Fattening a lamb?

New Zealand has a lot of job search websites. 

MSD thinks it needs to build its own job search website for beneficiaries. 

I don't know whether they're serious about this or are fattening up a lamb to sacrifice when an incoming MoF asks for budget cuts. 

Kate MacNamara has some details. 

The Government has pushed ahead with a $36 million job search platform for beneficiaries, despite Treasury warning of the plan’s dubious value for money.

A March report to Finance Minister Grant Robertson repeatedly noted that officials did not support funding the employment platform: “The Treasury has a different view on the scope of Horizon One. We do not support funding to develop a digital employment platform within Horizon One, whereas MSD [the Ministry of Social Development] considers this a critical part of Te Pae Tawhiti,” the document, released under the Official Information Act, said.

A Treasury spokesperson said the agency had not changed its view since the report was written.

The employment platform – a key purpose of which will be to match prospective employees and jobs – was funded through Budget 2023, and is part of the first phase of the MSD’s multi-billion dollar Te Pae Tawhiti programme of change. It is aimed at improving the digital provision of the agency’s services.

I'd put in an OIA on this one back in August, but in keeping with the Hughesean Spirit of Public Service, MSD punted the request until after the election, nominally for consultations, but almost certainly because they didn't want the stuff out before the election. 

I expect MSD wants the fattened lamb to be ready for sacrifice after the election, not for a political talking point before the election when the Minister of Finance likes to pretend there is no fat out there. 

This was my August OIA request:

Dear MSD,

I understand that MSD has proposed a platform that would match potential employers with beneficiaries seeking work. 

I’d like to know more about the proposal. I’m particularly interested in knowing what problem the platform might solve that isn’t already solved by Seek.co.nz, Student Job Search (https://www.sjs.co.nz/), or other alternatives. 

Please provide:

1) Any documentation prepared in support of a funding bid for a job search platform for beneficiaries. I am particularly keen on anything addressing problem definition, where other platforms already exist to match workers and employers;

2) Costings for the development and deployment of such a platform, including relevant risks and timelines;

3) Any advice received from Treasury or DIA on the proposal, including minutes from relevant meetings;

4) Any information regarding whether the proposal was reassessed subsequent to signalled cutbacks in overall expenditure. Was the proposed project’s value-for-money reconsidered as the fiscal outlook changed after BEFU?

I've put in a request to the Ombudsman about what counts as proper consultations that could delay an OIA – particularly one that could prove politically sensitive and helpful for voters in an election campaign where agencies are claiming there’s no fat to trim. 

Afternoon roundup

The worthies from the tabs:

• Kate MacNamara tracks down all the Covid funds that wound up diverted into the road use subsidy. $1.3b and counting. 


• A reminder that it can be easiest to innovate by leaving academia. 


• Messy claims that the UK sugar tax reduced obesity. Looks like green jellybeans. 


• People keep telling me cancel culture isn't real. And yet I keep seeing stories like this.


• Great to see that the sponsored refugee regime has been working out. Genuine good news. Let's hope it expands. 


• Treasury's hiring a Director, Economic Systems, meant to have a significant leadership role in macro and growth. Nothing in the job requires an economics degree. I hope that properly qualified economists do apply, and that good applications drive out bad. 


• Men on Tinder are not intimidated by highly educated women. 


• Markups and inflation. How markups move can tell you whether you're dealing with a supply-side or demand-side issue. Price Theory is great. 


• Bill English's 2005 Chapman Lecture. Some issues are timeless. 
• Helen Dale on the Return of the Pagans.


• Tap Yellowstone for basically limitless power. But it would cost on the order of $3.5 trillion to build. Not huge when compared to overall annual energy spend in the US, depending on marginal cost of running the thing and whether it could generate low-cost hydrogen for vehicle fleets. But it is a very big number.


• I would love to know how much Council time and effort went into this mess. A developer wanted to turn a ruin of a former dairy into housing. Council didn't want her to. They eventually relented and let her build, on condition that the houses have wooden window frames. What incredible value Council added here. Kudos. They should all be very proud. Especially the resource consent team leader who argued that the developer should have first tried putting up a fish and chip shop or a laundromat. 

Ouch

Kate MacNamara reports on problems at the Productivity Commission:

The Productivity Commission delivered a new inquiry into immigration last month, at the same time that it is facing its own story of migration: an exodus. It involves a string of departures that have not yet been stemmed by an independent HR investigation and a slew of recommended remedies.

A distinct wave of resignations began in February last year, when two of the independent Crown entity's principal advisers left. In subsequent months they were followed out the door by six more staffers, including two lynchpin managers, each of whom had been directing one of the commission's two inquiries of the time. The eight departures in 2021 made up more than half the commission's 15 employees (the head count as of January 1, 2021, including one part-timer).

An HR review called late last year found problems at the commission including a troubled transition under the leadership of Ganesh Nana, who became chair on February 1, 2021. It also found an uneasy relationship between the new chair and many staff, especially senior ones. While efforts to improve staff retention are underway, at least four more employees have resigned from the commission in the first half of this year. Of the senior leadership team described in commission documents at this time last year, only one of the five remains.

It's well worth reading the whole thing. 

Kate picks up what I'd considered to be the most scathing part of the Review.

Under the heading "staff engagement with the Commissioners", the report found: "With two Commissioners being relatively new, a greater level of presence and interaction with staff, both formal and informal, would help build the relationship to support communication and the interchange of information and ideas. This is especially important for the Chair, with some staff having limited understanding of how he sees his role and what he brings, both as an economist and as a person."

Ouch.

I'd also received the Review by OIA. If you wanted to read the full report, I've put it up here. Not sure if ProdComm has it more widely available. 

I still remember when BERL was a swear-word in Treasury, for stuff like its report on alcohol costs...

MacNamara's piece is well worth the Herald subscription charge, if you want to learn more about the gutting of Wellington's institutions.