Drop expected in public servants

Press, 24 April 1987, Page 3

Drop expected in public servants

State servants were yesterday warned by the Minister of State Services, Mr Rodger, that he expects a drop in the number of Government employees from now on. The number of permanent and temporary public -servants had risen from about 67,500 in March, 1984, to 72,500 in March this year. Mr Rodger said in Christchurch that he expected a downward trend in public servant numbers because of corporatisation and the Government’s commercialisation programme. Only 63 State servants still had no job after the corporatisation of several Government departments, Mr Rodger said. To have the number of employees “unaccounted for” down to 63 after nine new corporations and five new departments were created was “quite staggering,” he said. Corporatisation had involved 60,000 State servants, he told an audience of public servants and others. More than 40,000 transferred to the three new Post Office corporations and about 14,000 to other new departments. Almost 5000 took voluntary severance and 176 chose early retirement. Of the 63 left, 42 were from the Forest Service, five from the Lands and Survey Department, seven from the Electricity Division, eight from State Coal, and one from the Government Office Accommodation Board. Mr Rodger noted that two weeks ago the “unac-counted-for” group numbered 399. In his address to the Canterbury branch of the New Zealand Institute of Public Administration, the Minister delivered a stinging criticism of the Public Service systems of the past I Too many public serjoftts had to work under systems which “sapped

their initiative, discouraged accountability and concentrated decisionmaking in the hands of management only,” he said. It was not the fault of public servants that their sector had been such a drain on the economy. It was vital to streamline activities as part of an over-all Government economic stragegy. The corporatisation of departments was far from over, although no more State-owned enterprises would be established until after the General Election. The reality of the Public Service today was that public servants played a very active role in policy making, Mr Rodger said. They dealt with many interest groups in the community. The Government expected efficiency and neutrality from its employees.