It was "disappointing" Government agencies included questions about political leanings in surveys, the State Services Commissioner said, adding it was "ill-judged, inappropriate and had the potential to undermine the principle of political neutrality".
The State Services Commission asked Government departments to review surveys, polls and research after Inland Revenue (IR) asked respondents about political leanings in an online survey about trust in IR and the tax system earlier this year.
Deputy Commissioner John Ombler found three questions he said were a cause for concern:
- People often indicate their political affiliation along a spectrum of left and right. Using this divide, where on the spectrum would you place yourself? (from 0 to 10). (Asked by IR).
- Please indicate where on the political spectrum you perceive yourself to be on a scale ranging from 1 (extremely liberal) to 7 (extremely conservative). (Department of Conservation with Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research, in an online survey in September 2017).
- How would you describe your current level of positivity towards the Government?” (Extremely positive, positive, indifferent, negative or extremely negative). There was also a free text box where respondents could indicate reasons for their answer. (Statistics New Zealand asked this question in survey in November 2017 and March 2018).
Mr Ombler's report found there was no evidence of political motivation, instead, the public servants believed "the questions should be included to achieve their department's legitimate objectives".
However, Mr Ombler said he was "disappointed this has happened", calling the three questions "ill-judged, inappropriate and had the potential to undermine the principle of political neutrality".
"It is never OK for a government agency to seek or collect information on the political leanings or party affiliations of citizens. It is disappointing political neutrality was not front and centre of the work and thinking behind these surveys."
"Someone should have asked the question," he said.
"I don't doubt research on these surveys shows the results might be more meaningful in a broad sense if questions of a political nature are included, but this cannot be at the expense of political neutrality."
He said while the questions were isolated and not politically motivated, they served as a "timely wake up call". Mr Ombler wrote to all public service chief executives, asked the Government's functional lead on procurement to work with agencies and asked the Public Service functional lead on data to work with the data community to ensure political neutrality.
The report, requested by the State Services Minister Chris Hipkins, can be read here.
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