Output Class 2 - Standards and Quality Assurance
In this section...
- Annual Report 2007/08 homepage
- Chief Executive's overview
- Strategic direction 2007/2008
- LINZ's performance 2007/2008
- LINZ information
This output class includes the regulatory activities for which the Department is responsible. The outputs aim to ensure the regulatory frameworks that create and protect property rights, and protect the public interest in Crown property management, rating valuations and the land information for which LINZ is responsible, are managed effectively, and that delivery against the frameworks is quality assured. Specifically, it encompasses regulatory intervention and quality assurance for:
- the delivery of Crown property management, acquisition and disposal services
- property valuation for rating purposes, and
- the collection, authorisation, management, and dissemination of information associated with the:
- land rights registration system
- geodetic and cadastral survey reference systems
- topographic and hydrographic information systems, and
- applications from overseas persons to acquire assets in New Zealand.
There are two outputs in this output class:
210 Standards, and
220 Quality Assurance.
Output 210 – Standards
Part third-party funded
This output includes the development, review and implementation of the regulatory interventions that protect the public interest in the national systems for which LINZ is responsible. In addition, this output involves:
- providing technical advice to the government and stakeholders
- statutory delegations for registration and survey functions
- support to the Valuers Registration Board and the New Zealand Geographic Board Ngä Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa
- support to the electoral system
- dealing with claims for compensation made under the Land Transfer Act
- appeals from decisions of delegated staff, and
- liaison and exchanges of information on standards internationally and with national advisory groups.
| PERFORMANCE MEASURE | PERFORMANCE |
|---|---|
| QUANTITY | |
| Ten new regulatory interventions or amendments to existing interventions will be required to reflect new government policy, legislation, case law, audit findings, risk analysis, and technology changes (range for year 5-15). | Three new intervention or amendments were developed: New
|
| 120 documents related to interventions will be reviewed (year three of a multiyear review). | All regulatory intervention documents have been reviewed and are either archived, published or are at varying stages of development. |
| QUALITY | |
| All new and reviewed regulatory interventions will be in accordance with the LINZ-based standards development framework. | All interventions are developed in accordance with the regulatory standards development framework. |
| All regulatory interventions will be peer reviewed (including by the Expert Committee for Standards) and signed off by the responsible regulator. | All interventions included peer review as per the standards development framework. |
| TIMELINESS | |
| All regulatory interventions will be developed, reviewed and implemented in accordance with the timeframes specified in the annual business plan. | Intervention project plans, task lists and status report plans were continually updated. This is a multi-year programme which is 80% complete. Some projects were behind original targets due to the impact of businessas-usual activites and some interventions have taken longer to finalise due to the number of expert committees needed. |
Output 220 – Quality Assurance
Part third-party funded
This output involves making statutory decisions and recommendations regarding overseas investment in New Zealand, and the ongoing monitoring and auditing of compliance to ensure standards are met.
| PERFORMANCE MEASURE | PERFORMANCE |
|---|---|
| QUANTITY | |
| 275 overseas investment applications will be processed and decisions or recommendations made. | 230 applications were processed. The number of applications received for the year was lower than expected. |
| An annual quality assurance plan will be completed for each of the four regulators. | Six quality assurance audit plans were completed for the four regulators. |
| Nine audit programmes will be completed for all regulatory areas. | Seven audit programmes were completed for the 10 regulatory areas as follows: Registrar-General of Land
Three audit programmes for three regulatory areas (Geographic Board, Topographic and Electoral) were not required based on the level of risk, past programmes, etc. All audits within the seven programmes are completed or in progress. |
| QUALITY | |
| 95% of recommendations to ministers will be accepted without amendment. | 96% of recommendations were accepted by the Minister without amendment. Two out of 51 recommendations were amended. |
The annual quality assurance plans will include:
|
All quality assurance plans incorporate the regulators' risks to the achievement of their objectives. All recommendations from audits completed between 1 July 2007 and 30 June 2008 were accepted: 99 were addressed and 25 are being progressed by the auditees. All audits are linked to compliance with regulator standards. |
| All audits conducted under these programmes will meet the criteria specified in the terms of reference for each audit. | All audits followed the scope and methodology specified in the terms of reference. |
| TIMELINESS | |
| 90% of all correspondence from overseas investment applicants will be responded to within five working days of the receipt of an application or subsequent information. | This activity was not achieved: 49% of all correspondence was responded to within five working days. 49% equates to 92 out of 188 pieces of correspondence. Applications are much more complex due to the increased number of factors that have to be considered. These include the requirement to deal with "special land", changes in the commercial environment (transactions funded by private equity), an increase in securitisation transactions, and applications for exemptions under new legislation that had been declined under the previous legislation. A joint Treasury/LINZ report, "Overseas Investment Screening Regime: Update on Forward Work Plan", was provided to ministers and accepted by them. The report set out the future capability requirements for the Office. |
| 90% of all delegated decisions will be made within 10 working days of the receipt of all information. | This activity was not achieved: 72% of delegated decisions were made within 10 working days. 72% equates to 100 out of 138 delegated decisions being made within 10 working days. This performance measure is difficult to accurately measure due to the inability of the Office's current database to accurately record the time at which "receipt of full information" occurs under the new regime. The new database will rectify these issues in early 2008/09. |
| All timeframes specified in the annual business plan will be met. | All targets specified in the annual business plan were monitored monthly by LINZ's General Manager Regulatory and have been achieved. |
| All audits conducted under the audit programmes will meet the timeframes specified in the terms of reference for each audit. | All audits in the audit programme were completed, although some timeframes for the delivery of the draft report within 10 days of the audit visit were not achieved. 51% of draft reports were delivered within the timeframes specified in the terms of reference. However, the timeframe to send the draft report within 10 days of the audit visit was not achieved in all cases (49% not achieved). The significant variation relates to the revaluation audits. However, given the nature of the revaluation audits it is not possible to have reports within 10 days of a visit, and a revised measure is required. |
Financial performance
| Actual 30/6/07 $000 |
Actual 30/6/08 $000 |
Voted 30/6/08 $000 |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| 5,121 | Revenue Crown | 4,488 | 4,488 |
| 5,818 | Revenue other | 5,397 | 5,994 |
| 10,939 | Total revenue | 9,885 | 10,482 |
| 10,939 | Total expenses | 9,885 | 10,247 |
| 0 | Net surplus/(deficit) | 0 | 235 |
