29 September 2023
Thomas Wilson
By email to:
[FYI request #23742 email]
Dear Mr Wilson
OFFICIAL INFORMATION ACT REQUEST 2023/33
On 8 August 2023 you made a request under the Official Information Act 1982 (the OIA) for the
following information (with question numbers added for convenience). Due to the amount of
information requested we extended the deadline for our response to 4 October 2023. Responses to
each question are set out below on behalf of the Chief Electoral Officer, and there is an appendix on
p.4 listing attachments.
1. Please detail your progress against each measure in your SPE for 2022/23
See attached the four quarterly reports from the Commission to the Minister of Justice for the
2022/23 reporting year covering the months July 2022 to June 2023, which detail progress against
our performance measures.
2. Please provide your current SPE and previous SPE and detail the specific differences between the
two including specific detail of any changes in measures or new measures
Our published SPEs can be compared on our website:
https://elections.nz/about/about-the-
electoral-commission/corporate-publications/statements-of-intent-and-performance-expectations/.
The Commission does not hold specific records of the comparisons between the 2021/22 and
2022/23 performance measures, but the two sets of measures are similar in most regards, with
small amendments.
3. Please provide all documentation and all correspondence in the past 12 months that
demonstrate and detail the progress made on key priorities defined in your current statement of
intent, SOI
Please see provided attachments, including the four Quarterly Reports to the Minister of Justice
referred to in Q1 above, providing a strategic overview of the Commission’s performance against its
key priorities, and 10 sets of monthly reports for 2022/23 covering operational detail. The latter
monthly reporting is for internal use and is considered by the Commission’s Executive Leadership
Team. (There was no monthly reporting for November and December 2022 because such reports are
compiled at the end of the following calendar month, which was during the summer break). The
Commission’s 2022/23 Annual Report will provide additional reporting on our performance against
our key priorities, and will be published shortly.
Electoral Commission
Level 4, 34-42 Manners Street, PO Box 3220, Wellington 6140, New Zealand
Telephone +64 4 495 0030 Fax +64 4 495 0031
www.vote.nz |
www.elections.nz
4. Please advise the number of staff employed on a full time basis for each year covered over your
last two SOI’s (10 years?) and how these number support you SOI’s goals or priorities over that
period and if your SOI’s resulted in an increase in staff
Our two most recent SOIs covered the period 2019-24 and 2022-26, with the latter being the current
SOI. All staff support the delivery of SOI goals, but the contents of the SOI do not generally have a
bearing on staffing numbers; rather, they signal broad strategic approaches. Specific increases from
year to year are explained in each Statement of Performance Expectations and the accompanying
Annual Report. The number of Commission staff in each year are set out below. Note that these
figures exclude the large numbers of temporary workers hired for each General Election.
Role
Classification Office
22/23
21/22
20/21
19/20
18/19
Regional
Full-time
NZ-wide
57
32
44
43
41
Operational
Part-time
NZ-wide
0
6
9
10
11
National Office
Full-time
Wgtn
29
33
23
24
29
Operational
Part-time
Wgtn
4
5
4
2
0
National Office
Full-time
Wgtn
51
32
28
26
24
Administrative
Part-time
Wgtn
3
2
0
0
0
National Office
Full-time
Wgtn
6
5
4
4
3
Policy
Part-time
Wgtn
0
1
1
0
1
Total
150
116
113
109
109
5. Please provide detail of your budget figures for the years covered by current and previous SOI’s
and explain major increases or decreases in budget over that period including how these assign
with you SOI’s priorities/goals
Budget details for each financial year, which are prepared to give effect to our strategic objectives in
our Statement of Intent, are set out in our annual Statement of Performance Expectations on the
Commission’s website. The end of year financial reporting for each year is set out in our Annual
Reports here:
https://elections.nz/about/about-the-electoral-commission/corporate-
publications/annual-reports/. The main shift in the Commission’s budget in the years you specify has been increased funding
agreed in 2022 through the Supplementary Estimates process to improve our organisational
capability and to implement the findings of the Commission’s Target Operating Model (TOM)
internal review. The increased funding is reflected in the published accounts included in the 2022/23
Annual Report, which will be published shortly.
