17317 (2025). Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall to the Minister of Health

17317 (2025). Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall to the Minister of Health: How does he reconcile his statement about “rightsizing the bureaucracy” with the proposal to cut roles that generate revenue and protect public safety?

Hon Simeon Brown: As the Member will be aware, our Government has been firmly focused on strengthening the frontline and reducing the growth in bureaucracy that occurred under the previous government. I am pleased to report that Health New Zealand’s frontline workforce has grown since our Government took office and is now stronger than ever to support delivering access to timely, quality healthcare for all New Zealanders. I also note that, as I said in Written Parliamentary Question 17231 (2025), integrating Health New Zealand's audit team will increase the number of auditors from the Health Payment Integrity Team’s 11.8 to a total of 26 auditors in the new integrated team.