Kia ora Hayden

I am writing to acknowledge receipt of
your OIA request below.

We will endeavour to respond to your
request as soon as possible and in any event no later than 20 working days
after the day your request was received. If we are unable to respond to your
request by then, we will notify you of an extension of that timeframe.

If any additional factors come to light
which are relevant to your request, please do not hesitate to contact us so
that these can be taken into account.

Our letter notifying
you of our decision on your request will confirm if we intend to publish the
letter (with your personal details removed) and any related documents on the Te
Kawa Mataaho Public Service Commission’s website.

Ngâ mihi nui

Enquiries Team
îmçra: [email address]
Te Kawa Mataaho Public Service Commission
http://www.publicservice.govt.nz/ | http://www.govt.nz/

-----Original Message-----
From: Hayden <[FOI #34106 email]>
Sent: Monday, March 16, 2026 7:46 PM
To: Enquiries <[PSC request email]>
Subject: OIA 2026-0057-Official Information request - Stewardship Compliance – Cross-Portfolio Mortality Advice

COMMISSION

This email was sent from someone outside of Te Kawa Mataaho. Please take extra care.

Dear Public Service Commission,

Kia ora,
Under the Official Information Act 1982, I request:

How the Public Service Commissioner assesses whether chief executives are meeting their obligation under section 52 of the Public Service Act 2020 to provide advice to their Minister on the "long-term implications of policies" specifically in relation to cross-portfolio impacts such as the health or mortality consequences of economic policy decisions.

Whether any chief executive performance review since the Public Service Act 2020 came into force has assessed the quality of cross-portfolio impact advice, particularly where policy decisions in one portfolio (e.g., Finance, Social Development) foreseeably affect outcomes in another (e.g., Health).

Any guidance issued by the Commissioner under section 12 of the Public Service Act 2020 regarding the stewardship obligation as it applies to cross-portfolio health or mortality impacts of economic policy.

Whether the Commissioner has identified, in any review of the state of the public service, a gap in cross-agency coordination on the health or mortality impacts of economic, fiscal, or monetary policy.

Any assessment of whether the "spirit of service to the community" under section 13, and the stewardship principle under section 12, require agencies to proactively advise ministers when policy decisions in their portfolio may increase mortality or health system demand even where another agency nominally "owns" the affected outcome.

If no guidance, review, or assessment described in items 1-5 exists, confirmation of this in writing.

I make this request because I have documented the following through OIA responses:
Health NZ has confirmed it does not model economic determinants of health demand. Stats NZ has confirmed the data infrastructure to analyse economic policy and mortality correlations exists but is used only by academic researchers, not by government. Treasury has been presented with the NZ Census-Mortality Study showing income-mortality associations but does not appear to have commissioned equivalent analysis of its own policy settings.
Each agency's chief executive can point to their mandate and say "not my responsibility." The question is whether the Public Service Commissioner as the person responsible for assessing stewardship performance considers this acceptable. Section 52 requires chief executives to provide advice on long-term policy implications. If nobody is advising ministers that economic policy decisions correlate with deaths despite established NZ research demonstrating this then the stewardship obligation is not being met across the system.
If any information is to be withheld, please specify the grounds under the OIA for each withheld item.
If this request requires substantial collation or research, please contact me to discuss narrowing the scope before refusing under section 18(f).
I expect a response within 20 working days as required by section 15.
Ngâ mihi,

Yours faithfully,

Hayden

-------------------------------------------------------------------

This is an Official Information request made via the FYI website.

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #34106 email]

Is [PSC request email] the wrong address for Official Information requests to Public Service Commission? If so, please contact us using this form:
https://fyi.org.nz/change_request/new?bo...

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
https://fyi.org.nz/help/officers

If you find this service useful as an Official Information officer, please ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's OIA or LGOIMA page.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
..........................................................................................................................................
Confidentiality notice: This email may be confidential or legally privileged. If you have received it by mistake, please tell the sender immediately by reply, remove this email and the reply from your system, and don’t act on it in any other way. Ngâ mihi.

