Some state sector reform

hear from my spies that restructuring has even hit Parliament, and that the Parliamentary Service General Manager has dis-established all the second level Group Manager roles which report to him. This affects some very long-serving staff, and it will be interesting to see what the new second level roles are, and who gets them.

Meanwhile the Government looks set for other state sector reforms:

The Government is proposing changes that will reduce the number of government agencies as it seeks better value for money, less duplication and improved co-ordination across the state sector, Deputy Prime Minister Bill English and State Services Minister Tony Ryall announced today.

The proposals include disestablishing five crown entities and three tribunals, merging two government agencies, establishing shared corporate services across the government's three central agencies and consolidating the services of a number of others.

The details are:

  • Set up an arms-length health promotion agency to take over the relevant functions of the Advisory Council of (ALAC), the Health Sponsorship Council (HSC) and the .
  • Disestablish the Crown Health Financing Agency and transfer its district health board lending function to either the Ministry of Health or to the Management Office
  • bring forward the date the Mental Health Commission is due to cease functioning (currently 31 August 2015).
  • Transfer the functions of the Charities Commission to the Department of Internal Affairs, while ensuring that registration decisions remain separate from Ministers.
  • Disestablish three tribunals – the Health Act Boards of Appeal; the Maritime Appeal Authority; and the Valuation Tribunals – and transfer their functions to the District Court
  • Consolidate audiovisual archiving. Encourage the New Zealand Film Archive, , and Television New Zealand to consolidate material into the Film Archive.
  • Work with the Broadcasting Standards Authority, the Advertising Standards Authority, Council and the Office of Film and Literature Classification to look at opportunities for greater collaboration.
  • Merge the Education Review Office and the New Zealand Qualifications Authority into a single education quality assurance agency.
  • In addition, as part of their leadership role, the three central agencies, the State Services Commission, the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and the are consulting with staff on a proposal to establish a shared services centre to integrate their back office functions.

That all looks worthwhile. Of course personally I would be rather more radical. I blogged in April how you could amalgamate agencies into 13 super-departments, which also would mean you could have a Cabinet of 12

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