General policy statement

Appropriation is the statutory mechanism by which Parliament authorises the Government to incur expenses and capital expenditure. Other than permanent appropriations provided for in other legislation, appropriations are provided by Appropriation (Estimates) and Appropriation (Supplementary Estimates) Bills.

This Bill seeks parliamentary authorisation of the individual appropriations contained in The Estimates of Appropriations for the Government of New Zealand for the year ending 30 June 2013 (B.5) (the Estimates) presented to the House of Representatives as part of the 2012 Budget documentation.

In this Bill, the individual appropriations in summarised form are set out in Schedules 1 to 3. The provisions of the Bill ensure that the scope of each appropriation as set out in the Estimates forms part of the legal appropriation.

In accordance with the Public Finance Act 1989, separate appropriations are required for—

• each category of output expenses; and

• each category of benefits or other unrequited expenses; and

• each category of other expenses; and

• each category of capital expenditure; and

• expenses and capital expenditure to be incurred by each intelligence and security department.

Approval to spend public money is not required in Appropriation Acts because section 6 of the Public Finance Act 1989 provides ongoing authority for public money to be spent for the purposes of meeting expenses or capital expenditure incurred in accordance with an appropriation, the payment of goods and services tax in relation to those expenses or capital expenditure, the repayment of debt, and the settlement of liabilities.

Clause by clause analysis

Clause 1 is the Title clause.

Clause 2 is the commencement clause. The Bill comes into force on the day after the date on which it receives the Royal assent.

Clause 3 provides that the Bill (except clause 8 and Schedule 3) relates to the financial year ending with 30 June 2013.

Clause 4 is the purpose clause.

Clause 5 is an interpretation provision.

Clauses 6, 7, and 8 are the principal appropriation clauses of the Bill.

Clause 6 seeks appropriations for the following expenses and capital expenditure, as set out in Schedule 1:

• each category of output expenses:

• each category of benefits or other unrequited expenses:

• each category of other expenses:

• each category of capital expenditure.

Clause 7 seeks appropriations for expenses and capital expenditure incurred by the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service and the Government Communications Security Bureau, as set out in Schedule 2.

Clause 8 and Schedule 3 seek multi-year appropriations for—

• the 2 financial years from 2012/13 to 2013/14 for land use and carbon analysis system (Vote Environment); and

• the 3 financial years from 2012/13 to 2014/15 for—

  • social housing fund (Vote Housing); and

  • international agency funding (Vote Official Development Assistance); and

  • international development assistance (Vote Official Development Assistance); and

• the 4 financial years from 2012/13 to 2015/16 for—

  • Crown asset management (Vote Parliamentary Service); and

  • Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases (Vote Primary Industries); and

  • water storage and irrigation investment proposals (Vote Primary Industries); and

• the 5 financial years from 2012/13 to 2016/17 for—

  • security management (Vote Energy); and

  • Primary Growth Partnership (Vote Primary Industries).

The Estimates include a multi-year appropriation for security management in Vote Energy, for the 5 years from 1 July 2012 to 30 June 2017. The details of the appropriation, on page 95 of the Estimates, refer to adjustments being made in 2010/11 and 2011/12. There was no multi-year appropriation for security management in Vote Energy in 2010/11 or 2011/12, so the reference to adjustments made in those years is incorrect. The amount showing in the Estimates as the adjusted amount is the correct amount for this new multi-year appropriation and should also have been the amount shown as the original appropriation.

In relation to clause 8, section 10 of the Public Finance Act 1989 provides that an Appropriation Act may authorise expenses or capital expenditure to be incurred for more than 1 financial year as long as the authority (which lapses at the end of the period specified in the Appropriation Act) is not for more than 5 financial years.

Section 9 of the Public Finance Act 1989 concerns the scope of appropriations. Clauses 6, 7, and 8 (when read together with the definition of scope shown in the Estimates in clause 5(1)) each describe where the scope of each appropriation authorised under those clauses is set out, making the scope of each appropriation (as set out in the Estimates) part of the legal appropriation.

Clause 9 and Schedule 4 specify the appropriations to which output expenses may be charged under section 21 of the Public Finance Act 1989. This means that, provided the other requirements in section 21 of the Public Finance Act 1989 are met, output expenses may be incurred up to the amount of third-party revenue expected to be earned by the relevant class of outputs during the 2012/13 financial year.

Clause 10 and Schedule 5 set out the projected net assets for each department (other than an intelligence and security department) and Office of Parliament for the purposes of section 22, and in accordance with sections 23 and 26E(1)(b), of the Public Finance Act 1989.

Clause 11 and Schedule 6 specify appropriations and classes of outputs for which—

• expenses or capital expenditure are to be incurred other than by departments or Offices of Parliament; and

• the Minister responsible for each of those appropriations or classes of outputs is required, under section 32A of the Public Finance Act 1989, to prepare and present a report to the House of Representatives within 3 months of the end of the 2012/13 financial year.

The report must include a statement of service performance, or a statement of the results produced or achieved, for the relevant appropriation or class of outputs. The appropriations and classes of outputs listed in Schedule 6 are primarily those under which expenses and capital expenditure are predominantly to be incurred by agencies that are not already required to prepare reports that include a statement of service performance for presentation to the House of Representatives.

Clause 12 and Schedule 7 repeal spent Appropriation Acts.