We worked with partners to provide services to New Zealanders who most need our support - Annual Report 2019/20

An important part of our role in social development is working with community and NGO partners to provide services to those who most need our support. Our ability to realise our outcome to ensure that New Zealanders are resilient and live in inclusive and supportive communities is greater when we are part of a wider community.

We have an important and significant role in making sure New Zealanders get all the support they need, but we cannot do it all on our own. We are part of a wider community including employers, providers and other government agencies who work with the same clients as we do, and we have continued to forge stronger working relationships with Māori and iwi, Pacific families and communities, disabled communities, seniors, and partner organisations.

Our provider partners have critical relationships with communities. We continued to work with our partners to look for opportunities to facilitate more regional and community-led solutions to local issues, including more consultation and co-design with communities on policy and service design.

In 2019/20 we:

• worked alongside around 2,000 partners including iwi, NGOs, employment services, business and industry
• distributed over $247 million to community groups and providers

Our Regional Development team works closely with the 11 Regional Public Service Leads (RPSLs), who were appointed in September 2019 to better co-ordinate public services across New Zealand. The RPSLs have supported regional efforts to recover and revitalise after COVID-19 [1].

We provided extra funding to NGOs to help with growing demand

We provided extra funding to NGOs to help with growing demand

On 26 March 2020 the Government announced funding of $27 million to help community services and programmes respond to the increase in demand for services arising from COVID-19. By 30 June 2020 we had approved:

• 66 grants through E Tū Whānau to 59 community groups that support those who are most at risk, including Māori and ethnic communities and gang-affiliated whānau
• funding to 10 Pacific providers through Pasefika Proud to respond to immediate need and increased demand for support from families in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch that were impacted by unemployment, reduced income or physically isolated older relatives
• greater capacity for the MoneyTalks helpline, a Building Financial Capability service, to assist an estimated additional 40,000 clients looking for help during the nationwide lockdown period
• 126 grants totalling $3 million to disabled people’s organisations, providing support to over 4,800 disabled people
• 914 grants to community groups through our Community Awareness and Preparedness Fund, to support the wellbeing of communities through social connection and the provision of essential support
• $281,000 to support foodbanks to meet increased demand (in some cases over 200 percent above normal levels) while the Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management (CDEM) put in place its own enhanced support programme [2]
• 44,230 hours of childcare through the OSCAR programme for the children of essential workers during Alert Levels 4 and 3.

We worked with other agencies across government to respond to family violence and sexual violence

New Zealand has unacceptable rates of family violence and sexual violence, which severely undermine the wellbeing of victims and their children over their lifetimes. Every year, over a million New Zealanders are directly affected by family violence and sexual violence, including over 250,000 children. More than half of all homicides are the result of family violence and/or sexual violence – around 30 deaths every year. One in 10 older people experience abuse or neglect by a person of trust, mostly a family member or carer.

In 2018 we came together with other government agencies to form the Joint Venture (JV) on Family Violence and Sexual Violence [3]. The JV provides strategic policy and funding advice to the Government on behalf of all agencies involved in the response to family violence and sexual violence. The JV is also leading the government response to family violence and sexual violence as part of the overall COVID-19 response.

MSD’s role in providing these services is:

• funding three national family violence prevention initiatives (E Tū Whānau, Pasefika Proud, and the Campaign for Action on Family Violence), to mobilise communities, challenge social norms that perpetuate violence, and change damaging behaviours within families
• working with service providers to support the regional design and implementation of Whānau Resilience
• partnering with providers of specialist sexual violence services to build a more integrated and responsive system for people (both victims and perpetrators) who are affected by sexual violence
• maintaining the Safe to Talk – Kōrero Mai 24/7 sexual harm helpline, which had more than 13,000 contacts from people seeking help during the year
• conducting and commissioning research and evaluation to understand the impact of our investment in these services, and to ensure they are responsive to the needs of people affected.

As part of the Government’s funding to address the rising demand for community services in the wake of COVID-19, we made:

127 grants to 155 providers of family violence and sexual violence response services.

This included a grant of $1.64 million to the 41 refuges that are affiliated to the National Collective of Women’s Refuges, which gave Refuges the opportunity to house women and children in motel units in response to their changing operating context in the light of COVID-19.

