5 Nov 2018

Govt depts spend large on contractors despite urge to cut back

From Morning Report, 6:43 am on 5 November 2018

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment has spent $95 million on contractors and consultants for the second year in a row. That's despite saying for the last year it was cutting back, and despite the government in June ordering a public-sector-wide curtailment of such spending. The Ministry of Social Development has halved its contractor spend - but at the same time spent $10 million more on professional services. And Inland Revenue is increasing its use of contract labour while its fixed term contracts have gone up fivefold. The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment says its cut how many contractors it uses by 8 percent but special projects have kept the amount spent on them high. The Public Service Association's Glenn Barclay told Phil Pennington that's not good enough.