13 Outcome measures We have found it challenging to identify measures that can usefully quantify and assess the Commission’s performance in relation to its longer term impact on the coherence and effectiveness of the law and the public’s confidence in it. The functions of the Commission as set out in section 5 of our Act are broadly stated and effectively speak for themselves. The subject matter is the whole of New Zealand law. The systematic review of the law is about keeping the statute book up to date and this in turn ties to public accessibility and confidence in the law and the legal system. Without significant investment to undertake long-term and expensive evaluation, it is not possible to determine whether the Commission’s work is succeeding (or failing) in this respect. Nevertheless, one hard measure of the Commission’s performance is to assess how many of the recommendations in our final reports reach the statute book through enactment by Parliament. In taking this approach, we note that enactment is only one measure of our effectiveness, as not all our projects are undertaken to alter legislation and in some cases it is not always possible to determine the degree to which recommendations have been taken up. Judgments can differ on how to characterise the achievement. Recommendations for legislative reform in particular may not be actioned because of higher government priorities, lack of parliamentary time and lack of resources within government to implement proposed reforms. While some reports focus on the administration of the statute book others have the updating, re-presenting and reprinting of a statute as the desired outcome. We have developed a methodology using a rolling five year cycle, to track the acceptance of our report recommendations over time. The methodology identifies the number of reports published in the last five years and categorises them as having been fully or substantially accepted, partially accepted or not accepted. This approach does not lend itself to a formulaic approach and each report will be considered on its merits to determine its correct categorisation. The rolling cycle is consistent with the Commission’s annual work programme which has new projects added each year as current projects are completed. The first rolling five year period commenced 1 July 2005 and finishes 30 June 2010.