commenced with the Government Green Paper on Vulnerable Children, issued in 2011, and the resulting Children’s Action Plan and Vulnerable Children Act 2014. These initiatives have resulted in a number of significant changes, such as the introduction of multi-disciplinary professional teams to selected regions in order to enhance service delivery co-ordination to vulnerable children and regulations that enable greater information sharing capabilities between Government agencies. 8. In 2015, the Government initiated a major review of Child, Youth and Family (CYF), the Government agency that delivers child protection and youth justice services. The Expert Panel appointed to conduct the review is charged with recommending steps to modernise CYF and improve its performance. The Expert Panel has recently released its interim report which has identified a number of critical shortcomings in CYFs performance, including a finding that children are not placed at the centre of its practice. 9. One of the significant structural aspects of the review is that its terms of reference signal a possible shift towards an “investment approach” to funding child protection and welfare related services and the more extensive use of outsourcing of some service delivery and operations that are currently delivered by CYF1. 10. The review of CYF is occurring against the backdrop of the possibility of widespread reform of the social sector, which includes health, education and welfare services. The basis for such reform is provided in an extensive report, More Effective Social Services, issued in June 2015 by the Productivity Commission. This report recommends, among other things:2  A move towards devolved service provision to address the needs of the most disadvantaged New Zealanders.  The implementation of a new “Investment Approach” for funding social services, which includes actuarial methodologies.  A greater emphasis on the responsibility of central government for system stewardship in the social services sector. 11. The review of CYF indicates that the child protection sector may be the first social services sector where some of these new approaches are structurally implemented. In particular, a new “investment approach” to funding, based on an actuarial valuation model, will engage the Government’s implementation and resource allocation obligations under Article 4 of the Convention. 12. This issue is timely when considered against recent international child rights developments. The Commission notes that the Committee is developing a General 1 2 Terms of Reference for the Modernising Child, Youth and Family Expert Panel, page 2 and 4 http://www.productivity.govt.nz/sites/default/files/social-services-final-report-summary-version.pdf 2