Education Ministry boss Iona Holsted appears safe in her job for now, with the minister expressing confidence in her following revelations about contracts given to a disgraced former school principal.
The ministry is conducting a full internal review into its contract procurement process, after it gave work to a former principal who had his registration revoked for serious misconduct.
A Teaching Council Disciplinary Tribunal decision found Mr Fairhall breached professional boundaries during a school trip to Mexico in 2017.
That included sleeping in the same bed as a student while naked, sexualised talk, being partially clothed in front of students and entering a bathroom and washing the back of a student.
But it's been revealed the Ministry has awarded six contracts to his company, Tarapo Limited, worth around half a million dollars in total, since 2016.
Five of those were after the allegations were made.
Here's political reporter Charlie Dreaver.
