Politics blog: May 6 - 12

Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced on Thursday the Government was establshing a new Social Investment Agency to replace the Social Wellbeing Agency, effective from 1 July.

"This standalone, central agency will lead the development of social investment across government, helping us achieve better results from our social service expenditure with smarter use of data, evidence and analytics," Willis said. 

"We will establish a Social Investment Fund as a vehicle for future social investments, to be managed by the Social Investment Agency, with a brief to directly commission outcomes for vulnerable New Zealanders, and to work with community, non-government organisations and iwi providers.

"The fund will begin investing in 2025 but I am announcing it now as it will be a new way for the Government to invest and it will take time to design.  Over time I expect the fund to grow in partnership with other funders to deliver at scale with a wide portfolio of investments.

"We will establish a Social Investment Board made up of real-world experts who will provide external challenge and guidance as we drive Social Investment forward."

The sad reality was that despite successive governments investing in well-intentioned social services - now more than $70 billion annually - we are not seeing the outcomes we want, Willis said. 

"Social investment is a systematic way of using data, evidence and modern analytics to invest in earlier and better intervention that breaks these cycles of despair."