The Minister of Social Services and Employment, Steve Maharey, said he had received a report from Work and Income NZ
(WINZ) about its use of consultants to help write its post election briefing paper. WINZ has advised Mr. Maharey that it
paid the consultancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers approximately $9,000 for editorial assistance.
“The Government believes that writing briefing papers for Ministers is a core task and should not be contracted out. I
now understand that while WINZ staff did in fact write the briefing paper, the department hired consultants to bring
together the various parts of the paper which had been written separately.
“This is not acceptable to me as Minister and I have told WINZ that I do not wish to see a repeat of this incident. Mrs.
Rankin has assured me that she will ensure the department has the appropriate mix of skills on staff in the future to
carry out its core functions”, Steve Maharey said.
Contact: Michael Gibbs, Press Secretary, (04) 471 9154 or (021) 368 100