Courts and Justice merger positive move

The merger of the Department of Courts and the Ministry of Justice is a positive move towards a more cohesive and integrated public service, PSA national secretary Paul Cochrane said today.

“PSA believes the merger of the policy and operations functions of the Ministry and the Department will improve the delivery of services of both organisations. We have been closely involved in the Government’s review of the public management system and see the changes taking place as helping to strengthen co-ordination and communication between similar agencies.”

Paul Cochrane said the reforms carried out on the public service in the 1980s and 1990s led to a myriad of agencies with stretched resources and insufficient funding.

“We see the changes taking place now as re-organisation rather than restructuring and do not expect job losses or agencies to lose their specialist focus. Where agencies are merged, we envisage people continuing with their work but as part of a fuller and wider organisation.”

Paul Cochrane said the advantages of a more integrated public service were clear.

“It means greatly enhanced career opportunities for public servants. It also means organisations are more able to share information, resources and functions. This means more efficiency with better capacity and capability, and much less room for things to fall through the cracks.”

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