Wellington, June 8 NZPA - Prime Minister John Key says results in a report showing education and health were among the poorest performing government departments are unsurprising.

Wellington, May 25 NZPA - The Government is citing a new report, outlining the general health merits of being in the workforce, as extra justification for welfare reforms announced in March.

By Ian Llewellyn of NZPA Wellington, March 17 NZPA - The Government has increased the number of positions of what it calls front line staff, but figures released today show it is having difficulties filling them.

Wellington, March 8 NZPA - Prime Minister John Key says New Zealand has more government agencies than a country its size needs and has signalled there could be several mergers to reduce their number.

Wellington, March 8 NZPA - Some public service mergers were likely to go ahead with resulting job losses, Prime Minister John Key said today.

Wellington, Feb 17 NZPA - The Labour Party tried to find out in Parliament today how much money was going to be allocated for the new Whanau Ora social services scheme but it was told to wait for the May 20 budget.

Wellington, Feb 15 NZPA - A study into Youth Court supervision orders has found they can be effective in reducing repeat offending.

Wellington, Dec 8 NZPA - Lobby group Family First is often not given the full story when it champions parents it feels have been prosecuted for minor child discipline offences, psychologist Nigel Latta says.

Wellington, Dec 8 NZPA - The Government isn't going to change child discipline laws and Prime Minister John Key is reassuring parents they won't be prosecuted for a light smack.

Wellington, Dec 7 NZPA - A review of how the anti-smacking legislation is working has found no evidence that police and welfare staff have responded inappropriately or out of proportion to concerns about child safety.