KEY POINTS:
Environment Ministry chief executive Hugh Logan has had to apologise for the second time in a week - this time for his staff providing inaccurate information to Environment Minister Trevor Mallard.
Mr Logan, who apologised last week for his role in the Madeleine Setchell employment matter and accepted
his pay being docked, wrote to Mr Mallard on Monday to advise information given to Mr Mallard on November 15 for the answer to a parliamentary question was wrong.
"Advice my staff provided to you, in my presence, was inaccurate," Mr Logan's letter said. "I apologise on behalf of the ministry for providing information that was inaccurate and may have caused embarrassment. In this instance the ministry's standards were not met and I can assure you I am taking steps to ensure what happened does not reoccur."
Mr Logan has been under siege for the Environment Ministry's botched handling of the hiring and firing of communications staffer Madeleine Setchell. Two reports released last Wednesday slated the ministry's mismanagement of a perceived conflict of interest, due to Ms Setchell's partner being employed by the National Party as a press secretary.
Last Thursday, Mr Mallard asked for information about the ministry's contractual arrangements with Clare Curran, a communications professional and the Otago/Southland representative on the Labour Party council.
He was told a competitive selection process involving three quotes was used to select Ms Curran for a role at the ministry: But a non-competitive selection process was used.
Yesterday a clearly unamused Mr Mallard told Parliament of the error, and noted Ms Curran had been hired "approximately a year before the Setchell debacle".
Mr Mallard also released a report by Deputy State Services Commissioner Iain Rennie into the inaccurate briefing. Mr Rennie found that the ministry's advice to Mr Mallard was hasty and it had been unwise to provide him with a definitive answer. "In this situation, the ministry should have taken the time to clarify all the facts of the situation before providing the minister with advice," the report said.
The report said Ms Curran's appointment was consistent with the ministry's contracting guidelines.
National State Services spokesman Gerry Brownlee said Ms Setchell was sacked because of a perceived conflict of interest, but ministry staff believed Ms Curran had no conflict of interest.
"This report is proof positive that under Labour there is no longer any pretence of a neutral public service."
Curran Contract
* Labour Party activist Clare Curran was hired by the Environment Ministry for 200 hours' work at $120 an hour for a contract that ran from May 22 to July 28, 2006.
* She was given work after the ministry decided that rather than seek three quotes usually required for contracts between $10,000 and $50,000, it would follow an "exemption process".
* This was because it had not wanted to lose a suitable candidate, the work was urgent and there was a scarcity of suitable communications contracts at that level.