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Ministry held to account over review

Author
Alex Mason,
Publish Date
Mon, 22 Dec 2014, 12:50PM
Photo: Edward Swift
Photo: Edward Swift

Ministry held to account over review

Author
Alex Mason,
Publish Date
Mon, 22 Dec 2014, 12:50PM

UPDATED 3:25pm: Support for the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, in the wake of a harsh review from the State Services Commission.

The review unearthed significant problems with the two-year-old Ministry, including weak leadership.

Business NZ CEO Phil O'Reilly says a lack of a guiding set of principles caused the Ministry to lose traction in its early days.

But he says that strategy document is now available and is holding the Ministry accountable.

"The fact that they're now getting their act together in terms of strategic intent says to me they're on the right track and we should support them to make sure that they can succeed into the future."

Mr O'Reilly says difficulties were always going to arise with an agency with so many responsibilities and reporting to so many Ministers.

"Despite the fact they've had some teething problems and even some quite serious issues at birth if you like, my sense is they're on the right track and we should support them."

He says the Ministry's senior leadership is in good shape.

The State Services Commission's report on the performance of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment says the ministry - the result of merging four former departments - still isn't fully integrated and there's a sense of frustration internally and externally.

Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce says the report is slightly outdated - given it was done at the start of the year, and has only just been released.

"I think it really just indicated the state of a project, which is a big project, and at least a couple of the four previous agencies have been struggling. So some of it's inherited and some of it's the challenge of putting together four agencies into one."

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