Budget 2010 continues the Government's focus on improving front-line services
New funding has largely been prioritised to health and education services. This includes:
- $2.1 billion in health funding, including $1.4 billion over four years to DHBs to fund demographic and price pressures
- $1.6 billion for education over four years. This will fund a 4% increase in operational funding for schools in 2010/11. It also includes $349 million for school property, and
- $321 million over four years for a range of science and R&D initiatives, lifting total spending to $750 million a year.
In addition, reprioritisation has allowed significant initiatives to proceed across the public sector. This has happened across the board. For example, reprioritising tertiary education has allowed 765 additional places to be funded at universities, together with 455 extra places at institutes of technology and polytechnics. It would have been difficult to fund these from within the limited new spending allowance.
Table 2 shows increases in spending by functional category. The net new operating spending allocated over the period, once $1.8 billion in reprioritised funding is accounted for, is $4.4 billion, equal to four years' worth of the new operating allowance of $1.1 billion.
| $ million, June years | 2009/10 | 2010/11 | 2011/12 | 2012/13 | 2013/14 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Economic Development | 2 | 74 | 55 | 37 | 35 | 203 |
| Education | 11 | 194 | 311 | 327 | 339 | 1,181 |
| Government Administration | 18 | 94 | 67 | 62 | 61 | 303 |
| Health | 18 | 508 | 487 | 478 | 478 | 1,939 |
| Infrastructure | 2 | - | - | - | - | 2 |
| Law and Order | 32 | 151 | 122 | 106 | 105 | 516 |
| Research, Science and Technology | - | 40 | 64 | 80 | 83 | 268 |
| Social Services | (8) | 99 | 90 | 97 | 111 | 389 |
| Contingency | - | 314 | 410 | 370 | 334 | 1,428 |
| Gross Budget 2010 Initiatives | 75 | 1,474 | 1,606 | 1,557 | 1,546 | 6,226 |
| Reprioritisation of Baselines | (194) | (249) | (482) | (456) | (446) | (1,826) |
| Net Budget 2010 Initiatives | (119) | 1,225 | 1,124 | 1,101 | 1,100 | 4,400 |
Note: Reprioritisation of Baselines includes an operating to capital swap, technical adjustments for a small number of items and transfers of funding between different Votes.