The additional funding included a grant of $1.64 million to the 41 refuges that are affiliated to the National Collective of Women’s Refuges, which gave refuges the opportunity to house women and children in motel units in response to their changing operating context in the light of COVID-19.

We supported communities whose resilience was tested by adverse and crisis events

Our presence in the regions throughout the country means we are always able to respond quickly to events that affect economic and social outcomes. We provide quick and easy access to financial support, and offer case management for those who need other help such as employment services.

Regional adverse events in 2019/20 included floods in Southland and on the West Coast, the declaration of drought across the whole of the North Island, Tasman, Marlborough, Kaikōura, North Canterbury and the Chatham Islands regions, and the eruption of Whakaari/White Island in December 2019.

Our responses to drought and flooding events included:

• providing a business support package worth $280,000 for a tourism marketing programme in Westland following flooding in December 2019
• setting up an 0800 Government helpline and a civil defence payments programme in response to flooding in the south of the South Island in February 2020 (233 payments totalling over $66,000 to 148 clients)
• providing employment for 23 people under the Enhanced Task Force Green programme to assist with the clean-up after floods opened the Fox Glacier landfill in March 2020
• supporting the national and regional response to drought across the whole of the North Island, parts of the northern South Island and the Chatham Islands from March 2020.

Under the drought response programme, we made:

58 Rural Assistance Payments totalling nearly $87,000 to 25 clients,
and 2,251 hardship grants totalling more than $753,000 to 1,850 clients to support water tank refills.

We also continued to support those who were affected by the March 2019 mosque attacks in Christchurch. This support included driver education (92 people have accessed a driver training programme), and services such as English as a Second Language (ESOL), Building Financial Capability and employment support. We also funded local activities in conjunction with the Office for Ethnic Communities and Christchurch City Council – these focused on building, embedding and maintaining local resilience in response to the attacks.

We worked with the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) to provide access to immigration advocacy support. Immigration New Zealand (a part of MBIE) established a central pool of licenced immigration advisors and lawyers, and we provided funding to ensure those who were impacted by the attacks were able to access independent immigration advice.

Supporting businesses affected by the Whakaari/White Island eruption

Shortly after Whakaari/White Island erupted on 9 December 2019, we joined with Whakatāne District Council and Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Awa on a panel to approve grants from a $5 million business support package set up by the Government for businesses in the Eastern Bay of Plenty that had suffered a significant drop in income as a result of the eruption. The panel approved 21 grants, with the District Council estimating that 120 people were kept in employment. We also appointed a co-ordinator to reach out to people who were concerned about their financial situation or their ongoing employment, to make it easier for them to access financial or other assistance as needed.

We continued work to support disabled people and carers

With one in four New Zealanders having a disability [4], MSD has continued towards ensuring equal opportunities for disabled people in society.]

This year, the focus has been on:

• ensuring equal opportunity to access employment for disabled people and people with health conditions.

  Between November 2019 and February 2020, we consulted on and developed a Disability Employment Action Plan to support the vision for productive, sustainable and inclusive labour markets set out in the Government’s Employment Strategy [5].

  A key theme was the need to recognise, through tailored responses and approaches, the diversity of needs and aspirations of both disabled people and employers.

• the launch in December 2019 of the Carers’ Strategy Action Plan, Mahi Aroha, which highlights the importance of the roles of carers within our communities. Mahi Aroha was developed in consultation with carers and in partnership with the New Zealand Carers Alliance (Carers NZ) and a cross-agency working group. It is for anyone who provides care for a friend, family, whānau or aiga member with a disability, health condition, illness or injury who needs help with everyday living. Mahi Aroha has an additional focus on four target population groups – Māori, Pacific, young carers and older carers.

• developing policy relating to:

  • fast-tracking accessibility to remove barriers so disabled people can fully participate and be included in society, including independent access to public services, built environments, goods, products and services.

    We worked with the Access Alliance to develop an approach to accelerate accessibility. In June 2020 we supported the Minister for Disability Issues to advise Cabinet of her intended approach to accelerate accessibility within a new legislative framework.

  • a wage supplement approach to ensure disabled people can at least access the minimum wage.

    We worked with the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment to develop a wage supplement approach to replace Minimum Wage Exemption permits. These permits currently affect approximately 900 disabled employees who can legally be paid below the minimum wage on the assumption that their disability (usually an intellectual disability) makes them less productive.

