Regulatory stewardship

The government of New Zealand uses regulation to protect the community from harm and improve the living standards of its people.  

Regulation is likely to involve legislation in some form, but it’s not just about the law. To make the intentions of the law come to life, government agencies and other organisations need to:

• deliver services
• educate and inform
• make people follow the rules, and
• support resolution of disputes.

The rules, organisations and their practices – the whole regulatory system – work together to shape people’s behaviour and interactions, and improve the lives, work and businesses of all New Zealanders. The government is responsible for around 200 regulatory systems.

Regulatory stewardship is the governance, monitoring, and care of our regulatory systems. It aims to ensure all the different parts of a regulatory system work well together to:

• achieve its goals effectively, proportionately, and fairly, and
• keep the system fit for purpose over the long term.

Under the Public Service Act 2020, all government agencies in New Zealand have stewardship responsibilities for the legislation they administer. This is supplemented by Cabinet-mandated expectations that require agencies to govern, monitor, and care for the regulatory systems they have responsibility for.

To fulfil their regulatory stewardship responsibilities, agencies need to consider the whole regulatory system, and proactively work with others to take care of the parts of the system they’re responsible for. This includes:

• monitoring, reviewing, and reporting on existing regulatory systems
• robust analysis and implementation support for any changes to regulatory systems
• ensuring good regulatory practice is followed.

Agencies can refer to the “Government expectations for good regulatory practice” document for more detail on their regulatory stewardship responsibilities. The expectations as set out in the document are intended to provide the government with confidence that the public service is actively delivering on its regulatory stewardship responsibilities.

Government expectations for good regulatory practice (268 KB, Pdf)

Agencies with regulatory stewardship responsibilities can also look to the resource "Starting out with regulatory stewardship" for information on stewardship. This resource, originally prepared by the Treasury, aims to help agencies develop and review their regulatory stewardship practices. It outlines a series of topics with questions that agencies can investigate to help them:

• develop their regulatory stewardship practice
• review aspects of the operation of regulatory systems within which they have roles.

Starting out with regulatory stewardship: A resource (1 MB, Pdf)

The government expects agencies with stewardship responsibilities to publish information on their websites about:

• the nature, scope and objectives of each regulatory system for which they have or share a stewardship responsibility
• current or recent reviews of those regulatory systems, or findings from system assessments, and
• forward plans for approved legislative or operational improvements to those regulatory systems.

This can encourage agencies to think more about how they can best meet their regulatory stewardship obligations. For example, it can help agencies to consider:

• what internal systems or measures they need to put in place to understand how fit for purpose their regulatory systems are, and
• prioritise improvements to those systems.

One of the Ministry’s main goals is to raise the capability of regulators to design, operate, and govern their regulatory systems effectively. We want regulatory practitioners and leaders to be more capable stewards and operators of their regulatory systems.

To help agencies understand and fulfil their stewardship responsibilities, we’re working to:

• develop and communicate guidance on what it means to be a good regulatory steward
• clarify regulatory stewardship roles and responsibilities for different parts of the public sector
• give regulatory system leaders guidance, tools, and other practical support to help them fulfil their responsibilities as regulatory stewards
• encourage regulatory system leaders and agencies to assess their own performance as a regulatory steward, and identify risks and issues in their regulatory system that need addressing
• provide leadership to identify and address system-wide risks to regulatory performance.

Resources for regulators

We recognise that regulators need to be equipped with up-to-date knowledge and resources to support them in their work, as they’re the people who have the most influence over how successful our regulatory systems are.

We provide a range of resources to help regulators build their capability and engage with others across the regulatory sector, including:

• online learning modules
• Quick Guides
• Communities of Practice, and
• a resource library.

Resources for regulators