Mass redundancies at Ministry of Statistics helps nobody

On Thursday I saw a truly shocking headline. All staff at the Ministry of Statistics are to be offered redundancy. 1,000 people have just been offered a mass redundancy across offices in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch as well as in the field.

Why is it shocking? This is just the latest slash and burn attack by a Government hellbent on cutting the public service that gives effect to its policies, down to the bone. But it is probably the most shortsighted. It is an attack on the very people who do the base statistical planning upon which government policies, especially those involving social, medical and education services, are built.

Ministry of Statistics do much more than just run the Census. They collate and curate a huge range of data sets from subjects as different as abortion, environmental indicators, property and marriage, births and deaths. They provide statistical analysis tools for people conducting research or writing reports.

The data that is collected in the 5-yearly Census for example is used as the base information on which to plan the distribution of government resourcing for its programmes. We have already seen the consequences of what happens when a Census is not done properly. But what about if, having collected the data properly, there is no one to input it, analyze it for emerging trends and look for black spots where the data is inaccurate or missing? Who is going to collate and curate the data sets on which we base our international reporting obligations to organizations like the O.E.C.D., United Nations and others?

In their blind single minded rage against so called bureaucracy, the Government have in effect declared war on themselves. How can they have good policy when they are trying to get rid of the very data analysts and other specialists who give them the necessary data sets in a useable format? It seems to me that they do not want good policy, that tax cuts for the landlords are more important than a country with the very well planned, efficiently used and distributed resources and services that THEY were banging on about during the election.

The situation reminds me of the famous response of American General Terry McAuliffe in the Battle of the Ardennes when told to surrender because his forces were surrounded by Germans during World War 2.

NUTS!