Government services satisfy New Zealanders

The State Services Commissioner, Mark Prebble, today released the results of the first national survey of New Zealander's experience of government services.

Public Satisfaction with Service Quality 2007: The Kiwis Count Survey asked 6,500 New Zealanders what they thought of government services. 68 percent of respondents reported that they were satisfied with their most recent experience of government services.

"These results are very encouraging. However, this is only the first survey, the value is in the improvements we make between this survey and the next in 2009.

"These findings will provide government agencies with the information they need to focus on making the improvements that will have the greatest impact on New Zealanders' satisfaction with government service delivery," Mark Prebble said.

There was a 61 percent response rate for the survey, an extremely high rate for a New Zealand postal survey.

"The high response rate is an encouraging sign that New Zealanders want to have a say as to how well we are meeting their standards. It is important that we listen to them and act to improve our service delivery and continue to meet their standards, Mark Prebble said.

Kiwis Count is based on the Canadian government's Citizen's First survey, a programme that has been running since 1998. It is part of a larger research programme that was launched by SSC in 2006. One of the other key components is a common measurement tool for agencies to compare the results of their own customer satisfaction surveys with each other.

"Government agencies will be encouraged to use the common measurement tool to ensure that all of the information that they gather can be used to track performance and identify areas for improvement across the State Services," Mark Prebble said.

Other general results included:

• 66 percent agreed that the service met their expectations
• 75 percent felt that staff were competent
• 70 percent thought that staff kept their promises
• 73 percent thought that they were treated fairly
• 63 percent felt that their individual circumstances were taken into account
• 55 percent thought that the service was an example of good value for tax dollars spent

The full survey is available on the SSC website:

http://www.ssc.govt.nz/kiwis-count-research-survey.

ENDS

Contact: Jason Ryan, State Services Commission, 04 495 2850.