5 Jul 2013

Leading departments feeling the strain

9:50 pm on 5 July 2013

Two of the Government's leading departments are struggling to do their jobs in the face of financial constraint.

The difficulties of the Treasury and the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet are outlined in Budget papers released on Friday afternoon.

Other departments might find it ironic that the Treasury and the Prime Minister's Department are struggling.

But the Treasury has warned it might not be able to deliver the same quality services during the next four years and it expects to reduce staff numbers by 30.

It says it will also cut back on providing advice in areas that are not its core responsibilities.

In the lead-up to the Budget, the Prime Minister's Department said it had reached the limits of belt-tightening, but it did get more money in May's Budget.