Phase Two: Organisational Review: Final Report

22 August 2003

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Appendix One: Terms of Reference for MCA Review Phase Two

• Scope of Phase Two
  • Particular Areas of Focus
  • Building Review
• Change Management
  • Phase Two Project Governance
  • Phase Two: Key Activities and Timeline
• Appendix One - Key Areas of Focus from Creating Confident Consumers

The Ministry of Consumer Affairs is being reviewed to ensure that it remains relevant, effective and efficient in the services it provides to key stakeholders into the future.

The key objective of the review has been to answer the question "What is the role of a Ministry of Consumer Affairs in a modern, dynamic economy". Phase One of the Review- an assessment of the Ministry's strategic direction - "what" it should do and "why" has now been completed. The Review Team, comprising staff from the Ministry of Consumer Affairs and the wider Ministry of Economic Development, has presented their report Creating Confident Consumers: The Role of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs in a Modern Dynamic Economy.

The Review has concluded that our primary role is to create an environment that is conducive to good and accurate information flows between suppliers and consumers so that consumers can transact with confidence. This is primarily about developing, or helping develop appropriate rules governing the behaviour of consumers, suppliers, markets and institutions so that the gap between what consumers expect and what they get from a transaction is as small as possible.

Scope of Phase Two

Phase Two of the MCA Review will focus on the implications of Phase One for the Ministry of Consumer Affairs' functions and the way it is organised and resourced ("how" the Ministry does its work). It will consider the MCA specific structure, systems, staff, skills, style, and shared values necessary to support the strategic direction and role of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs arising from Phase One. Care will be taken to ensure that any options developed are compatible with the approaches taken across MED as a whole.

Particular Areas of Focus

While considering the recommendations made in Creating Confident Consumers in general, Phase Two will focus in particular on the areas highlighted in the key conclusions section of the Phase One report (see Appendix One). Phase Two will also look at:

• the way in which the consumer safety function is delivered and resourced;
• ways of better integrating the functions of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs so as to take advantage of the synergies between them.

Where Phase One recommends that an existing function be strengthened or new capability added, consideration will be given to how to resource this capability enhancement. All avenues will be explored including efficiency improvements, reprioritisation and new funding.

Building Review

Consideration will be also given to the potential implications of the Building Review for the Ministry of Consumer Affairs and/or the Energy Safety Service. As a member of the Building Policy Transition Group, the General Manager Consumer Affairs is ideally situated to take account of developments in this area as they arise.

Change Management

Phase Two is explicitly designed to focus on the way in which is the Ministry of Consumer Affairs is delivered in order to give effect to the direction emerging from Phase One of the Review of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs. As such it may result in changes that will impact on staff. Should this be the case, the change process will be managed in accordance with any contractual obligations with respect to consultation and change. The final decision with respect to any change management rests with the Chief Executive.

Phase Two Project Governance

As General Manager, I have determined to undertake Phase Two myself. I will contract in external assistance with report drafting and feedback summarisation. As with all organisational reviews undertaken within the Ministry of Economic Development, I will update the Chief Executive regularly on progress.

Phase Two: Key Activities and Timeline

Elizabeth MacPherson
General Manager
Ministry of Consumer Affairs

9 June 2003

Appendix One - Key Areas of Focus from Creating Confident Consumers

The review team concluded that "nothing was broken" within the Ministry. However, there are a number of issues that the Ministry must address in order to ensure:

• effective results for consumers
• businesses understand and meet their obligations under consumer law
• the consumer/trader environment contributes to a sustainable increase in economic growth.

Particularly, in order to deliver on this role into the future the Review Team has concluded that the Ministry needs to:

• strengthen its policy capability
• ensure that policies and programmes are informed by an in-depth understanding of consumer and trader experiences and behaviour and "what works for whom" by focusing on:
  • fully exploiting the ability of the operational arms of the Ministry to gather "intelligence" about consumer issues
  • strengthening the links between policy and operations, particularly those between the Policy Team and the Consumer Information Service
  • better utilising and extending its networks and contacts with consumers and businesses
  • improving access to and addressing gaps in consumer data
  • further developing its capability to research or contract research on consumer issues
  • enhancing its ability to monitor and evaluate the impacts of consumer policy (including enforcement, compliance and redress policies and their application in practice) on consumers and society in general.
• build better links with the rest of the Ministry of Economic Development in order to gain leverage from the wider organisation and ensure that a consumer perspective is taken account of in economic development policy
• examine the impact of changes in demographics, and evolving consumer/supplier characteristics and needs, on the ongoing effectiveness of the Ministry's current information-delivery strategies
• take a systematic approach to the identification, development and maintenance of key stakeholder relationships
• have greater input into the discussions between MED (led by Regulatory and Competition Policy Branch) and the Commerce Commission on accountability and monitoring issues
• move quickly to address succession planning issues, particularly those in the Trade Measurement area where potential loss of staff skills and expertise threatens the viability of the New Zealand trade measurement infrastructure.

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