Conducting periodic national assessments is important because it will allow us all as a nation to see where our strengths and weaknesses are, to note any trends in capacity and capability, identify gaps, or areas for improvement, and to monitor our progress towards a 'Resilient New Zealand'. A national assessment will also inform MCDEM's work programmes, and enable any necessary adjustments to support, guidance, research or investment, as appropriate to any emerging trends.

National Capability Assessments are proposed to be run three-yearly. In setting this frequency we looked to international examples: the UK conducts their National Capability Survey every two years; the US conducts the Capability Assessment for Readiness process every four years. Three-yearly is thought to be frequent enough to monitor trends, but not so frequent as to be burdensome.

National Capability Assessments will be requested of all agencies with responsibilities under the CDEM Act by the Director, under Section 8 (2)(f) of the Act. They will result in a ‘National Capability Assessment Report’ that will report status, trends and progress. It will not name any individuals, agencies or CDEM Groups specifically. The report will go to the CDEM sector and Government.

Timing of the first National Capability Assessment
The first National Capability Assessment will be conducted in the period from the introduction of the CDEM Capability Assessment Tool (October 2009), until the end of 2010. Agencies will have a period of just over one year to complete and submit an assessment. Most assessments will be by self-assessment; however CDEM Group assessments as part of this process will have an additional, ‘qualitative’ component, in which a small panel will interview key members of the Group to get further opinion and information on the functioning of the Group.

All organisations with responsibilities under the CDEM Act will be contacted with further information about the National Capability Assessment 2010 in due course.

For further information about National Capability Assessments, please contact Jo Horrocks.