6869 (2024). Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall to the Minister for the Public Service

6869 (2024). Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall to the Minister for the Public Service: Does the Minister stand by her statement “what I worried about was that agencies would just cull a lot of lowly paid staff when actually, sometimes, it’s more effective to get rid of highly paid staff”, and if so, how has she given effect to her concerns, apart from asking the Public Service Commission for the number of tier two and three managers?

Hon Nicola Willis: Yes, my full statement said “Well, our targets have been about reducing costs. And what I have continued to be focused on is what I'm interested in, is getting dollars out that are in the wrong places, so dollars can go in the right places, because if I just focused on headcount, what I worried about was that agencies would just cull a lot of lowly paid staff, when actually sometimes it's more effective to get rid of a highly paid staff. So it's not just about headcount. It's about cost. And what I'm really happy about is we are getting that cost out so that we've got dollars that can go into school budgets, that can go into hospitals, that can go actually into the budgets of families who have been squeezed by the cost of living”. I stand by my comment that I’m interested in getting dollars out that are in the wrong places, so dollars can go in the right places and that it isn’t just about headcount, it’s about cost. This approach has informed my approach to our savings exercise.