UPDATED 5.42PM: State Services Commissioner Iain Rennie looks to be on a final notice with the Government.

He's today issued an apology for how he handled the Roger Sutton inquiry and subsequent press conference.

Mr Rennie says that was a mistake and he deeply regrets it.

"When something goes wrong like this, I think any leader will ask themselves, is this something that I need to resign over?"

He says he talked about resigning himself with Ministers.

But not apparently to State Services Minister Paula Bennett who says Mr Rennie did not discuss resigning with her.

And the Prime Minister appears equally in the dark also indicating Mr Rennie never raised such a matter with him.

Ms Bennett's making it clear she will be keeping a very close eye on matters and has high expectations of standards.

She says she would not expect to see anything near this level of mistake ever again