56551 (2025). Francisco Hernandez to the Minister of Statistics

56551 (2025). Francisco Hernandez to the Minister of Statistics: Has the Māori capability team at Statistics New Zealand been axed, and if so how many roles were lost, listed by position title?

Hon Dr Shane Reti: Budget 2025 required Stats NZ to return $6.2 million in baseline internal learning and capability development funding over four years and this equated to around 50 percent of current funding for corporate learning and capability. I am advised by Stats NZ that following an independent review and consultation with staff and the union, the decision was made to centralise its core learning and capability development function into the People and Capability unit. The change resulted in the disestablishment of the Tangata Tiriti Learning Capability team with some of the roles moving into the centralised team. Nine roles were disestablished, including two which have been vacant. Two new roles were created. Due to the low number of disestablished roles, the position titles are withheld to protect the privacy of impacted staff. The need to protect the privacy of these individuals outweighs the public interest in this information.