13606 (2025). Camilla Belich to the Minister of Corrections

13606 (2025). Camilla Belich to the Minister of Corrections: What is the total expenditure, if any, on consultants and contractors by any agencies under the Minister’s responsibility since 27 November 2023, broken down by agency, provider, and purpose?

Hon Mark Mitchell: Corrections is one of New Zealand’s largest core agencies, employing over 10,000 staff. The majority of Corrections’ workforce are full time employees deployed in frontline roles across 17 Corrections-managed prisons and many more Community Corrections sites across New Zealand. The remaining staff in back-office roles enable frontline staff to carry out their role by providing support. I am advised that Corrections follows the guidance published by the Public Service Commission when engaging external resources. Corrections’ policy on engaging external consultants and contractors requires that internal options are considered first and contractors are only engaged when this is not viable or practicable. Where there is an assessed need for further resources, it is in some cases reasonable and cost-efficient to contract staff, particularly when the existing workforce does not have the specialist skills or capabilities that may be required. Corrections reports information about contractors and consultants, including project, contract start and end dates, and spend, through the Annual Review and Estimates select committee processes. Therefore, I refer the member to the Department of Corrections’ response to the 2023/2024 Annual Review questionnaire which is available online: https://www.parliament.nz/resource/en-NZ/54SCJUST_EVI_f9db549a-17f5-414b-6507-08dcfd0f043f_JUST34828/5a7ea2f83452d54530c2c8ca243e5beaab894bb7 (Question 68, 72) https://www.parliament.nz/resource/en-NZ/54SCJUST_EVI_f9db549a-17f5-414b-6507-08dcfd0f043f_JUST34827/1f68ad733acaab7ebdae17f36fba6f58ac014d39 (Question 68, Appendix One) Information for the period 1 July 2024 onwards will be provided by Corrections as part of the upcoming estimates questionnaire. I am advised that Corrections cannot report on the amount spent on external IT consultants and contactors, as this is not held in a readily retrievable format. To identify individual disciplines and provide this information would amount to substantial collation and manual analysis, which I am not prepared to ask of my officials for the purposes of this response. This is also my response to WPQ 13133 (2025) and WPQ 13237 (2025).