Category: News

A News Post on something that has happened

The Report on Judith Collins

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For your reading pleasure

 

For those inclined below is the report that has cleared the Honourable Judith Collins (she got her title back today) if meddling with the Serious Fraud Office. Judith is my Papakura Electorate MP as well.

Here is the report:

 

Note if I have embedded it via Scribd it means you can read the PDF straight without having to “download” into your Temp Folder to read it thus consuming bandwidth especially if on a mobile or tablet device. You might need the Scribd App prior first but it isn’t large and good to have on hand.

 

New Senior Staff to Assist Auckland Plan Implementation

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While there were cuts at the lower levels.

 

I remember when apply for a job that dealt with the implantation side of the Auckland Plan and how I got a phone call (and I had to make one later on because the HR department “forgot” to update me) after progressing through various recruitment rounds only to find out that job no longer existed due to “budget cuts.” Those budget cuts were the review that was happening in the Planning division of Auckland Council at the time. So after being told of budget cuts did I see three new positions for Auckland Plan implementation open up although this time for three senior managers.

And here they are – this from Auckland Council

New staff to boost delivery of Auckland Plan

 

Auckland Council’s Chief Planning Officer Roger Blakeley has appointed three new senior staff after a review of the planning division saw a realignment of responsibilities designed to future-proof the council’s strategy and planning team and help to create the world’s most liveable city.

Roger Blakeley says that the first four years of the division were about establishing the planning framework for a unified Auckland, developing long-term strategic plans to guide Auckland’s development.

“Our focus now is to build on those foundations and shift towards delivery on the ground, as well as completing some of the major planning work such as the council input to the Proposed Auckland Unitary Plan process.

“This is about turning the Auckland Plan’s ambitious goals into reality, delivering value for money and action on the ground for residents, customers, citizens and visitors. It is also about scanning international trends amongst liveable cities and providing high level strategic advice to the council.” he says.

“I’m thrilled to fill these three key roles with high calibre candidates, each with a wealth of knowledge and experience in their field.”

They are:

Kataraina Maki has been appointed General Manager, Community and Social Policy. This is a new role created to lead the development of high quality community and social policy advice for the Governing Body and its committees. She has a strong record of achievement in community policy-funding and social policy environments in local and central government. Her most recent role has been as the General Manager of the Glenn Enquiry into child abuse and domestic violence. She is currently based in the Bay of Plenty.

Chris Parker has been appointed Chief Economist until August 2016 while Chief Economist Geoff Cooper is on sabbatical at Princeton. He will provide advice on Auckland’s economic issues for the Mayor and elected representatives. He also will provide advice on the state of the Auckland economy to the Auckland community.  Chris currently works as a Senior Economist for the NZ Institute of Economic Research. He has extensive experience in cost-benefit appraisal and developing policies, regulations and public investment strategies. He has provided economic advice on the City Centre Masterplan, City Rail Link and the additional Waitemata Harbour Crossing and other major transport projects. He is currently based in Wellington.

John Mauro has been appointed Chief Sustainability Officer. In this newly-created role, John will promote sustainability practices within council and in Auckland generally. John recently worked as Principal Transport Planner in the council’s Strategy and Research Team. Before that he worked for a US organisation and was responsible for mobilising business support for major transport legislation, and as a climate policy analyst in the Mayor of Seattle’s office, where he helped the Mayor establish a coalition of one thousand US mayors for climate protection.  He has also had experience in working with non-government organisations promoting liveable communities and smart growth. John brings leadership skills, policy understanding and experience working at a senior political level.

 

Further senior staff appointments will be announced in the near future…..

—-ends—-

 

The podcast on the new Auckland Development CCO will be put up later in the afternoon. But I hold the suspicion of too my chiefs at the top and not enough Indians at the bottom to get anything meaningful really done. Remembering while the Auckland Plan annual update gave the implementation a pass rate, three of the big key factors that affect Auckland’s health were still off target….

 

Have Your Say On Legal Highs

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Deadline this Friday

 

From Auckland Council

Time running out to have your say on legal highs issue

 

Aucklanders are being urged to make sure they have their say on the issue of the sale of legal highs as consultation closes this Friday.

Councillor George Wood, chairperson of the Auckland Council Regional Strategy and Policy Committee, says that Auckland needs to be ready for when the products are legal again.

 

“Whether we like it or not, central government will at some point license these substances to be sold again. When that happens, this policy will dictate where that will happen in Auckland.

“It may be that you object to the sale of the products near your home, near your child’s school or anywhere in the city- or it may be that you are perfectly fine with them being sold.

“Whichever side of the debate you sit on, the consultation is happening now, and it will be too late to have your say once the policy is in place.

“This is a decision of huge significance for the people of this city. It will likely impact on all of us in some way. So make sure your voice is heard before time runs out.”

 

The consultation on the Local Approved Product Policy closes at 4pm on Friday 28 November and will help decide where psychoactive substances can be sold in Auckland once licensed by government.

To contribute to the consultation, visit www.shapeauckland.co.nz

 

Further Information

 

The consultation closes at 4pm on Friday 28 November 

The policy proposes that:

  1. Licenses to sell legal psychoactive substances in all of Auckland (apart from the city centre) will not be granted in:
  • areas of high deprivation
  • neighbourhood centres
  • within 500m of a school teaching students year seven and above
  • within 200m of a school teaching students between years one and six inclusive
  • within 500m of a mental health or addiction treatment centre
  • within 500m of an existing psychoactive substances retail licence
  • areas identified as restricted areas. 
  1. Licenses to sell legal psychoactive substances in the city centre will not be granted:
  • in areas of residential deprivation
  • within 100m of an existing psychoactive substances retail licence.