    The wage supplement would provide a government supplement to employers so that qualifying disabled staff can receive at least the minimum wage.

• continuing to lead work programmes across government to improve outcomes for disabled people in the Public Service:

  • increasing the employment of disabled people in the Public Service

  • ensuring the Public Service provides accessible information

  • creating a centralised repository for employers on employing disabled people

  • providing resources and tools for the Public Service to consistently collect disability data.

We provide a focal point for the government sector on disability issues

The Office for Disability Issues (ODI) works closely with government agencies, the disability sector and organisations to make the best decisions about what is important to disabled people.

ODI is working towards a vision of New Zealand being a non-disabling society – a place where disabled people have an equal opportunity to achieve their goals and aspirations.

In the past year, the focus for ODI has been on furthering work towards the New Zealand Disability Strategy by updating the Disability Action Plan. Working with young disabled people has also been a priority.

Disability Action Plan 2019–2023

ODI led consultation and cross-government engagement with disabled people in developing the Disability Action Plan 2019–2023.

Government agencies have committed to implementing 28 work programmes aligned with the eight outcomes in the New Zealand Disability Strategy. The Action Plan was agreed by Cabinet and launched in November 2019 by the Minister for Disability Issues.

i.Lead conference

ODI supported the i.Lead conference, where 60 disabled young people aged 17 to 24 gathered at Parliament in September 2019 to discuss and develop recommendations on issues relevant to young disabled people.

The conference led to recommendations to government in seven key areas: education and training, employment, health, housing, media, sport and recreation, and transport.

ODI is now working with agencies and the i.Lead committee to see how these recommendations can be addressed.

We supported older New Zealanders to maintain their independence and participate positively in society

This year we made payments totalling more than $15.6 billion [5] to over 800,000 recipients of New Zealand Superannuation and Veterans’ Pensions.

However, our role in helping older people to maintain their independence and participate in society is wider than merely providing financial support. The Office for Seniors raises awareness of issues affecting older New Zealanders. In 2019/20 the Office’s focus was on launching a new strategy for older people, enhancing the SuperGold Card, providing digital literacy training for seniors, and leading the promotion of age-friendly cities, towns and communities across New Zealand. The Office also took a lead role in advocating for the issues of older people during the COVID-19 response.

Better Later Life – He Oranga Kaumātua 2019 to 2034

The Minister for Seniors launched the new strategy for making the future better for New Zealanders as we age, Better Later Life – He Oranga Kaumātua 2019 to 2034, in November 2019. The new strategy:

• provides a platform for central and local government agencies and communities to develop and implement initiatives affecting older people
• takes into account the aspirations of older people, both present and future, and the realities of ongoing social and demographic change
• aligns with the wider social objectives of the Government, as articulated in other strategies such as the 2016 Healthy Ageing Strategy, the 2008 New Zealand Carers’ Strategy and the 2016 New Zealand Disability Strategy.

He Oranga Kaumātua provides an overarching framework, spanning government and community, for our ageing population, and sets out a roadmap for the development of initiatives and programmes to better support older people in New Zealand.

Digital literacy training

The Government allocated $600,000 over three years in Budget 2019 to improve digital skills and inclusion of older people to ensure they can share in the benefits of a technological world. COVID-19 has amplified the need for older people to be digitally connected.

We led a procurement process and contracted two providers to deliver training to nearly 4,700 people to:

• keep up with technology as it changes
• increase trust and confidence in carrying out online activity and services
• stay connected with families and friends.

The training was unable to start in March 2020 because of COVID-19 but has resumed, and the first group of older people completed their training programme in June.

Age-friendly Aotearoa New Zealand

The Office for Seniors is an affiliate member of the Global Network of Age-friendly Cities and Communities. It leads a programme of work to encourage and support local councils, non-government organisations and community groups to develop age-friendly communities. As part of the Age-friendly Aotearoa New Zealand programme, we administer $100,000 of Community Connects grants each year – these provide up to $15,000 to groups developing an age-friendly plan or implementing an age-friendly initiative in their community. This year nine organisations (including one district council) received grants.

Enhancing the SuperGold Card

This year saw the start of a four-year programme to update and enhance the SuperGold Card. On 1 October 2019 we launched a SuperGold app and a new website to modernise the SuperGold experience for users and to provide cardholders and businesses with a digital platform to improve access to SuperGold information and discounts. We also trialled the promotion of regional options to support local businesses and make cardholders more aware of offers.

