Judith Collins MP National Party Welfare Spokeswoman

07 March 2006

No homework done on CYF/MSD merger

National Party Welfare spokeswoman Judith Collins is startled by the lack of planning and analysis on the merger of Child Youth and Family with the Ministry of Social Development.

This morning, Ruth Dyson admitted the plan had not been costed by Treasury. She has also failed to furnish any analysis that shows at-risk children and families will be better served by a mega-department.

"It would appear that this is a big experiment based on a hunch. That is no way to make decisions about the future of a department that deals with sensitive cases of abuse and at-risk youth.

"Nor has there been any material provided on how this merger will impact on the core work being done by MSD.

"Labour's argument appears to be that bigger is always better when it comes to departmental bureaucracy."

Ms Collins is surprised that the main reason being given for the merger is the failure to find a new CYF chief executive.

"The fact they can't recruit anyone shows this department is in real trouble. But to use that as an excuse to create a giant bureaucracy, with no analysis to back you up, is just extraordinary."

Ms Collins says National wants to see the paperwork supporting the decision.

"The Minister says the State Services Commission was asked to provide advice on structural matters. We want to see that advice. Such a big change should also have been waved past Treasury, but it appears they haven't done that important homework.

"Show us the papers," says Ms Collins.

ENDS

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