The new stone sign outside the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment headquarters in Wellington.

The Government's business super ministry has admitted its controversial sign outside its headquarters cost almost $70,000, about 50 per cent more than it previously claimed.

In response to an Official Information Act request on Friday, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) said that the sign outside its Stout Street headquarters cost $43,490.

But during Question Time in Parliament on Wednesday, Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce, seen as the architect of MBIE, admitted that the figure applied only to the supply and installation of the sign.

CAMERON BURNELL The new stone sign outside the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Enterprise Ministry headquarters in Wellington.

Later on Wednesday, MBIE admitted that the cost it provided excluded lighting ($963), construction and installation of the foundations ($13,500), resource consents ($2000) and fees and margins paid to the construction company ($7,386.21). This brought the total cost to $67,339.21.

Peter Thomas, MBIE's deputy chief executive, said "given public interest in the last couple of days" it was appropriate to release the information.

"MBIE has acknowledged that we spent more on this sign than was appropriate."

On Tuesday, MBIE said the sign was designed to be in character with the historic building it uses for its headquarters.

But Joyce said on Tuesday that the spending was "over the top" and as soon as he found out about it that he had sought an assurance that there would be no repeat of the spending. He made no reference to the increased cost when he was asked about it during a select committee appearance on Wednesday morning.

Formed in 2012 from the merger of four government departments, MBIE moved to the new offices last year. They house about 1800 of its 2800 staff.

A spokeswoman said the sign "was a one-off cost in a relocation programme projected to achieve around $40 million-$50 million in public sector savings over 20 years".

The savings come from a cut in the amount of office space used by the ministry.

Jordan Williams, executive director of the Taxpayers' Union, said MBIE had given a "half answer" in its initial response.

"At best it's disingenuous, but it speaks to a culture of arrogance towards value for money for taxpayers."

Labour David Clark today released emails showing that Joyce had micromanaged officials by dictating the type of fonts used in MBIE reports, claiming that surely that same Minister would be aware of the full costs of the sign.

"It seems crazy that Steven Joyce wasn't across this sort of detail...Surely he dug in to see what the full costs of this were," Clark said.

"I think that he may well have got an answer which suited his purposes in this case and he chose in this case to dig no further. He's been asked questions about this on a few occasions and only now is he backtracking and admitting that this cost a lot more than it first appeared. It was already a bad spend, and now he's saying it cost even more."

Earlier Joyce said that while the spending was inappropriate, Nation was putting its ministries in refurbished buildings at lower cost.

"I contrast that to some of the old stuff was saw which whenever a ministry moved it went into a brand new building with expensive rents. These are all prior to 2008. Inland Revenue, Customs, GCSB, Defence, NZTA and MFE, all went into new buildings under the previous government. This government had got people to go into refurbished buildings, at much lower cost," Joyce said.

"So yes I'm slacked off about the sign but overall I think we're doing a good job."

A spokeswoman for Joyce said he was not available for interview, referring questions about why MBIE excluded the costs to the ministry.

It is not the first time MBIE's spending has come under the spotlight. In February, it emerged it that the ministry had spent about $360,000 of office furniture for around 200 staff, or about $1800 each.

The cost of the sign emerged as MBIE confirmed the outcome of its latest restructure, with 56 jobs expected to go by the start of July, with 86 roles "disestablished" and 30 new ones being created.