Public Service Act 2020

People working in public service - Public Service Commission leaders and advisory committees - Public Service Commissioner and Deputy Public Service Commissioners

44: Commissioner’s general functions

You could also call this:

"The Commissioner's main jobs are to lead and improve the public service to work well for you."

Illustration for Public Service Act 2020

The Commissioner has some main jobs to do. You can think of these jobs as helping the public service work well. The Commissioner must lead a team to make sure public service agencies work together to deliver good services to you and achieve good outcomes. The Commissioner also promotes integrity, accountability, and transparency in the public service, which means being honest and fair in all their work. They work with leaders to develop a capable workforce that is fair and equal, and makes sure chief executives do their jobs well.

The Commissioner is also the employer of chief executives, which means they appoint them and check their performance to make sure they are doing a good job. They review how well the public service agencies are working and advise the Minister on how to improve services and make agencies work better together. The Commissioner can also be asked by the Prime Minister to do other jobs to help the public service work well, as long as those jobs are not already given to someone else. If you want to compare this to an earlier law, you can look at the Public Service Act 1988.

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This page was last updated on 30 September 2025

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS356898.

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43: Commissioner’s role, or

"The Commissioner is the leader who makes sure the public service works well and does the right thing."

45: Duty to act independently when making decisions about public service chief executives, or

"The Commissioner must make decisions about public service bosses on their own, without being told what to do."

Part 3People working in public service
Public Service Commission leaders and advisory committees: Public Service Commissioner and Deputy Public Service Commissioners

44Commissioner’s general functions

The Commissioner’s general functions are to—
establish and lead a public service leadership team so that public service agencies work as a system to deliver better services to, and achieve better outcomes for, the public; and
promote integrity, accountability, and transparency throughout agencies in the State services, including by setting standards and issuing guidance; and
work with public service leaders to develop a highly capable workforce that reflects the diversity of the society it serves and to ensure fair and equitable employment, including by promoting the good employer requirements in this Act; and
act as the employer of public service chief executives, including by—
1. appointing chief executives and reviewing their performance, including how they carry out their responsibilities and functions under this Act or another enactment; and
2. to the extent relevant in each case, reviewing the performance of the public service agency that the chief executive leads or carries out some functions within; and
review the design and operation of the system of government agencies in order to advise the Minister or the appropriate Minister on the following matters:
1. possible improvements to delivery of services and inter-agency cohesion:
2. agency establishments, disestablishments, and amalgamations:
3. the governance and allocation of functions, and the transfer of functions to and between agencies; and
carry out any other administrative and management functions in relation to the public service that the Prime Minister from time to time directs (not being functions conferred by this Act or another enactment on a chief executive appointed by the Commissioner).

Compare

1988 No 20 s 6