Forty jobs are to go at the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment as the Government pulls funding for 15 Regional Skills Leadership Groups.
The RSLGs — set up under the previous Labour government in 2019 — are independent advisory groups that include people from business and industry, local government, worker, iwi, community and the public service.
Those members were expected to commit around 16 hours a month.
However, each of the groups — numbering between 12 and 15 members — was supported by staff at MBIE.
The decision to pull funding will remove 40 roles at the ministry.
Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston said cutting the programme would save $46 million over four years, and was signalled by National before the election as part of the plan to "reduce the cost of back-office government bureaucracies and ease cost of living pressures by delivering tax relief".
"The coalition government remains committed to addressing regional labour market needs, but there are more efficient ways to do this than by throwing taxpayer dollars at expensive advisory groups in every region. Many of the labour market issues these areas face are nationwide problems," Upston said.
"As set out in our coalition agreements, we will investigate an alternative workforce planning mechanism to plan for skill or labour shortages in the long-term."
MBIE has also opened applications for staff to apply for voluntary redundancy.
"We do not have a target for the uptake of this process as it is voluntary," chief people officer Jennifer Nathan said.
The ministry has been tasked with delivering "efficient and effective delivery of its objectives, reducing overall cost, and making sure it is well prepared to deliver on the Government’s priorities".
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