Growth in Govt bureaucracy halted

State Services Minister Tony Ryall today announced that the growth in the core government administration has been halted.

"Between December and June this year, the number of fulltime equivalent (FTE) staff positions within the core government administration cap reduced by 1402, while numbers in frontline services outside of the cap have increased."

"That is evidence the cap on core government administration is working" said Mr Ryall.

The reduction of 1,402 positions comprised 757 vacancies disestablished and 645 FTE employee positions.  Approximately 60 percent of the decrease was through managed attrition, 21 percent through seasonal variation and 18 percent through redundancies.

However, the frontline of the Public Service, which was not included in the cap, saw an increase of 173 FTE positions, driven by improvements to service delivery at Community Probation & Psychological Services and Work & Income.

There are also increases planned or occurring in frontline services in Police, Corrections and the Ministry of Social Development.

"Under the previous government the balance between back office and frontline staff ballooned way out of proportion – the Public Service grew by an average of 5.5% per year and we saw little or no productivity improvements as a result" said Mr Ryall.

"Stopping that growth in government bureaucracy is a major achievement in itself."

In March the Government set a global cap of 38,859 full time equivalent (FTE) staff positions in core government administration to give priority to frontline services and see people and funding move into areas that will deliver best value for money and improve frontline services for New Zealanders.

Only three organisations within the cap have recorded increases in positions.  The Government Communications Security Bureau increased by two positions and the Ministry of Culture and Heritage increased by four positions.  While a larger increase of 81 positions was recorded at the NZ Transport Agency, these increases are still within the global cap.

The State Services Commission will continue to monitor and report on the capping policy. 

The cap applies to:

• All Public Service departments (excluding the Community Probation & Psychological Service and Prison Service sections of the Department of Corrections, and the Work & Income and Child, Youth & Family sections of the Ministry of Social Development);


• Five Crown entities: Housing New Zealand Corporation; New Zealand Qualifications Authority; New Zealand Transport Agency; New Zealand Trade & Enterprise; and Tertiary Education Commission.

Detailed figures:
Over the six month period since 31 December 2008, the total number of FTE positions within the cap of 38,859 reduced by 1,402 to 37,457.  In addition, the number of communications and public relations staff decreased by 29, from 321 to 292 FTE employees.