Conflict of interest review

22 July 2024, 3:00pm

An independent review has found comments at Rātana Pā in January by a former Stats NZ staff member were not politically neutral and fell short of the agency's expectations.

The review found the comments were critical of government policy and were expressed in a way that was offensive to and not respectful of government ministers.

Government Statistician and Stats NZ Chief Executive Mark Sowden has accepted all the findings in the review and has already taken steps to fix its processes and procedures.

While the staff member has since left the organisation, Stats NZ will implement a range of improvements.

"It was unacceptable behaviour for a public servant and as the Chief Executive I take responsibility for that. We can and will do better," says Government Statistician and Stats NZ Chief Executive Mark Sowden who ordered a review into the situation and how the agency could improve.

The public service serves the Government of the day and must do so in a politically neutral manner.

"It is never acceptable for a public servant acting in an official capacity to express their personal political views in a way that compromises the political neutrality of the public service. The actions of this staff member fell short of our expectations of our employees," says Sowden.

"Many public servants have multiple roles in their communities; we must support them to balance the responsibilities of those roles and their obligations as a public servant."

To help ensure the circumstances that arose at Rātana do not happen again, Sowden commissioned an independent review of Stats NZ's policies, processes and practices for managing conflicts of interest, particularly as they pertain to political neutrality.

The review was carried out by Anaru Mill of Hingston Mill. His findings concluded that while Stats NZ policies and processes were fairly standard and conventional for the public service, the agency can be more deliberate in managing conflicts of interest. Mr Mill went on to make a range of recommendations for improvements to policies, management and training for staff.

The recommendations will see Stats NZ:

• reviewing and improving conflict of interest policies and procedures, both in how they are designed and implemented

• improving requirements and processes for ensuring staff appropriately declare conflicts of interest

• ensuring all managers receive improved and practical conflict of interest management training and guidance

• implementing detailed procedures and support for finding resolutions and working through potential breaches of conflict of interest policies and procedures

• improving practical conflict of interest guidance, support and management specifically for Māori public servants and staff who work with communities and in public facing roles.

"I have accepted all recommendations and directed my staff to take immediate action to improve our conflict of interest management. All recommendations will be implemented within the next 12 months," says Sowden.

Read the full Review and associated Terms of Reference (PDF 2.6MB)