PUBLIC SERVICE SYSTEM
THE STATE OF STEWARDSHIP IN THE CORE STATE
This is the third of several articles that explore the findings of the recent Working in the Public Service survey by taking a deep dive look at stewardship – one of five principles in the Public Service Act 2020.
We explore whether stewardship is a magic concept that is broad in scope, has positive connotations that are hard to oppose, are rhetorically useful but impossible to assess and measure. Much of the Public Service Act description of stewardship is simply ‘old wine in new bottles’, repackaging what used to be called the capability dimension of the ownership interest. However, an examination of central agency websites suggests that stewardship is more than a big word that is conceptually ambiguous. In particular, the concepts of regulatory stewardship and policy stewardship add new dimensions to thinking and productive ‘recipes for action’ that were not addressed by the reforms of the 1980s and 1990s. Moreover, chief executives’ roles go beyond merely supporting their ministers to include acting independently as stewards.
Derek Gill
to think, plan and manage in the interests of the citizens and governments of the future. It includes knowledge, human capital, physical and financial resources, and keeping legislation up to date”. This drew on the Public Service Act 2020, which describes stewardship using five dot points detailed below, covering people, knowledge, systems, assets, and legislation. The ambiguity around the meaning of stewardship was reflected in the range of views among respondents. The graph below shows that slightly more respondents felt that their agency finds the right balance between short-term priorities and longerterm progress and stewardship (53 percent agreed; 39 percent disagreed; 4 percent didn’t know).
Our survey struggled to operationalise the principle of stewardship In the Working in the Public Service survey, as we discussed in the last edition, we focused on five principles: political neutrality, free and frank advice, merit-based appointments, open government, as well as stewardship. The survey focused on employees’ perceptions of how these public service principles are operating in practice. Defining stewardship for the survey proved particularly problematic. The survey questions on the stewardship principle focused on the tension between short-term priorities and longer-term imperatives. The definition used in the survey was “Stewardship is maintaining and enhancing the capability Source: BusinessDesk / IPANZ research
12 PUBLIC SECTOR Winter 2023
By contrast, looking at their own work, more respondents disagreed than agreed