July 8, 2013 3:38pm by David Farrar

Update on the 10 better public service targets

The Govt has released an update on progress towards their 2017 goals for better public services.  As far as I can tell from the various releases, this is the state of play:

  1. Reduce the number of people continuously receiving these working-age benefits, which will become the new JS, for more than 12 months by 30%, from 78,000 in April 2012 to 55,000 by 2017: Result: A drop of 3.6% to 75,366
  2. In 2016, 98% of children starting school will have participated in quality early childhood education: Result: 95.7%, up 0.7%
  3. Increase infant immunisation rates so that 95%of eight-month-olds are fully immunised by December 2014 and this is maintained through to 30 June 2017: Result is 89%. Also Reduce the incidence of rheumatic fever by two-thirds to 1.4 cases per 100,000 people by June 2017: Result is 3.9, down from 4.2.
  4. By 2017, we aim to halt the 10-year rise in children experiencing physical abuse and reduce current numbers by 5 per cent. Result is a 3.5% drop
  5. 85% of 18-year-olds will have achieved NCEA Level 2 or an equivalent qualification in 2017: Result is 77.2%, up from 74.3% in 2011
  6. 55% of 25 to 34-year-olds will have a qualification at level 4 or above by 2017: Result is 52.6%, up from 51.8% in 2011
  7. By June 2017, reduce the crime rate by 15%, reduce the violent crime rate by 20%, reduce the youth crime rate by 5%: Results: Total crime down 11%, youth crime down 18%.
  8. Reduce the re-offending rate by 25% by 2017: Result is re-offending down 9%
  9. Business costs from dealing with government will reduce by 25  per cent by 2017, through a year-on-year reduction in effort required to work with agencies: Result is not yet quantified
  10. An average of 70 per cent of New Zealanders’ most common transactions with government will be completed in a digital environment by 2017: Results include 35% of passports renewed online, 18% of GST returns done online, 93% of tax returns done online, 68% of MSD benefits applied for online

Good to see all the indicators are moving in the right direction. Some are well on the way to meeting or exceeding the 2017 targets. Others are moving more slowly. The Government has announced $20 million more funding to help agencies meet the targets.