2 June 2020
Tania Te Whenua
[FYI request #12647 email]
Dear Ms Te Whenua
Official Information Request
Our Ref: SSCOIA 2020-0033
I refer to your official information request received on 18 April 2020 where you asked:
“Does the SSC hold information on employment equity information analysing within
each state sector entity:
a) How many Māori women (and what percentage of the total number of
applicants) applied for Tier 2 roles or above?
b) How many Māori women (and what percentage of the total number of
successful applicants) were successfully appointed to the jobs which they
applied for at Tier 2 or above?”
We wrote to you on 21 April 2020 to clarify the time period in which you were seeking this
information for, however we did not receive a response from you.  We have therefore provided
information for the years 2018 and 2019.
Diversity in the Public Service
The State Services Commission (SSC) leads a range of system level work which is focused on
improving the diversity and inclusiveness of the Public Service, for it to value, reflect and
understand the communities it serves.
Through the collective leadership of the State Services Leadership Team (SSLT) we have a
programme of initiatives that are making an impact on the diversity and inclusiveness of our
Public Service organisations.
Since this programme was established in 2017, SSC and the SSLT have used the resources
available to:
• Establish a Gender Pay Gap and Pay Equity taskforce
• Close like-for-like pay gaps for women in two-thirds of Public Service agencies
• Reduce ethnic pay gaps for the first time in 2019
• Achieve gender diversity in Public Service CEs, including diversity across roles
weighted for job size
• Establish the Pacific Workforce Action Plan
• Publish guidance on bias in recruitment for gender
• Expand our data collection for work force reporting to include disability and the
Rainbow community including the first Public Service engagement with Rainbow
communities through the WeCount 2019 survey
• Establish a Diversity and Inclusion practitioner network
• Release standards for demographic data
• Develop and implement the Mana Aki Cultural Competency Programme (led by the
Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and available to the system)

Building diversity in Public Service Chief Executives and senior leaders
SSC’s diversity and inclusion leadership continues to evolve and expand as the Government
sets its priorities and objectives in relation to diversity and inclusion. The reality is that with
limited resources, we had to start somewhere – so we started with the leadership of the Public
Service and with gender. There is more to be done and we are commit ed to that task.
Of the 36 Public Service chief executives (CEs), 18 (50%) are women. Unlike in the past where
female CEs tended to occupy smaller roles, they now occupy some of the largest roles in the
Public Service. Their average job size has increased by 16% between 2016 and 2019, with the
job size gap with their male colleagues narrowing to 1% from a 27% gap in 2016.  At as 30 June
2019, the ethnic diversity amongst the women CEs comprises of 85.7% European and 14.3%
Maori.
We have done this while also increasing ethnic diversity at senior leader levels (Tiers 1-3) – we
now have 49.6% female representation in these roles across the Public Service. This
achievement meets the leadership milestone of the Public Service Gender Pay Gap Action Plan.
And we are at or near population representation levels for ethnicity across the Public Service.
Comparing ourselves with our peers such as the UK and Australia Public Services, New
Zealand is leading the way in a number of areas including eliminating the gender pay gap and
increasing ethnic representation.  We are equal or slightly ahead in the area of gender parity in
leadership roles. The scope, breadth and goals of New Zealand’s diversity and inclusion
programme match or exceed those in comparable jurisdictions.
The SSC recognises that despite these gains, we need a pipeline of more diverse women
leaders, and to see Māori, Pacific and Asian women better represented at all levels of our Public
Service.
A number of initiatives are underway to progress this aim. We have published guidance on
removing gender bias in recruitment and wil  soon release guidance on removing gender bias
in  career  progression,  both  of  which  include  the  perspectives  of  wāhine  Māori.  These  wil
contribute to increased diversity at all levels.
Specific initiatives to develop and support Māori leaders in the Public Service include:
• The System Career Board target for Māori amongst senior leaders actively seeking
cross-agency development is 20%, to increase current representation of 13%. Boards
wil  have to develop the capability to support Māori talent, and wil  aim to ensure
gender balance across al  cohorts.
• Whakaaro Rangatira: a Māori Leadership as Practice Profile has been developed by a
gender balanced, cross-agency working group and should be piloted this year. This
profile enables chief executives and senior leaders to recognise and value Māori
leadership practices and skil s.
• Mentoring and support for Māori early-in-career public servants: we are developing a
multi-year leadership development programme for early-in-career Māori public
servants, to be launched in 2020.
Information being released
The SSC does not hold the information you have requested across the State sector.   A list of
all the agencies included in the State sector can be found here. We are therefore refusing this
part of your request under section 18(g) of the Official Information Act 1982, on the grounds that
the information requested is not held by the State Services Commission, and we have no
grounds for believing it is held by another department.
However, as the State Services Commissioner appoints and employs Public Service chief
executives, information that is held by the SSC, is the number of applicants and appointments
for these Tier 1 roles.

