Page 393 - Special Topic Session (STS) - Volume 2

STS507 Vince G. et al.
tools they use. This is very valuable for getting a sense of what new possibilities
are being considered and deployed.

 Technical assistance committees
As a range of agencies have looked to invest in large scale microsimulation
models based on the IDI they have established technical advisory committees
alongside the project team. Stats NZ is invited onto these committees and
they provide important insights into the “cutting edge” attempts to deliver
value to the policy development process. The main lessons highlighted from
this work were:
 Agencies are considering doing their work very differently and unless Stats
NZ understands what is being considered then we run the risk of being
irrelevant to the attempts of agencies that are key clients to achieve their
goals.
 The appetite to obtain insight into what practitioners are doing and what
it actually achieves is nearly insatiable. Interestingly very little of the
enthusiasm to come and listen to others speak has translated into
functional arrangements for collaborating.
 This experience echo’s many of the issues that were referred to in the
Algorithm stocktake report. Very similar challenges are being faced in each
agency and they are being tackled separately.
 Despite many acknowledging the benefits of collaboration and
consistency in building these models, there are not yet incentives to do so
meaningfully which outweigh the needs of individual agencies.

6. Deploying Analytical Capability in Public Policy
Population Segmentation has been the Success Story
Significant value has been achieved by simply describing how a wider
system of public policy works. Describing who goes through which process,
what happens to them in the system and how they fare with their health or
labour market outcomes, continues to provide the best possible basis for
examining the need for change. Examples of the types of insights researchers
are gaining include:
 Exploring the gender pay gap, and the impact of parenthood on personal
outcomes
 Using integrated data to gain a better understanding of the long-term,
system-wide causes and impacts of mental health
 Analysis into cardiovascular disease such as defining who is most at risk:,
and how housing damage from the Christchurch earthquakes impacted
cardiovascular events.

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