30815 (2023). Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall to the Minister of Finance

30815 (2023). Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall to the Minister of Finance: Does the Minister intend to reduce public spending via expenditure reductions targets to be set for each agency, informed by the increase in back office head count at that agency since 2017, as outlined in the coalition agreement between National and ACT, and what advice, reports, briefings, aide memoires, or any other documents has the Minister, or any member of their Office received during the week of 4 December 2023?

Hon Nicola Willis: Yes, we do intend to reduce public expenditure via expenditure reductions targets. At our Mini-Budget in December, the Coalition Government started an ongoing Fiscal Sustainability Programme to embed a culture of responsible spending across Government. The first step in this programme is an Initial Baseline Exercise for government agencies designed to find around $1.5 billion per annum in savings. I have written to Ministers asking that their agencies to find sufficient savings as part of the Initial Baseline Exercise which is part of the Budget 2024 process. Individual agency targets were informed by headcount growth since 2017. I also received the following documents from the Treasury during the week of 4 December 2023: -4/12/2023 Treasury Report T2023/2038: Draft New Monetary Policy Committee Remit and Charter -5/12/2023 Treasury Report T2023/2048: Cabinet paper on Project iReX -5/12/2023 Treasury Report T2023/1989: Kainga Ora Independent Review -5/12/2023 Joint Report T2023/2053: Tax policy options for Mini Budget -5/12/2023 Treasury Report T2023/2045: Briefing for Cabinet - 1 December 2023 -5/12/2023 Aide Memoire T2023/2039: Treasury Organisational Breakdown -5/12/2023 Treasury Report T2023/1996: Baseline reduction design -6/12/2023 Treasury Report T2023/2028: Air New Zealand - approval of four matters -6/12/2023 Treasury Report T2023/1922: Crown Companies and Entities: Introductory Performance Report -6/12/2023 Treasury Report T2023/1650: New Zealand Lotteries Commission: Commencement of Early 2024 Appointment Round -6/12/2023 Cabinet Paper T2023/2065: Reserve Bank of New Zealand (Economic Objective) Amendment Bill: Approval for Introduction -6/12/2023 Treasury Report T2023/1691: Accident Compensation Corporation: Commencement of Early 2024 Appointment Round -6/12/2023 Treasury Report T2023/1662: Education Payroll Ltd and Network for Learning Ltd: Commencement of Early 2024 Appointment Round -7/12/2023 Treasury Report T2023/1649: Radio New Zealand Ltd and Television New Zealand Ltd: Commencement of Early 2024 Appointment Round -7/12/2023 Treasury Report T2023/1694: Animal Control Products Ltd (Orillion): Commencement of Early 2024 Appointment Round -8/12/2023 Treasury Report T2023/2094: SOE Portfolio: Commencement of Early 2024 Appointment Round -8/12/2023 Aide Memoire T2023/2095: Details of Chairs of State-Owned Enterprises and other 100% owned entities in the Minister of SOEs’ portfolio -8/12/2023 Aide Memoire T2023/2032: New Zealand's relationship with International Financial Institutions -8/12/2023 Aide Memoire T2023/2066: Meeting with the acting ACC board Chair and CE on 11 December