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Kia ora Hayden

 

Please find attached our response to your request for official information
below.

 

Ngâ mihi

 

Enquiries Team

îmçra: [1][email address]

[2]A blue square with small dots Description automatically generated

 

Te Kawa Mataaho Public Service Commission

[3]www.publicservice.govt.nz | [4]www.govt.nz

 

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Hayden <[FOI #34106 email]>
Sent: Monday, 16 March 2026 7:46 pm
To: Enquiries <[PSC request email]>
Subject: OIA 2026-0057-Official Information request - Stewardship
Compliance – Cross-Portfolio Mortality Advice

 

COMMISSION

 

This email was sent from someone outside of Te Kawa Mataaho. Please take
extra care.

 

 

 

Dear Public Service Commission,

 

Kia ora,

Under the Official Information Act 1982, I request:

 

How the Public Service Commissioner assesses whether chief executives are
meeting their obligation under section 52 of the Public Service Act 2020
to provide advice to their Minister on the "long-term implications of
policies" specifically in relation to cross-portfolio impacts such as the
health or mortality consequences of economic policy decisions.

 

Whether any chief executive performance review since the Public Service
Act 2020 came into force has assessed the quality of cross-portfolio
impact advice, particularly where policy decisions in one portfolio (e.g.,
Finance, Social Development) foreseeably affect outcomes in another (e.g.,
Health).

 

Any guidance issued by the Commissioner under section 12 of the Public
Service Act 2020 regarding the stewardship obligation as it applies to
cross-portfolio health or mortality impacts of economic policy.

 

Whether the Commissioner has identified, in any review of the state of the
public service, a gap in cross-agency coordination on the health or
mortality impacts of economic, fiscal, or monetary policy.

 

Any assessment of whether the "spirit of service to the community" under
section 13, and the stewardship principle under section 12, require
agencies to proactively advise ministers when policy decisions in their
portfolio may increase mortality or health system demand even where
another agency nominally "owns" the affected outcome.

 

If no guidance, review, or assessment described in items 1-5 exists,
confirmation of this in writing.

 

I make this request because I have documented the following through OIA
responses:

Health NZ has confirmed it does not model economic determinants of health
demand. Stats NZ has confirmed the data infrastructure to analyse economic
policy and mortality correlations exists but is used only by academic
researchers, not by government. Treasury has been presented with the NZ
Census-Mortality Study showing income-mortality associations but does not
appear to have commissioned equivalent analysis of its own policy
settings.

Each agency's chief executive can point to their mandate and say "not my
responsibility." The question is whether the Public Service Commissioner
as the person responsible for assessing stewardship performance considers
this acceptable. Section 52 requires chief executives to provide advice on
long-term policy implications. If nobody is advising ministers that
economic policy decisions correlate with deaths  despite established NZ
research demonstrating this then the stewardship obligation is not being
met across the system.

If any information is to be withheld, please specify the grounds under the
OIA for each withheld item.

If this request requires substantial collation or research, please contact
me to discuss narrowing the scope before refusing under section 18(f).

I expect a response within 20 working days as required by section 15.

Ngâ mihi,

 

Yours faithfully,

 

Hayden

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------

 

This is an Official Information request made via the FYI website.

 

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:

[5][FOI #34106 email]

 

Is [6][PSC request email] the wrong address for Official
Information requests to Public Service Commission? If so, please contact
us using this form:

[7]https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...

 

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:

[8]https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...

 

If you find this service useful as an Official Information officer, please
ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's OIA or LGOIMA
page.

 

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------

..........................................................................................................................................
Confidentiality notice: This email may be confidential or legally
privileged. If you have received it by mistake, please tell the sender
immediately by reply, remove this email and the reply from your system,
and don’t act on it in any other way. Ngâ mihi.

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
3. http://www.publicservice.govt.nz/
4. http://www.govt.nz/
5. mailto:[FOI #34106 email]
6. mailto:[PSC request email]
7. https://fyi.org.nz/change_request/new?bo...
8. https://fyi.org.nz/help/officers

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