The SuperGold and Veteran SuperGold programme at June 2020 had:

• 5,478 businesses offering discounts and concessions
• almost 786,000 cardholders

Raising awareness of issues affecting older people

The Office for Seniors maintains a high level of contact with older New Zealanders through the SuperSeniors website, newsletters and social media. Through these channels the Office promotes awareness and understanding of seniors’ rights, and of issues including health, social isolation, and elder abuse.

During the initial COVID-19 response the SuperSeniors newsletter was a prime channel in keeping older people up to date. It moved from a bi-monthly publication to an almost weekly newsletter – a total of six special editions were published.

The Office for Seniors’ Facebook page continues to grow steadily, with almost 18,000 followers by 30 June 2020. The page is the eighth most visited New Zealand government page on Facebook, and has a strong engagement rate. It is regularly among the top five government pages for engagement in New Zealand. The Office uses Facebook to share information on entitlements and support such as the Winter Energy Payment and the SuperGold Card.

During Alert Levels 4 and 3, MSD co-ordinated a calling campaign to people over 70 years of age to check in, provide support and link those needing help to appropriate providers.

The calls were made by a volunteer taskforce of more than 700 from Citizens Advice Bureaux and other established and reputable community-based providers, local councils and government agencies, and revealed older people’s need for help with things like getting their groceries and medicine. But the calls also showed us that most older people were coping well and had the support of their families and/or other networks.

The campaign prioritised older people who were registered with MSD as living alone but had not given us an email address, as this group was considered to be most at risk of being isolated and not knowing where to turn for help.

The calling campaign received praise for its positive impact on seniors and on the volunteers who took part.

"Giving our time to the community has been really powerful, not only for achieving real benefit to those we spoke with but also [being] thanked so much for something so simple as a phone call." - Volunteer, MSD calling campaign during Alert Levels 4 and 3

We contacted more than 102,000 people during the campaign, and as a result we:

• found that nearly 97 percent of seniors did not need extra support
• made referrals to other agencies for support in about 3,400 cases
• initiated emergency responses in 46 cases (0.05 percent).

Taking a lead in raising national awareness of elder abuse

The Office for Seniors uses its channels to promote the Elder Abuse Response Service 0800 helpline, text number and email address. The annual campaign for Elder Abuse Awareness Week in June 2020 [7]  had good engagement on all our channels, including increasing traffic to the Office’s website and a spike in calls to the 0800 helpline.

During World Elder Abuse Awareness Week (15–20 June 2020):

5,393 people visited the SuperSeniors website including 4,000 on World Elder Abuse Awareness Day itself, compared to 3,000–4,000 in a typical week.

There were 9,365 page views during the week.

We helped rangatahi to thrive in New Zealand

There is strong evidence that positive youth development supports young people to participate confidently in their communities by building their capability and resilience. Through the Ministry of Youth Development – Te Manatū Whakahiato Taiohi (MYD), we support young people aged 12 to 24 years to acquire the skills and confidence they need to participate in and contribute to the social and economic growth of New Zealand.

In 2019/20 we contributed $8.5 million to 150 provider organisations to deliver over 200 different youth development and youth enterprise programmes or services to over 70,000 rangatahi  [8].

Over 7,500 rangatahi completed participant feedback surveys to tell us what they thought about the programmes or services they took part in. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive.

Youth Plan 2020–2022: Turning Voice into Action – Rebuilding and Recovering

We led the development of the Youth Plan as an action under the Child and Youth Wellbeing Strategy’s Current Programme of Action [9]. The Youth Plan shares the Strategy’s vision, principles and outcomes, and contributes to their achievement for young people.

The Youth Plan has been reframed as a COVID-19 recovery plan, to ensure rangatahi are a focus in the all-of-government response. It sets out actions that government agencies, in partnership with others, will take to mitigate the impacts of COVID-19 on rangatahi and to strengthen rangatahi wellbeing. It aims to ensure that rangatahi have a say in decisions about recovery, to support the wellbeing of rangatahi and their families and whānau, to enable leadership, and to drive transformational change [10].

