28695 (2025). Hon Barbara Edmonds to the Minister of Finance

28695 (2025). Hon Barbara Edmonds to the Minister of Finance: Were the decisions in CAB-24-MIN-0136 reflected in the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update 2024, and if so, where?

Hon Nicola Willis: Yes, the decisions in CAB-24-MIN-0136 were reflected in the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update 2024. Due to negotiation sensitivities and funding amounts not being allocated to baselines, any changes to the forecast cost of unsettled pay equity claims were not broken out and explicitly noted but reflected in Note 6 'unallocated operating contingencies'. I am advised by Treasury that incorporating the forecast costs of unsettled pay equity agreements within the ‘unallocated operating contingencies’ line at each Economic and Fiscal Update has been a long-standing practice.