• Posts Tagged ‘Public sector’

    Are British civil servants doomed to fail in the land of the Hobbit?

    by  • January 30, 2013 • Articles, Comment, The Guardian • 0 Comments

    The recent fate of UK leaders in New Zealand highlights the difficulty of parachuting in managers from one country to another. Every country has different rules for its public services – which is why UK civil servants aren’t always a hit overseas. “An unexpected journey” is the subtitle of the first Hobbit film, New...

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    Govt’s consultants bill $375m

    by  • December 20, 2011 • News, The NZ Herald • 2 Comments

    Unions fear government spending on consultants could skyrocket after it was revealed that the bill hit $375 million last financial year – and John Key warned of “significant” restructuring to come. The Government spent more than $375 million on consultants and contractors in 2010-11 as a series of government restructurings made thousands of public...

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    Health boards could go further into the red – Treasury

    by  • November 24, 2011 • Articles, News • 0 Comments

    Government funding cuts could see struggling district health boards (DHBs) go further into deficit, the Treasury has admitted. In a briefing paper, officials say the boards will have find an extra $258 million over the next four years because the government no longer subsidises their Kiwisaver and pensions contributions. “If an individual DHB is...

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    A very civil servant

    by  • August 11, 2010 • Features, The Guardian • 0 Comments

    A belief that there shouldn’t be profit in public service has led one former council chief executive to pledge a £100,000 redundancy payout back to the public, but it’s also a break with the past, he says. Jim McKenna is not, he insists, a saint. He is, in his own words, an “ordinary” guy...

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    Public bodies that change family fortunes

    by  • June 7, 2010 • Features, The Guardian • 0 Comments

    A pioneering project in north London shows the value of getting public agencies to work together. But having one person ‘go into bat’ for vulnerable families is just as important. Angela, a cute one-year-old with tight pigtails, plays placidly amongst the scattered toys in the Packington Estate’s children’s centre in north London. A year...

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