SIGNED 1275634 M Paulson Response.pdf

17 December 2021
Mark Paulson
[FYI request #17400 email]
Tēnā koe Mark,
Thank you for your email of 29 October 2021 to Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga | the Ministry of
Education requesting the following information:
1) The number of positions affected by the restructure I.e. How many positions were
disestablished  and  how  many  were  created?  I  am  not  interested  in  the  number  of
positions that simply moved or had changes in reporting lines unless the significance/size
of the roles significantly changed.
2) I would also like you to tell me the net cost impact of the changes, ideally by setting
out the total costs of roles disestablished, and the total cost of new roles created,
while I would prefer this to be itemised individually for each role, if it makes it easier
then I am happy to receive the summary information (for eg: 4 roles dissestablished
with  salary  savings  totalling  $400,000  per  annum  and  overhead  cost  savings  totalling
$100,000 pa. And 2 new roles created with new salary costs of $300,000 and overhead
costs of $60,000). I do not want or need specific salary levels for any individual person or
position,  but  rather  the  overall  costs  and  savings  to  the  Ministry.  So  please  use  salary
bands or similar to protect privacy etc but I do want to have a figure with some integrity I.e
Not  an estimate that has a range of hundreds of thousands of dollars. I appreciate that
some  new  roles  may  not  have  been  filled  as  yet,  if  so  please  use  a  sensible  figure  for
salary and other costs presumably 100% of the relevant job band.
3) I  would  also  like  to  receive  a  copy  of  any  and  all  individual  "Briefings  for  the
Incoming Deputy Secretary" or any documents with a similar name or purpose that
may have been prepared for each Deputy secretary of business groups.
4) Please also advise the direct external costs of preparing any such briefing materials
for  deputy  secretaries  i.e.  any  costs  that  are  not  covered  by  existing  ministry
expenditure eg: I am not interested in costing the hours of any existing ministry employees
who were assigned to prepare such documentation, but I am interested in knowing of any
costs that were specifically incurred just to do this task eg if a new person/s was hired for
this purpose, or if an external party eg contractors/consultants or advisers to the Ministry
whether individuals or firms, or graphic design or printing or related publication costs were
contracted to do this work.
Your request has been considered under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act).
In  2019,  in  response  to  an  independent  review  of  the  Tomorrow’s  Schools  system,  the
Government  tasked  the  Ministry  with  ‘establishing  a  more  responsive,  accessible  and
integrated  local  support  function  for  early  learning  services  and  schools  by  substantially
rebalancing the Ministry of Education towards more regional and local support’.
OIA: 1275634
National Office, Mātauranga House, 33 Bowen Street, Wellington 6011
PO Box 1666, Wellington 6140. Phone: +64 4 463 8000 Fax: +64 4 463 8001
education.govt.nz

On  4  October  2021,  Te  Mahau  was  established  within  a  redesigned  Te  Tāhuhu  o  te
Mātauranga | Ministry of Education. It is intended to provide greater support to the education
sector and others so they can deliver inclusive education that meets the needs of ākonga and
whānau.  This  provides  us  with  real  opportunities  to  make  a  much  bigger  difference  to
education and to work closer with those we are here to serve.

Te Mahau will meet the direction from Government to provide services that are more locally
responsive, accessible, and integrated and will support us to change the way we work. The
enabling functions within Te Tāhuhu wil  support Te Mahau and continue to provide guidance
and advice to Ministers. Te Mahau is intended to be a demanding customer of our enabling
functions. This positive tension is deliberate, as is the overarching priority to work with and
across our organisation and sector.

Question 1 - The number of positions affected by the restructure

Positions established
53
Positions disestablished
14
Total new positions
39

Substantive changes occurred at the leadership team level (affecting some associated support
positions), reflecting the realignment required to better meet future education needs.  At this
level  there  were  19  new  positions  created  during  the  restructure  and  14  positions  were
disestablished.    There  were  8  Deputy  Secretary  positions  created  and  7  Deputy  Secretary
positions  and  1  Head  of  Service  position  disestablished.  The  constitution  of  the  functional
accountabilities  of  the  new  positions  are  substantially  different  to  the  ones  that  were
disestablished. Two Director positions were disestablished, and 5 new Director positions were
created;  four  Executive  Assistant  positions  disestablished,  and  6  new  Executive  Assistant
positions created; to support the new Deputy Secretary positions.