6. For the period of your current and previous SOI’s what has been your spend broken down by
department or business unit by year.
Please see the table below for budget details for the Commission’s business units for the past five
financial years. All figures exclude GST.
Electoral Commission
Level 4, 34-42 Manners Street, PO Box 3220, Wellington 6140, New Zealand
Telephone +64 4 495 0030 Fax +64 4 495 0031
www.vote.nz |
www.elections.nz
7. What organisational changes such as restructures have occurred in the periods covered by you
last 2 SOI’s, provide documentation relating to organisation changes, consultations, ministerial
advice, briefing documents, plans, feedback/responses.
In 2021/22 the Commission undertook a review to identify the capability and funding required to
successfully administer electoral events, in particular the General Election. This became known as
our Target Operating Model. A Design Council comprised of the Senior Management Team, a project
team, and subject matter experts, was established for a series of workshops to discover how we
wanted to work in the future, and what we wanted to change. This review process identified a
number of changes to the organisation, which were managed through two official change processes
in 2021/22.
In 2022/23 the Commission implemented a Regional Review process that revised its enrolment and
community engagement (ECE) function. This resulted in some smaller regional offices closing and
ECE staff working from offices in the main centres with increased outreach to regions.
See attached Commission internal decision documents and Board papers detailing these TOM and
Regional Review processes:
• Operating Model Refresh project update (18 August 2021)
• TOM ‘Where to from here’ staff consultation document (1 November 2021)
• Electoral Commission decision document (26 January 2022)
• Target Operating Model Programme Update (18 May 2022)
• Enrolment & Community Engagement Regional Review decision document (9 June 2022)
• Regional review implementation plan (27 September 2022)
• Electoral Commission consultation document (2 November 2022)
• TOM programme closure and handover (14 December 2022)
In the interests of transparency, we release responses to Official Information Act requests every
three months. We will publish this response with your personal details redacted.
You have the right under section 28(3) of the Act to make a complaint to the Ombudsman if you are
not satisfied with the response to your request. Information about how to do this is available at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or by phoning 0800 802 602.
Electoral Commission
Level 4, 34-42 Manners Street, PO Box 3220, Wellington 6140, New Zealand
Telephone +64 4 495 0030 Fax +64 4 495 0031
www.vote.nz |
www.elections.nz
Yours sincerely
Ethan Tucker
Principal Advisor Governance
Appendix: List of attachments
Attachment Title
Date
A01
EC Q1 Quarterly Report
July-September 2022
A02
EC Q2 Quarterly Report
October-December 2022
A03
EC Q3 Quarterly Report
January-March 2023
A04
EC Q4 Quarterly Report
April-June 2023
A05
Combined monthly reports
July 2022
A06
Combined monthly reports
August 2022
A07
Combined monthly reports
September 2022
A08
Combined monthly reports
October 2022
A09
Combined monthly reports
January 2023
A10
Combined monthly reports
February 2023
A11
Combined monthly reports
March 2023
A12
Combined monthly reports
April 2023
A13
Combined monthly reports
May 2023
A14
Combined monthly reports
June 2023
A15
Board paper: Operating Model refresh update
18 August 2021
A16
Where to from here: staff pack
1 November 2021
A17
EC decision document
26 January 2022
A18
TOM programme update
18 May 2022
A19
Regional review decision document
9 June 2022
A20
ELT paper: Regional review implementation
27 September 2022
A20a
Appendix A: Transition roadmap
27 September 2022
A21
Final consultation document
2 November 2022
A22
Board paper: TOM programme closure & handover 14 December 2022
Electoral Commission
Level 4, 34-42 Manners Street, PO Box 3220, Wellington 6140, New Zealand
Telephone +64 4 495 0030 Fax +64 4 495 0031
www.vote.nz |
www.elections.nz
