Social Services back long-term approach to public spending

In a submission to Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee on an inquiry into performance reporting and public accountability, the NZCCSS said it welcomed changes to reporting that consider both direct and indirect financial and societal outcomes over the long term.

The Finance and Expenditure Committee has released an interim report on the topic and invited submissions.

The NZCCSS submission stated that public spending “is often based upon short-term goals with little consideration of the long-term implications as a result of governments often not considering a future beyond the four-year forecast period or their own parliamentary term”.

“Many initiatives which better the well-being of people – for example, investment in healthcare – have larger initial financial outlay, but will likely save money in the longer term.”

Therefore, “the proposal to consider long-term implications of public spending should allow for consideration of long-term outcomes both in terms of direct future savings as a result of the more immediate spending and possible long-term benefits that are not so monetarily clear, such as improvements in health”.

“This is particularly pertinent at the moment when vast cuts in public spending have been made to reduce public debt,” the submission said.

The NZCCSS acknowledged that spending cuts “may be deemed by some to be necessary due to the level of public debt . . . [but] they are likely to result in greater spending being needed at a later date”.

The NZCCSS recommended that reporting considers both long-term financial and societal impacts of public spending. The submission also called for cross-agency consideration of the outcomes of public spending and savings in order to assess effectiveness.

FULL STORY

NZCCSS Inquiry into performance reporting and public accountability (NZ Parliament)

Inquiry into performance reporting and public accountability interim report (NZ Parliament)