64812 (2024). Francisco Hernandez to the Minister for Social Development and Employment

Written Question

Published date: 17 Oct 2024

Metadata

Document type:	Written Question
Parliament number:	54
Question number:	64812 (2024)
Question asked:	06 Oct 2024
Member asking:	Francisco Hernandez
Portfolio:	Minister for Social Development and Employment
Minister replying:	Hon Louise Upston
Answer received:	14 Oct 2024
Status:	Question Answered
Reply type:	Reply
Document ID:	WQ_64812_2024
Document guid:	bc02779a-b8ca-49e9-b52c-4c47eb31c9bd

64812 (2024). Francisco Hernandez to the Minister for Social Development and Employment: In regard to the report 'Motu Working Paper 23-03 COVID-19 Wage Subsidy: Outcome evaluation', what actions, if any, has the Minister taken to investigate the 13,200 subsidised employing firms who received the covid wage subsidy but could not be linked to other administrative business data sources?

Hon Louise Upston: I am advised by the Ministry of Social Development (the Ministry) that Motu based its conclusions regarding the Wage Subsidy on anonymised administrative data provided by Stats New Zealand for research purposes only. The Ministry’s Wage Subsidy Integrity Programme has been the subject of several independent assessments, the most recent of which was completed by Deloitte in 2023. Based on this work, the Ministry concluded that the risk criteria and analysis undertaken by Inland Revenue was the most appropriate way to identify applications requiring further review.