6. Organisational health and capability

2. Increasing operating efficiency

Governance

Appropriate organisational governance is important to achieve good outcomes and efficiently use the resources made available to the Ministry. The repositioning of the Strategic Leadership Team (SLT) in late 2007 provides a new platform of governance in the Ministry. The SLT's objectives are to ensure:

• Clear objectives, performance standards and accountabilities for delivery of the agreed outcomes, outputs and services are in place.
   
  
• Maximum value is obtained from taxpayer funds.
   
  
• Core operating infrastructure and capability is maintained and developed.
   
  
• Appropriate risk identification and management processes are established.
   
  
• Governance mechanisms are continually reviewed and adapted to meet emerging needs.

The Risk Advisory Group is to be established by the start of the 2008/09 year to build on the role of the current Organisational Risk Management Committee. This new governance group will include external perspectives and be lead by an independent chair, advising the Chief Executive.

Organisational Performance

In the last quarter of the 2007/08 year, the Ministry began updating its organisational strategy. The objective is to ensure the Ministry meets the challenges of the revised sector strategy, which is currently being developed. Integrating the Ministry's organisation, people, processes, systems and culture in ways that support the implementation of future sector strategies will be crucial to the success of the strategies. The point of this work is ensuring the Ministry can show it is efficient and effective. The results, which will encompass all aspects of the Ministry, are expected to be seen towards the end of the 2008/09 year.

Information Management

Investments have been made in the Ministry's information management and the infrastructure that supports it. This is vital to keeping the Ministry working efficiently and delivering on fisheries outcomes.

This investment will continue. A revised model for directing and delivering information management has been agreed. This new approach brings together all the Ministry's functions. The prime focus is to support the development and operation of fisheries plans, and give stakeholders, tangata whenua and the public access to our information.

To make it easier to share information and engage with stakeholders, the Ministry now has two specialist websites:

• Science working group site - which supports 14 stakeholder working groups.
   
  
• Fisheries planning site - which supports over 40 stakeholder working groups.
   
  

During 2008/09 the Status of Fisheries section of our website will continue to be enhanced with latest available fisheries information. The NABIS site (which provides spatial and visual representations of our marine biological and fisheries management data) will also continue to be maintained with latest available data.

The recent investments the Ministry has made in a new electronic document management system will become fully operational in 2008/09.

Reducing our environmental footprint

The Ministry is committed to keeping its environmental footprint as small as possible. As at February 2008 our carbon footprint is assessed at 7,700 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually. Seventy-four per cent of this is fuel used in fisheries-related aerial surveillance by the Air Force and fisheries research vessels by NIWA. The balance is principally fuel used in staff travel while undertaking Ministry business, and power for our offices. We will try to reduce our footprint by working with our external providers and with staff to ensure that our practices, procurement decisions and resource allocation decisions are as sustainable as practical. The Ministry has developed principles for sustainable work practices and will evaluate alternatives to minimise our carbon emissions. We are investing in tools and techniques to reduce our costs of operating and our carbon footprint.

Purchasing

To maximise value obtained from expenditure on goods and services, procurement will continue to be rationalised through internal management of expenditure and use of government- syndicated purchasing arrangements. The Ministry operates a rigorous public tendering programme to ensure the value from tax and levy payers' funds is maximised.