John Key

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.

Findings of the draft Trans Tasman Media report reported in The Dominion Post today rated departments in five categories: chief executive performance, ease of doing business, budget performance and value for money, service delivery, and overall performance.

Sixteen independent commentators assessed 37 departments and found they were getting bogged down by systems.

"[They] generally have created far too much process and are often very inefficient, particularly with consultation, fail to cut to the chase and in many cases lack real energy."

Government departments, especially health and education, were being held up by excessive red tape, bureaucratic systems and ineffective consultation. Some departments, the Social Development Ministry, Customs and the Reserve Bank were doing well.

The report also found the State Services Commission performed poorly.

"It doesn't surprise me," Mr Key said of the overall findings.

"We are making changes, so we are trying to move resources from what we call the back office to the front office," he told Breakfast on TV One.

The Government had focussed on delivering services and reducing bureaucracy.

Health Minister Tony Ryall had made changes and was making progress with district health boards, Mr Key said.

"We've got to get better value for money."

The Government was also actively working on technological solutions but more redundancies were likely to come.

"At the moment it's a constant process of analysis and working out what we need."