General policy statement
Imprest supply is the statutory mechanism that allows Parliament to provide the Government with the authority to—
incur expenses and capital expenditure in advance of appropriation in an Appropriation Act; and
make capital injections in advance of authorisation under an Appropriation Act.
The Imprest Supply (First for 2019/20) Act 2019 provided the sole financial authority from the start of the 2019/20 financial year until the Appropriation (2019/20 Estimates) Act 2019 came into force. The Imprest Supply (Second for 2019/20) Act 2019 provided financial authority additional to that provided in the Appropriation (2019/20 Estimates) Act 2019. This Bill seeks financial authority additional to (and not in substitution for) that provided in the Imprest Supply (Second for 2019/20) Act 2019.
This Bill is required to ensure that the Government has sufficient supply to implement Cabinet decisions made or otherwise finalised after the contents of the 2019/20 Estimates were closed off in excess of the amounts appropriated in the Appropriation (2019/20 Estimates) Act 2019 and authorised in the Imprest Supply (Second for 2019/20) Act 2019 and to meet contingencies.
The amounts this Bill seeks are intended to be sufficient to provide supply until 30 June 2020 for—
the incurring of expenses and capital expenditure in excess of the amounts appropriated in the Appropriation (2019/20 Estimates) Act 2019 and authorised in the Imprest Supply (Second for 2019/20) Act 2019; and
the making of capital injections in excess of the amounts authorised under those 2 Acts.
This Bill is repealed at the end of the 2019/20 financial year on 30 June 2020. Sections 4A and 12B of the Public Finance Act 1989 provide that appropriations for expenses and capital expenditure incurred, and authority for capital injections made, under the authority of this Bill must be sought in an Appropriation Act that comes into force on or before 30 June 2020. If that is not done, the expenses, capital expenditure, and capital injections will require validation in an Appropriation (Confirmation and Validation) Act in accordance with sections 26C and 26CA of the Public Finance Act 1989.
In this Bill, imprest is calculated separately for expenses and capital expenditure, subject to 2 exceptions. The imprest sought for expenses in this Bill covers the following capital expenditure to be incurred in advance of an appropriation that may include both expenses and capital expenditure:
capital expenditure to be incurred by an intelligence and security department:
non-departmental capital expenditure to be incurred in advance of a multi-category appropriation.
Accordingly, the capital expenditure described above is not covered by the imprest sought for capital expenditure in this Bill.
Imprest sought for expenses
Imprest sought for expenses in this Bill covers the following appropriations:
appropriations for the following categories of expenses:
benefits or related expenses:
appropriations for expenses and capital expenditure to be incurred by an intelligence and security department:
multi-category appropriations.
The main components of the $40,000 million of additional authority sought in this Bill for expenses are—
a provision for measures, already announced, to respond to the effects of COVID-19; and
a contingency provision for further measures that may be taken in relation to those effects.
Imprest sought for capital expenditure
Imprest sought for capital expenditure in this Bill covers appropriations for capital expenditure. It does not cover capital expenditure included in the definition of expenses for the purposes of this Bill (see clause 5(1)).
The main components of the $10,000 million of additional authority sought this year for capital expenditure are—
a provision for measures, already announced, to respond to the effects of COVID-19; and
a contingency provision for further measures that may be taken in relation to those effects.
Imprest sought for capital injections
Imprest sought for capital injections in this Bill covers authorisations for $2,000 million of capital injections to be made to departments (other than intelligence and security departments) or Offices of Parliament. The additional authority sought in this Bill for capital injections is primarily a general contingency provision for currently unforeseen capital injections arising from the effects of COVID-19.