MBIE apologises and commits to improvements following Privileges Committee report

MBIE Chief Executive Nic Blakeley said the Committee's findings were extremely serious.

“Parliament must be able to trust that public service agencies will provide accurate, complete and frank information. In this case, MBIE failed to meet that standard.

“As Chief Executive, I accept responsibility for this failure. Accountability rests with me. Parliament, Ministers and the public are entitled to expect better from MBIE.

“My focus now is making sure a failure of this nature does not happen again.

“I will rebuild trust through action. I am implementing immediate changes to strengthen our processes, improve advice and oversight.

“I will ensure that the Ministry has the right processes, training and clear accountability to ensure we provide accurate and complete information to Parliament.”

Summary of actions:

• strengthen preparation for all select committee appearances, including rigorous review and testing of evidence before hearings
• implement mandatory training to all staff who prepare, support or give evidence to select committees
• set clear expectations for candour and completeness, including the need to provide clear, direct and complete information
• improve handling of sensitive information, including consideration of when evidence should be received in private or as secret evidence
• require active correction of the record, any information identified as inaccurate or incomplete will be escalated immediately and corrected without delay
• introduce enhanced assurance and sign out requirements for hearing materials provided to select committees, including post-hearing responses and internal preparatory briefings.