The Press MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1968. Keeping Public Service Up To Scratch

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31773, 2 September 1968, Page 12

The Press MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1968. Keeping Public Service Up To Scratch

At the end of March the Public Service had nearly 48,000 permanent employees and more than 20,000 wage workers and temporary staff. This large work force in 35 departments under the general control of the State Services Commission does not include all persons employed directly or indirectly by the State. It does not include employees of State corporations, the armed forces, the police. Post Office and railway workers, or the employees of education and hospital boards. The State Services Commission recently reported to Parliament on how, during the last year, it has been guiding the growth—only 1.14 per cent compared with 2.64 per cent the year before—and efficiency, economy, training, promotion, and discipline in the Public Service departments. “ The *• Commission realises ”, says the report, “ that the *‘ variety of work which is performed by public “ servants is so wide that some people have difficulty “ in understanding fully what they do ”. Some citizens are inclined to express their lack of understanding more strongly than this when they consider, according to their point of view, how great a part of New Zealand’s management, development, and servicing has been entrusted or yielded to the State.

Whatever the views of critics, the community continues to make increasing demands upon the services of the State; and, while the present restraints on the growth of Government expenditure remain, the Public Service must satisfy these demands by means other than that of increasing its staff. The Public Service departments generally maintain high standards of efficiency and, contrary to the belief of some citizens, are no less diligent than private enterprise in seeking and employing methods of increasing output without increasing staff. Public servants are more often criticised than private employees simply because their work is more open to public examination; and the cause of criticism is usually neither a lack of conscientious effort nor an excess of bureaucratic zeal. Failures and shortcomings common to most large organisations are, perhaps, more conspicuous and more resented when they occur in a State department.

More than two-thirds of the permanent staff of the Public Service are engaged in social services and. in the development and conservation of Resources. According to the commission’s report fewer than 6 per cent are engaged in the general administration of the State's affairs; about 6 per cent are employed in “revenue and regulatory” offices. Great as the powers of the State may be, it employs relatively few persons who are not involved in supplying services for which there is an increasing demand. Very few private enterprises would be able to match the account by the commission of its efforts to improve the management and • procedures of departments, to extend the electronic processing of information, to make the most efficient use of typing pools, and ta maintain a wide variety of training courses in management, supervision, and nearly 100 specialised subjects. If, sometimes, citizens are dissatisfied with the service they get from State employees they can be sure that the State Services Commission is also actively interested in improving the quality and efficiency of the work done by the departments under its supervision.