Youth Parliament 2019

MYD facilitated the tri-annual Youth Parliament programme for 120 Youth Members of Parliament (MPs) and 20 Youth Press Gallery members, which culminated in a two-day event at Parliament in July 2019.

The programme provided an opportunity for rangatahi to learn first-hand about our democratic system, influence decision-making, and actively work and be heard on topics and issues they are passionate about. It equipped young leaders with skills, knowledge and understanding, supporting them to actively contribute to their communities and wider society.

Youth MPs estimate they engaged with around 31,000 rangatahi during the programme – this represents nearly 4 percent of all rangatahi in New Zealand. The combined total reach for Youth Parliament social media feeds was over 188,000, and most participants (89 percent) rated the overall programme as good or very good.

Youth Enterprise Funding – Opportunity for Young People

In 2019/20 we provided funding for 18 individual and/or groups of rangatahi to explore and develop their business ventures. We provided access to mentors for one year to further support rangatahi by increasing knowledge and skills and improving future career opportunities. Examples of these business ventures include:

• Teen Jobs – a free and easy-to-use platform that connects employers and households to jobseekers aged 13 to 19 years. Teen Jobs flips the traditional recruitment methods towards rangatahi, creating CV-like profiles so that employers/households can search profiles and select a good fit. The platform is already proving to be a huge success, with 20,000 candidate searches by employers that have resulted in 400 job offers for rangatahi. More than 6,500 young jobseekers are using Teen Job
• Hijabity – a non-profit social enterprise created by a young Muslim woman to empower and educate both Muslims and non-Muslims on the significance of hijabs through their soft toy, Izzy. Izzy narrates her experience of wearing a hijab, sharing her story of social acceptance and self-esteem issues so that young Muslim women feel confident in their hijabs and there is more understanding in the non-Muslim communit
• KUMANU NZ – a non-profit social enterprise founded and organised by a group of Manurewa High School students. They produce bright, colourful Buddy Benches, which are installed in primary schools to help teach young children about wellbeing and hauora. A child can visit the Buddy Bench to make new friends and talk about problems they may be facing. It helps to create a mindset that it is okay to talk about problems. The Buddy Benches are made by students at the local Trades Academy, who will gain NCEA credits for their work, and they are decorated by art students from Manurewa High School.

MYD continues to fund the Young Enterprise Trust to support a diverse range of young people to access business and entrepreneurship education opportunities.

Partnership Fund

The Minister for Youth’s Partnership Fund Board has been active in supporting the development of partnerships with philanthropic organisations, business, iwi, government and other funders to collectively engage and collaborate to support quality youth development and/or youth enterprise opportunities for rangatahi. In 2019/20 the Fund invested more than $1.6 million, with co-investment by partners of $3.5 million, to make up a funding pool of more than $5.1 million to provide over 4,500 rangatahi with youth development and/or youth enterprise opportunities.

We addressed historic claims for those who suffered abuse as children and/or young people in State care

Our Historic Claims Unit provides an alternative disputes resolution process for people who were abused or neglected in the care, custody or guardianship of, or who had come to the notice of, Child, Youth and Family or its predecessors before April 2017 [11]. We work with claimants to understand their experience in care, and we acknowledge and recognise harm done.

Changes to the historic claims process from November 2018 resulted in a new streamlined assessment model. We refocused roles to support the new model, the team increased in size significantly (from approximately 30 to over 100), and we established a hub in Auckland. We have implemented the new model in an environment of competing demands and impacts, including:

• building capacity and capability of new staff
• work required to support the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in the Care of the State and in the Care of Faith-based Institutions
• travel restrictions and redeployment of staff to assist with the response to COVID-19.

The number of assessments we could carry out during Alert Levels 4 and 3 was reduced significantly, and this meant that we have not been able to assess as many claims as we had intended to.

As part of our continuous improvement approach, we are seeking feedback from claimants through a survey about our process. Feedback so far suggests that the quality of our interaction with claimants this year has been high. We will continue to build on this to ensure that claimants get the support they need. This includes ongoing work to support the development of wrap-around services for those we work with.

People have been able to lodge claims of historic abuse since 2004, with:

1,834 of 4,173 historic claims resolved [12] and
more than $30 million paid as part of redress.