Please find in the table below information in relation to Public Service Chief executive
appointments that took place in 2018 and 2019.   Please note this information is taken from the
date of applications and some of the appointments may have been made in the following year.
As provided for in the data, the percentage of Māori women applying for tier one roles has
increased in 2019 from 2018, as well as the percentage of Māori women being appointed into
those roles.
We do, however, need to increase the diversity of the pool of credible applicants for senior roles
– in terms of gender, ethnicity and other diversity factors.  The SSC has a number of initiatives
underway and the diversity of senior leaders coming through the system is starting to improve,
particularly in the lower and middle tier roles.  However, there is stil  more work to do to see
more women, Māori, Pasifica and candidates of other ethnicities apply for and ultimately be
appointed to these important roles and we are commit ed to that task.
Public Service Chief Executives
Total number  Total number of  Percentage of
Number of
Percentage of
of applicants
Māori Women
Māori Women
Māori Women
Māori women
applicants
applicants
appointed
appointed
2018
136
3
2.2%
0
0%
2019
86
8
9.3%
1
16.66%
The SSC does not hold the information requested in relation to Tier 2 roles with the exception
of the Deputy Commissioner of Police and the Deputy State Services Commissioner.
As required under section 14 of the Policing Act 2008, the State Services Commissioner is
responsible for managing the appointment process for the Deputy Commissioner of Police and
must provide advice on nominations to the Prime Minister and the Minister of Police.
Under section 12(1) of the State Sector Act 1988, the Deputy State Services Commissioner is
appointed by the Governor-General in Council on the recommendation of the Prime Minister.
The State Services Commissioner administered the appointment process, in accordance with
past practice.
Please find in the table below  the requested information in respect of the two Tier 2
appointments conducted by SSC.
Tier 2 Appointments
Total number  Total number of  Percentage of
Number of
Percentage of
of applicants
Māori Women
Māori Women
Māori Women
Māori women
applicants
applicants
appointed
appointed
2018
17
*
5.8%
0
0%
We are withholding the total number of Māori women applicants under section 9(2)(a) of the
Of icial Information Act, to protect the privacy of individuals. The SSC information release
confidentiality guidelines ensure we allow as much high value information as possible to be
released, while ensuring that it is not in a form that could reasonably expect to identify an
individual, or at a level of aggregation where the information is stil  informative.  These guidelines
apply to any statistical information that contains private or confidential information and therefore
prevent us releasing the exact number of Māori women applicants.
Information you requested from the Ministry for Women
On the 18 May 2020, in their response to the OIA request you had sent them, the Ministry for
Women advised that they did not hold part of the information you had requested from them.

They also advised that they had consulted with the SSC in respect of whether we hold the
information you requested in order to initiate a transfer of your request to the agency who held
the information.
We confirmed that we do not hold the information you had requested in respect of the State
sector but do hold information for the Public Service and that we would include the information
we held, in our response to you.
Your request to the Ministry for Women asked:
“How many Maori women currently hold positions of leadership in the state sector as
Chief Executive Officers, Executives; (or their equivalents within tier 1 and tier 2
leadership roles)?
• What percentage of tier 1 and tier 2 leaders within the state sector are Māori
women?
• What are they paid compared to non-Maori women and non-Māori men
counterparts?”
In response, there are currently 15 Māori women in Tier 2 roles across the Public service.  This
is eight percent of total Tier 2 roles. Māori women have an average salary of $264,100, non-
Māori  women  have  an  average  salary  of  $276,600  with  non-Māori  men  having  an  average
salary of $303,200.
There is a large variance in the size and complexity of jobs at the Tier 2 level, which makes
comparing remuneration across the cohort difficult as the jobs are not like for like. Statistical y
there  are  also  issues  with  the  numbers  of  Maori  women  in  the  Tier  2  cohort  affecting  the
quality of the result where any small change may significantly alter the results. See Stats NZ
guidance here.
If you wish to discuss this decision with us, please feel free to contact
[email address].
You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of this decision.
Information about how to make a complaint is available at www.ombudsman.parliament.nz  or
freephone 0800 802 602.
Please note that we intend to publish this letter (with your personal details removed) on the
State Services Commission’s website.
Yours sincerely
Nicky Dirks
Managing Principal – Ministerial Services
State Services Commission

Document Outline