1. DAVID BENNETT (National—Hamilton East) Link to this
to the Minister of Finance
What reports has he received on the performance of the Public Service?
Hon BILL ENGLISH (Minister of Finance) Link to this
Today Treasury released a report benchmarking the back-office costs of 33 State sector agencies, which showed that in many instances the costs of functions like property management, human resources, financial management, and information and communications technology are higher than international benchmarks or higher than those of other agencies. The report concludes that Government departments could save more than $230 million a year through greater sharing, standardisation, and automation of administrative functions. These are savings that we would be keen to see Government departments get on and make, so that we can improve front-line public services.
I think it will change it in a couple of ways. One is just transparency. The Government is not taking particular action as a result of this exercise, but is simply publishing the results so that everyone can see, agency by agency, what the costs are. Secondly, it will be the responsibility of chief executives to implement any changes that they see fit. It is important that they own the savings they make and move those savings to front-line services.
I think the reason that there is potential for up to a quarter of a billion dollars of savings is that between 2005 and 2009 Government spending increased by about 50 percent, which is twice the rate of economic growth. There is a lot of scope in the public sector to bring those costs back in line after a decade of extravagance.
There are so many ways we can improve front-line services that it is hard to know where to start. One way that is published regularly in the newspapers is the quarterly reports on district health board performance across a range of health services, from emergency department waiting-times through to cancer treatment waiting-times. In addition to that, the Government has, for instance, lifted the number of front-line police, and that seems to be having some impact on the crime rate. There are a number of other ways that the Government is improving front-line services. We are not giving up; even if money is tight, we will continue to improve front-line services.