By EUGENE BINGHAM and VERNON SMALL
A former Fire Service head who was said to be a contender for the top new welfare job is on a contract to help her former boss oversee the Department of Work and Income.
Alison Timms, who left as chief executive of the Fire Service in May, has taken up an eight-week contract assisting Dame Margaret Bazley, the department's acting chief executive.
The pair have worked closely together at several public-sector agencies, most recently the Fire Service where Dame Margaret hired Mrs Timms soon after her own appointment as chairwoman of the Fire Service Commission.
A spokeswoman for Winz said yesterday that Mrs Timms was working with the management teams of Winz and the Ministry of Social Policy helping with the merger of the two departments into the Ministry of Social Development.
She was based at Winz.
National's deputy leader, Bill English, said Mrs Timms' appointment was at odds with the stand the Government took this week about departments limiting the use of short-term contractors known as "leased executives."
"This eight-week contract could quite easily roll into another eight weeks," said Mr English.
He said Dame Margaret had probably needed to bring Mrs Timms in to help because so little policy work had been done on the merger before it was announced.
After stepping down from the Fire Service, Mrs Timms was picked as a strong contender to win the position as head of the soon-to-be created Ministry of Social Development.
But Beehive sources yesterday played down her chances of getting the job. She is the wife of Tony Timms, a close adviser of Prime Minister Helen Clark, and there would be concerns about the perception that would be created.
It is understood the Government is keen to look overseas for a recruit.
In a letter to Helen Clark late last year, State Services Commissioner Michael Wintringham said the sort of person who had the right mix of operational and strategic policy skills required to head the new ministry was Department of Labour chief executive John Chetwin.
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