The Government Regulatory Practice Initiative is having a growing impact on the quality of regulatory practice in the public sector.
Nicole Botherway, Manager Farming and Maritime Services at Waikato Regional Council recently completed the New Zealand Certificate in Regulatory Compliance Qualification (Operational Knowledge - Level 4). This adds to the Core Knowledge (Level 3) qualification already under her belt.
Nicole presented at the annual G-REG conference last year on the Council's work to improve the quality of data collection. This will enable smarter risk-based monitoring of dairy farms in the region. She also discussed challenges and hurdles which led to innovations in the way Council is monitoring farms and dealing with non-compliance in effluent management.
"Regulators can be from departments around New Zealand, in local or central government, but all have a common platform with G-REG, which can provide the opportunity to share and discuss ideas that have worked for other regulators, instead of reinventing the wheel.
"The qualifications give regulators (and people in supporting roles), the tools and common language to be on the same page more often."
The G-REG initiative is a whole of Government collaboration, involving local government, central government, Skills and Taituarā.
Taituarā Chief Executive, Karen Thomas says "G-REG's collaboration to build more frontline capability across local and central government is an excellent example of how working together with central government helps us all deliver better outcomes for New Zealanders."
In addition to the day-to-day importance of G-REG, Nicole sees the qualifications as a huge step in the right direction for regulators.
"I think what is most important about G-REG is the acknowledgement that regulatory craft is important enough to have its own qualifications, and rightly so because the work we do is crucial to New Zealand and our people.
"Not only that, we are lucky enough to be able to undertake the qualifications in work time, with a support system of people who are working towards them too."