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Government must come clean on its plan for public sector
06 Mar 2010
“If the government has a plan to redraw the map of public sector it should put the plan on the table and let everyone know what it is,” says PSA national secretary Brenda Pilott “It should also tell us what the problem is that it’s trying to fix.”
The Dominion Post is reporting today that the government is planning a shake-up of state services, with mergers expected in Internal Affairs, MAF and the science sector.
“Before the election John Key gave a promise that a National government would not radically reorganse the public sector,” says Brenda Pilott.
“It appears that promise is being broken. The government owes it to the public of New Zealand to make it clear if it’s now planning major restructuring in the public sector.”
John Key made his promise at the PSA national congress in September 24, 2008. He stated
“a new National Government is not going to radically reorganise the structure of the public sector.”
In the same speech Mr Key highlighted the cost of restructuring: “Few problems are solved by significant reorganisations – in fact, many more tend to be created. It is easy to underestimate the amount of energy and inspiration soaked up by institutional change, as well as the loss of personal and institutional knowledge.”
“John Key not only promised there would be no radical reorganisation of the public sector; he warned of the cost involved in such restructuring,” says Brenda Pilott.
“The government must now come clean and spell out what its agenda really is.’’
“Our experience of mergers and restructuring are that they are expensive, complex and disruptive and do not guarantee an improvement in service delivery.”
“This was the view of the Crown Research Institute Taskforce in a report it issued two days ago in which it recommended the government did not merge CRIs because of the cost,” says Brenda Pilott.
The taskforce stated: “In our view, and in the view of the CRIs we interviewed, the cost savings that might result from mergers would be unlikely in themselves to justify the costs associated with the change. The Taskforce was unable to find evidence that cost savings in overheads would in themselves justify merging one or more CRIs and we do not recommend any such action.”
“We hope the government listens to what the taskforce is saying about the costs of mergers,” says Brenda Pilott.
“The government should not rush into large scale restructuring without a full analysis of the costs in terms of money and service delivery and the potential for the loss of skilled and experienced workers.”
“There should be full consultation with all parties and there should a fair and transparent process in dealing with the workers affected by a restructuring,” says Brenda Pilott.
Media contact Nick Hirst 027 600-5498.PSA National Secretary Brenda Pilott 027 430-6016
Public Service Association
