Nicola Willis sets sights on senior civil servants amid savings exercise
Tuesday, 9 April 2024
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has asked the Public Service Commission for advice on how many people are employed in senior management positions as the Government’s cost-savings exercise gets into full swing.
Today Willis said she wanted to ensure the service was not “top heavy”, and had asked for details on the number of tier two and three management roles in the service. Senior leaders in the public service are considered in the top three tiers, with chief executives being tier one.
“What I have said to the Public Service Commission is, give me some advice on how many tier two and three managers we have, so I can have a look at whether it looks like there are any issues and then let’s have a think about where we go next, in terms of making sure the public service is the right size,” Willis said.
“If I just focused on head count, what I worried about was that agencies would just cull a lot of lowly paid staff when actually, sometimes, it’s more effective to get rid of highly paid staff.
“It’s not just about head count, it’s about cost. And what I’m really happy about is that we are getting that cost out, so that we’ve got dollars that can go into school budgets, that can go into hospitals, that can go actually into the budgets of families who have been squeezed by the cost of living.”
While Willis has committed to not cutting frontline staff as part of the Government’s drive to find savings of at least 6.5% within ministries, there has been criticism that key jobs are on the line. Ministries have so far between them announced more than 1000 jobs are are up for consultation.
Today it was reported climate research agency Niwa had told staff 85 to 90 positions would be cut, of which 30 were already vacant, which the Public Service Association described as “utter madness”.
Willis agreed what was considered frontline was not black and white: “I don’t think that line will ever be black and white, I think that ministers will always need to exercise judgment about where resources go. I see frontline as teachers, as police, as Corrections officers, as health workers … I am confident from the advice I have received that our Budget will ensure that more of those frontline roles are created than back office roles are removed.”
But U-turns have also been made. Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey appeared to be blindsided by a Ministry of Health proposal that the Suicide Prevention Office close.
Documents seen by The Post showed four roles within the unit were proposed to be disestablished, and two were already vacant. Another two advisory roles would be changed, while another two were fixed term and ending. Doocey intervened, telling health officials the office had to stay open. The ministry apologised, saying it hadn’t adequately briefed the minister on its plans.
The Government was also left scrambling when Whaikaha, The Ministry for Disabled People, in March announced funding cuts to purchasing rules and support services. The cuts were signed off by the minister responsible, Penny Simmonds, but the cuts came as a surprise to Cabinet, and Willis subsequently said senior ministers in Cabinet would be taking control of the ministry’s spending.
The savings proposals that agencies put forward were being sent to individual ministers as well as Willis, who was looking at the overall savings, while the ministers responsible were checking the detail.
Said Willis this morning: “Every agency has had a bespoke solution and the sense that we set an initial target, then agencies came back with proposals, ministers looked at those, in some cases rejected them carte blanche, sometimes they came to me and I rejected them. Sometimes we’ve looked at their proposals and gone, why don’t you push a bit harder here, and not do that. It’s been an iterative process, it’s gone back and forth.”
Asked if ministers would continue to be embarrassed by cuts they weren’t aware of, Willis said, “I think that ministers as individuals have been looking at their budgets, understanding their budgets, and I think from time to time there will be issues that arise that they weren’t aware of. What I think is really important, when that happens, is that they make their priorities clear and they move quickly. And I think you’ve seen that.”
Some agencies may not be able to find the required savings without hurting frontline roles, which meant they would be spared, Willis said. The Post has previously analysed where roles may be safe.
Today the Public Service Association said proposed cuts to Niwa during a climate crisis was “utter madness”.
“As we saw with cuts to the workforce at the Environment Ministry and Callaghan Innovation, this Government’s poorly thought through cost cutting drive will see some of our best and brightest scientists and researchers lose jobs and go overseas,” said national secretary Duane Leo.
“The Government has the funds; it’s just choosing to give away $15 billion tax cuts rather than invest in critical public services like research and development.
“The Government talks about getting rid of 'dumb stuff' in the public service. Well, the Niwa cuts are just plain and simple dumb stuff and New Zealand will pay the price.”
The Government’s Budget will be released at the end of May but Willis hadn’t talked to Treasury about how it would report on its savings exercise to date.