One ministry – who’ll be minister?

State Services Minister Tony Ryall has confirmed the merger of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry with the Ministry of Fisheries to give one voice for primary industries.

“Ministers have agreed that the merger of these two organisations will deliver better results for New Zealanders by reducing back-office bureaucracy and lowering the cost of delivering government services.

“The merger is planned for 1 February 2012 to allow adequate time to engage with stakeholders, consult with staff and make the necessary planning and legislative changes.

“This merger is part of the Government’s ongoing programme to improve public services during times of increasing financial restraint and rising public expectation of service delivery.

“It will reduce duplicated and overlapping functions between the two organisations – and it will create an agency with better abilities to give support to primary industries.

It is expected that the annual savings from the merger will be at least $10 million, with further savings expected over time through merging corporate administration processes and rationalising accommodation. One-off costs of transition will be met from within existing baselines without impacting on service delivery.

Agriculture Minister David Carter says the move will give an efficient and co-ordinated voice for primary industries.

“Most importantly, it will provide integrated policy advice to better support the Government’s agenda for long-term economic growth from our primary producers. New Zealand’s future prosperity relies on the strength and productivity of our primary industries.

“The new agency will be better equipped to work with primary sector stakeholders, including iwi, local Government and international trading partners on regulatory, food and biosecurity issues.

“The merger will also reduce duplication and operational costs, and I expect a proportion of these savings will be shared with the sectors the agency works with to reduce the costs of doing business,” says Mr Carter.

Fisheries Minister Phil Heatley says the merger will lower costs and   create an agency with greater capacity and capability.

One voice, improved capacity, lower costs – what’s not to like?

The only question is, who will be the Minister?

Ministry of Primary Industry good start

A government has two main ways to influence the economy – by facilitating increased productivity and by reducing its own costs.

In his speech to parliament yesterday Prime Minister made a commitment to do both by improving efficiency and lowering the cost of the public service.

Front-line public services are the priority for this Government. We want to free up money for these services by reducing the costs of back-office and administrative functions.

We have already taken several steps to achieve that.

Since coming into office we have reduced the number of full-time equivalent staff positions in the core government administration by five per cent.

We began procurement reforms last year, and from the first four projects we expect to save around $115 million over the next five years.

We have also made progress in reducing the number of government agencies, for example; by bringing Archives New Zealand and the National Library into the Department of Internal Affairs; and by merging two science agencies to create the Ministry of Science and Innovation.

Even so, the government bureaucracy is still a long way from being a lean and efficient organisation.

The Government machine still consists of more than 80 Crown Entities each with their own Board, 38 Departments, more than 70 portfolios and more than 60 separate Budget Votes. The costs of running this machinery are still too high.

Clearly, there is more to be done to make the government bureaucracy smaller and better.

Therefore, I have asked for advice on further reforms to streamline and improve the performance of the government bureaucracy.

Amalgamating ministries or departments with a similar focus is one easy way to reduce overheads without compromising services.

TV1 said the Ministries of Agriculture and Forestry and Fisheries were likely to be turned into a single Ministry of Primary Production.

MAF used to stand for the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. 

They have a lot in common. Bringing them back into a single super-ministry with forestry makes sense and will save money.

It would be a good start in the government’s programme to build better public services.

Which among the more than 80 Crown entities,  38 departments, more than 70 portfolios and more than 60 separate Budget votes offer similar potential for saving money and improving service?