PRIME MINISTER APPOINTS ADVISOR

Prime Minister Jenny Shipley is pleased to announce the appointment of Simon Arnold to the position of advisor within her Private Office.

Mr Arnold is to take up the new role on April 6th on leaving his present position as Chief Executive Officer for the New Zealand Manufacturers Federation.

Jenny Shipley says the appointment is to assist in the oversight of the implementation of the Government's social and economic policy programme.

"Mr Arnold has wide experience in both social and economic policy, and I have worked with him in these areas in the past," Mrs Shipley says.

He was employed in the public service for 22 years before taking up the position with the Manufacturers Federation in April 1993. His public service appointments included periods as an Assistant Director General of Social Welfare, Deputy Government Printer, a director in the State Services Commission, and as a Senior Research Officer with the then Department of Education.