There  were  34  other  positions  created  across  the  organisation  to  support  the  new  Deputy
Secretaries and their groups. Many of these additional positions are specialised capability and
have been created in locations where these functions weren’t previously in place.

These  include  Pou  Ārahi  positions  created  to  uplift  the  Ministry’s  organisational  Māori
capability and other positions created which will focus on providing advice on inclusive learning
support and/or disability to Te Mahau frontline Deputy Secretaries and their leadership teams
These positions will be recruited to over time as we better understand our needs.

Question 2 - net cost impact of the changes
Organisational structural changes were made to realign the organisation to better meet future
education needs and were not undertaken to achieve cost savings.

Based  on  the  annual  salary  mid-point,  the  salary  cost  for  the  53  positions  established  is
$8,978,000,  and  the  salary  savings  for  the  14  disestablished  positions  is  $3,272,000,  a
difference of $5,706,000. As noted above, these additional costs support functions which were
not  already  in  place  including  those  that  have  been  created  in  Te  Mahau  to  rebalance  our
delivery towards more regional and local support.

Question 3 - individual "Briefings for the Incoming Deputy Secretary" or any documents
with a similar name or purpose

education.govt.nz

We have identified nine briefings to incoming Deputy Secretaries in scope of your request. I
am providing two of these to you in full and seven in part.  Some information has been withheld
under the following sections of the Act:

•  9(2)(a) – to protect the privacy of individuals
•  9(2)(b)(ii) -  to avoid prejudice to the commercial position of third parties
•  9(2)(ba)(i) – to protect information subject to an obligation of confidence and where
release would prejudice the public interest in its future supply
•  9(2)(f)(iv) – to protect the confidentiality of advice tendered by Ministers of the Crown
and officials
•  9(2)(g)(i) to maintain the effective contact of public affairs through the free and frank
expression of opinions
•  9(2)(j) – to enable a Minister of the Crown or any public service agency or organisation
holding the information to carry on, without prejudice or disadvantage, negotiations

In accordance with section 9(1) of Act we have considered the public interest in the information
being withheld and consider the above reasons to outweigh any public interest at this time.

Question 4 - direct external costs of preparing any such briefing materials for deputy
secretaries

There  were  no  external  costs  relating  to  the  development  of  the  briefings  or  documents
created  for  the  same  purpose  for  incoming  Deputy  Secretaries  within  Te  Mahau  and  Te
Tāhuhu. The development of the briefings was completed using existing in-house capabilities.

Additional information

You may be interested in the following links which provide additional information relating to
the Future Education work programme:

•  Briefings to the Minister of Education, and Cabinet Paper material:
o  https://assets.education.govt.nz/public/Uploads/Cabinet-Pack-Education-
Work-Programme-2021-Redacted.pdf
o  https://assets.education.govt.nz/public/Documents/our-work/information-
releases/Advice-Seen-by-our-Ministers/September-2021/1271572-Update-
Future-Education_Redacted.pdf
o  https://assets.education.govt.nz/public/Documents/our-work/information-
releases/Advice-Seen-by-our-Ministers/September-2021/1272636-Te-
Tahuhu-o-te-Mataraunga-and-Te-Mahau-branding_Redacted.pdf

•  Ministry of Education information relating to Te Mahau
o  https://www.education.govt.nz/our-work/changes-in-education/establishment-
of-te-mahau-within-a-redesigned-te-tahuhu-o-te-matauranga-ministry-of-
education/
o  https://www.education.govt.nz/news/the-future-of-education/

Please note, the Ministry now proactively publishes OIA responses on our website. As such,
we may publish this response on our website after five working days. Your name and contact
details will be removed.

education.govt.nz

Thank you again for your email. You have the right to ask an Ombudsman to review this
decision. You can do this by writing to [email address] or Office of the
Ombudsman, PO Box 10152, Wellington 6143.

Nāku noa, nā

Melissa O’Carroll
Hautū | Acting Deputy Secretary
Te Puna Rangatōpū | Corporate
education.govt.nz