digital needs open ßà open need digital.
  • Openness needs strong relationships – needs to work on both sides.
  • Noted that commitments can be built on but there is always the possibility that there is a clash with system priorities and pressures.
  • The theme areas are the framework that sits below what we are trying to achieve.
  • Need to consider capability too.
  • What still needs to be in a NAP – things that would not happen without OGP?
  • We need speculative/innovative commitments along with those on popular topics
  • It would be good to have a civil society led commitment (cf Biden “reinvigorating democracy”) and system-led commitment, and parliamentarians

Actions

  1. EAP share online engagement tool among their networks
  2. EAP connect TKM team to groups for engagement
  3. TKM to work with agency leaders for OGP buy-in over next few months