——ends——-

 

You have until this Friday

 

Council Replies to Concern on IT Budget Blowouts

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This is presented entirely without comment from me

 

Note: any future commentary will be in other posts

 

From Auckland Council

IT programme – no cost blowout

 

Following discussion of an update on Auckland Council’s Information Services Transformational Programme at today’s Finance and Performance Committee, council has released the report publicly.

Today’s committee agenda item (see resolutions below) sought to bring forward $24m to be spent in the earlier stages of the project, enabling efficiencies to be achieved later on.

The report (attached) covers the consolidation of core council information technology systems and addresses the reprioritisation of the programme to optimise outcomes, and the extension and enhancement of the testing programme.

Chief Operating Officer Dean Kimpton says there is no ‘cost blowout’ and rigorous risk management processes are being applied to the programme.

“There is no change to our overall IT budget and no increase in funding required; however, the NewCore component of the overall programme has increased in cost and will require an additional year to complete.

“We’ve taken a closer look at the complexity of our systems and carried out more detailed due diligence, which has given us a clearer picture of the priorities. As a result, we are accelerating some parts of the project and must adjust funding accordingly.

“We want to simplify our processes so Aucklanders have systems that are customer-friendly and easy to use, at their fingertips. Building consents, resource consents, rating, dog licensing and the booking of community facilities are some of the areas that will benefit from more customer-friendly online and IT systems.

“The accelerated $24m spend agreed at today’s committee is simply bringing forward some capital spend. We want all the inter-related parts of the programme rolled out in the optimal order. It’s also about applying more rigour to testing as we go forward and ensuring we are learning from any Novopay-type experiences,” Mr Kimpton says.

“We want to realise the benefits of the programme at a greater rate, hence we brought forward some of the spend,” he says.

An independent chief information officer (CIO) reference group, made up of CIOs from a range of public sector and corporate organisations, has brought strong governance oversight to the council’s IT transformation programme, and has endorsed the approach taken.

Independent expertise from EY has also brought critical oversight of the programme.

——ends—–

 

Further Information

 

Finance and Performance Committee Meeting – 20 November 2014

Resolutions:

  1. a) note the update and progress being made on the Organisation IS Transformation programme
  2. b) note the reprioritisation of the programme to optimise the overall outcomes of the programme and note that no additional funding for the IS transformation programme is requested
  3. c) approve the re-phasing of $24 million of IS transformation budget forward to the 2015 and 2016 years in order to optimise overall programme outcomes
  4. d) note the extended and intensified quality assurance and testing programme at a cost of $13m
  5. e) agree that the Council’s IT programme progress including NewCore be reported to this Committee on a quarterly basis
  6. f) agree that the item and report be considered in the open section of the meeting.

 

About NewCore:

The NewCore transformation (consolidation) project is complex. It is designed to consolidate the core systems from the eight legacy councils that support customer interactions, rates, regulatory services and related property data. Each legacy council had a different system (or group of systems) which collected and stored large amounts of complex data in different ways.

As well as consolidation, this project will reduce the cost of collecting information and managing these services. It aims to:

  • simplify and standardise customer and business processes for customer interaction, rates, regulatory services and related property data
  • enable more effective development of digital solutions for customers, giving them more choices around how they want to interact with council
  • consolidate core customer-facing  systems that support these processes
  • create a standardized base set of processes and systems for implementation of the Unitary Plan and bylaw reviews, where only one set of systems needs to be updated, as opposed to multiple legacy systems, and reducing the operational risk associated with complex end-of-life systems.

 

The Agenda Item concerning the IT situation

 

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Might as well stick this up from Councillor Brewer seeming it is public record anyhow:

 

NO SPIN ZONE….

NewCore CAPEX budget has more than doubled in two years

Auckland Councillor Cameron Brewer says two official council reports two years apart show the capital expenditure budget for council’s NewCore computer system increasing by more than double from $58.1m to $124m. The Councillor for Orakei says the council is now desperate to downplay the project’s increasing costs by saying this is all just about shuffling around the organisation’s existing and wider IT budget.

“Let’s not lose sight that the full and final promise made to councillors in 2012 specified a total project capital cost less than half of what was highlighted in today’s report to Finance & Performance. Mr Brewer and other councillors were pleased the committee today debated the item in public after pressure for the matters to be taken out of confidential. “An amendment to defer any decisions to the full council next week was unfortunately lost 8/9, while my amendment which helpfully highlighted some home truths about the growing capital expenditure budget and expressed genuine council concern was amazingly lost 7/9:


BREWER/QUAX:

  • ‘Note that on 29 November 2012 councillors were advised that the “total cost of the programme is $71m made up of $58.1m CAPEX and $12.9m OPEX” while the 20 November 2014 report states that “total NewCore (CAPEX) costs post reset are $124m” with any additional operational expenditure not specified, and the committee records its utmost concern around future cost escalations and the project’s impact on Auckland Council’s other non-NewCore IT budget.’
  • “The public deserves to know that this project’s capital budget has changed dramatically in the past two years, not just hear the tricky spin denying any blow-out. This is not just about bringing some approved capital budget forward. This is a project which now has more than twice the total capital price-tag, and we still have no idea about any subsequent operational expenditure increases and impacts.
  • “To achieve all this they have raided the organisation’s wider IT budget for the next five years and so alarmingly we can now probably expect budget overruns in other IT areas in future years which is another big worry. Rest assured the hand will keep coming out,” says Cameron Brewer.