To help achieve this, we set 10 specific measurable targets in 2012 that we expected the public service to achieve within four to five years.

These 10 targets are in areas that have been challenging to governments, not just in New Zealand but across the world – such as welfare dependency, crime, child abuse, and educational achievement.

Last week, we released the twice-yearly update on the Government’s Better Public Services programme.

I'm pleased to report the latest update shows we are making good progress.This includes 5000 people coming off long-term Jobseeker benefits and into work last year and the number of child abuse cases decreasing by almost 200, or 5.6 per cent, in the 12 months to September 2014. 

Infant immunisations are at an all-time high, rheumatic fever rates have dropped considerably and more young people are achieving higher qualifications. Crime numbers also continue to fall - the crime rate is now at a 35-year low.

Our challenge now is to keep progress going as we try to help people who are harder to reach, or address problems that are simply more complex to resolve.

To do this, the Government is making a number of changes to the approach we use in these cases. One particular change is shifting the focus to individuals, their families, and communities, rather than focusing on Government departments.

This is important because to turn around intergenerational welfare dependency and improve educational achievement for groups who have a long record of low achievement, we have to understand what is going on in the homes and lives of these people.