We established the new Independent Monitor of the Oranga Tamariki system

A comprehensive review of the oversight arrangements of Oranga Tamariki in 2018 found that key issues and gaps within the Oranga Tamariki children’s care system needed to be addressed. Cabinet agreed to strengthen the oversight of the system and directed MSD to establish and build an independent monitoring function with the intention to transfer it to the Office of the Children’s Commissioner (OCC) once robustly established [13].

This work aims to improve services and outcomes for those in care, to build trust and confidence in the children’s care system, and to ensure that the wellbeing and interests of tamariki and rangatahi are at the centre of how the State delivers care and support.

Substantial changes to policy and legislation are required to achieve the Government’s aims. We are working closely with key stakeholders and government agencies to develop the new legislation under which the oversight functions will operate.

The Independent Monitor came into operation on 1 July 2019. Initial monitoring work has focused on information received on abuse or neglect in relation to children in care and custody, and on agencies’ responses.

The Monitor has published two reports covering progress up to December 2019 [14]. These initial reports provide the Monitor and agencies with the opportunity to test the assessment approach and build capability. Expanded monitoring will be focused on compliance with all aspects of the National Care Standards by December 2020, and the intended longer-term expansion would enable broader monitoring of the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 and associated regulations.

We are working closely with Oranga Tamariki, OCC, the Office of the Ombudsman and other government agencies on developing the independent oversight system as a whole, and have engaged with Māori and wider communities through 41 regional hui held in 2019 and 2020, guided by a Kāhui Group. An ongoing engagement process, in particular with Māori individuals and organisations, helps maintain focus on how the Monitor might best work towards identifying issues of particular concern for children and their whānau.

Footnotes

1. Seven of the 11 RPSLs are MSD Regional Commissioners: Eru Lyndon (Northland), Te Rehia Papesch (Waikato), Annie Aranui (East Coast), Gloria Campbell (Taranaki, King Country and Whanganui), Katie Brosnahan (Central), Craig Churchill (Nelson, Marlborough and West Coast), and Jason Tibble (Southland). Return to text
2. CDEM is the agency with lead responsibility for the co-ordination of essential needs, including food, during civil defence and other emergencies. Our immediate response package provided essential continuity of service. Return to text
3. The Joint Venture is overseen by the Social Wellbeing Board and additional relevant chief executives (of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Oranga Tamariki, Te Puni Kōkiri, and the Ministries of Health, Social Development, Education and Justice, along with NZ Police, ACC and the Department of Corrections). In 2019/20 the Under-Secretary to the Minister of Justice (Domestic and Sexual Violence) had responsibility for the family violence and sexual violence system perspective through the Joint Venture, and was supported by a Ministerial Group. Collective accountability was delivered through collective reporting by the Under-Secretary and the JV to Parliament and the public. Return to text
4. Statistics New Zealand’s 2013 Disability Survey Return to text
5. The Action Plan was launched by the Minister for Disability Issues in August 2020. Return to text
6. This figure does not include Winter Energy Payments and other supplementary assistance. Return to text
7. World Elder Abuse Awareness Day is observed globally on 15 June each year. Return to text
8. The number of young people supported is lower than last year because several initiatives were cancelled in the wake of the restrictions on gatherings under the higher COVID-19 Alert Levels, including Nga Kapa Haka Kura Tuarua o Aotearoa (the National Secondary Schools Kapa Haka Competition), ASB Polyfest, Shakespeare Globe Company productions and the New Zealand Choral Federation Big Sing festivals. Return to text
9. The vision of the Child and Youth Wellbeing Strategy (see https://childyouthwellbeing.govt.nz/) is that “New Zealand, Aotearoa is the best place in the world for children and young people.” Return to text
10. The Youth Plan was launched in July 2020 and will be reviewed in two years. Information about the Youth Plan, as well as engagement with rangatahi and the youth sector, is available at http://www.myd.govt.nz/young-people/youth-plan/youth-plan.html Return to text
11. Claims arising after this date are the responsibility of Oranga Tamariki. Return to text
12. Data relating to the number of claims resolved reflects a decision made in 2019/20 that unresolved claims should remain open and inactive, in view of the fact that the claim has not been settled. Return to text
13. While the new monitoring system is being developed, OCC is continuing to take a strong system-level advocacy role for all New Zealand children and youth, and the Office of the Ombudsman is providing an enhanced complaints and investigations function. Return to text
14. A third and final report covering the full 2019/20 financial year is due in December 2020. Return to text

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