15859 (2025). Camilla Belich to the Minister for the Public Service

15859 (2025). Camilla Belich to the Minister for the Public Service: What evidence, if any, does the Minister have to verify her statement that the reduction of Public Service staff “was largely in back-office roles, with an increase in the number of front-line staff offsetting this”?

Hon Judith Collins: The latest occupational data from the Public Service Commission shows that the largest increases in the year to June 2024 were in the number of Contact Centre Workers (up 777 FTEs, or 16.9%), and Inspectors and Regulatory Officers (up 645 FTEs, or 5.7%). These increases were driven by additional funding at Inland Revenue and Corrections to meet Government priorities and fill frontline vacancies. There were also decreases in some occupation groups, which were likely due to agencies responding to the Government’s intentions to make savings from reducing back-office services, while maintaining service delivery. The largest decrease was in the number of Clerical and Administrative workers (down 617 FTEs, or 10.8%). For Policy Analysts (down 328 FTEs, or 8.3%) this is the first time since 2016 that the number of staff has dropped, while for Managers (down 75 FTEs, or 0.9%), this is the first year since 2017 that they have reduced.