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Establishment and Development of the Ministry of
Consumer Affairs
Background Paper to Creating Confident
Consumers
May 2003
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The
Ministry's Current Shape and Form
The Ministry's current shape and form largely reflect the
outcome of a rolling review in 1997. Its objective was to ensure
that available resources were organised in the most effective way
to meet the Ministry's goals. It resulted in:
- refocusing the Operations section (Consumer Advice Service)
into the Consumer Information Service (CIS)
- reviewing the Policy section and its work
- placing Consumer Safety and Trade Measurement together with
a Trading Standards Service.
The Energy Safety Service joined the Ministry in December
1999.
Operations Section
Since its establishment the operations unit of the Ministry
had targeted those consumers who were considered to be in a
"weak" bargaining position (Ministry of Consumer Affairs, 1987).
This was generally identified as low-income, Maori or Pacific
Island consumers (Ministry of Consumer Affairs, 1996). Focusing
operational activities on specific groups of consumers was a way
of managing resource constraints.
By 1997 it was considered that the Consumer Advice Service was
not reaching target audiences.
[17] At the same
time, demand on the telephone-based complaint service had
increased following the introduction of the Consumer Guarantees
Act 1993 (Ministry of Consumer Affairs, 1997):
Consistent with the objective of ensuring that available
resources were organised in the most effective way to meet the
Ministry's goals, key outcomes of the review were (Ministry of
Consumer Affairs, 1997):
- appointment of specific staff to co-ordinate relationships
and projects for particular client groups
- enhanced relationship management with key community
advisory agencies
- enhanced training and support for key agencies providing
consumer advice and information
- a focus on target consumers in respect of information and
education activities and on an advocacy service to target
consumers who had consumer problems of significant detriment
- the closure of the telephone consumer advice service.
Policy Unit
Since its establishment, the Ministry's policy unit had been
involved in formulating a mix of operational, substantive and
strategic policy. To meet a revised set of unit capabilities
[18] the unit was
restructured to focus on the strategic and substantive end of the
policy spectrum. The unit was intended to have good environmental
scanning ability, excellent processes, networking and research
capability, and to be the hub for developing ideas and strategies
that would form the basis of the Ministry's projects (Ministry of
Consumer Affairs, 1997a).
Operational policy was to be dealt with through the following
mechanisms (Ministry of Consumer Affairs, 1997a):
- by the Trading Standards Service or Consumer Information
Service when agreed by managers and the management team
- by other agencies and organisations where possible
- through careful use of resources to contract out specific
operational work (e.g. the implementation of a set of
benchmarks in an industry).
Trading Standards Service
In 1997 the Consumer Safety function was moved from the Policy
Unit to be placed with the Trade Measurement Unit in a combined
operation that became the Trading Standards Service (TSS). The
rationale was to harness the complaint investigation skills
possessed by Trade Measurement regional staff for consumer safety
work. The objective of a regional presence was to increase
monitoring for consumer safety, particularly if a national
consumer safety issue emerged. It would also provide better
access for consumers making safety complaints (Ministry of
Consumer Affairs, 1997c).
Energy Safety Service
The Energy Safety Service (ESS) was established in December
1999 with the aim of bringing together the skills, expertise and
resources of those involved in promoting the safe use of energy,
and of establishing closer and more productive working
relationships across the energy sector. It is part of the
Ministry of Consumer Affairs, but is accountable to the Minister
of Energy.
The move to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs was prompted by
the synergies of activity between energy safety and product
safety and the outcomes sought by both groups in regard to:
- safety and quality of product and services
- a balance between rights and interests of consumers and
business
- redress and enforcement mechanisms that meet the needs of
consumers and business
- safe products in the marketplace
- appropriate, accurate and accessible information, education
and advice for consumers and business.
The establishment of ESS was the result of a "stocktake" of
the relationship between industry and the Energy Inspection
Group. The focus of the stocktake was to record and validate
outstanding issues associated with this relationship and look at
ways to improve the operational performance of the Group,
particularly in regard to meeting the needs of industry.
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