57863 (2024). Francisco Hernandez to the Minister responsible for the NZSIS

57863 (2024). Francisco Hernandez to the Minister responsible for the NZSIS: How many contractors, if any, did the Minister's departments have on 9 September 2024; and how many of them, if any, were former employees of the department that lost their roles or resigned from their roles since 27 November 2023?

Hon Judith Collins: I am advised that the NZSIS does use external contractors where specialist advice is not available internally or, in the case of auditing services, where independence is required. In addition, the NZSIS sometimes use cleared contractors to backfill positions during recruitment while security clearances are processed. However, it is not in the public interest for me to provide the numbers of contractors used by the NZSIS, and whether any may have been former staff.