Summary of Initiatives in the COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund (CRRF) Foundational Package

Introduction#

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As indicated on Budget Day we are releasing this Summary of Initiatives document to complement the Wellbeing Budget 2020 document and the media releases detailing expenditure funded from the COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund (CRRF). The following pages provide greater detail on new spending initiative agreed in the Foundational CRRF Package by Cabinet on 11 May 2020, and announced on Budget Day.

Background to the CRRF#

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As part of Budget 2020 the Government established the CRRF and set aside $50 billion to support a response to and recovery from COVID-19. The CRRF is a funding envelope for budget management purposes, rather than an actual sum of money ring fenced in the Government's accounts. The fiscal implications of several new measures have been managed against the CRRF during April and early May. As at 14 May 2020, the Government had committed $29.8 billion of the CRRF, of which $13.9 billion had been announced prior to Budget Day as part of an ongoing response to COVID-19, leaving $20.2 billion of funding remaining.

CRRF Foundational Package#

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On 14 May 2020, the CRRF Foundational Package was announced, totalling $12.0 billion in operating expenditure and $3.9 billion in capital expenditure over the forecast period.

A number of new spending initiatives from the Foundational Package were included in individual media releases on Budget Day but were not included in other Budget Documents due to timeframes for publication of these documents.

This Summary of Initiatives document includes a list of the new spending initiatives announced as part of this CRRF Foundational Package. There are still some initiatives that are yet to be announced which have not been captured in this document.

Changes in appropriations from the CRRF Foundational Package for the 2019/20 fiscal year will be included in an Addition to the 2019/20 Supplementary Estimates which will be presented to the House in June. Expenditure for the 2020/21 fiscal year that has not been included in the 2020/21 Main Estimates Bill will be put before Parliament for appropriation in the 2020/21 Supplementary Estimates Bill, which will be introduced to the House on Budget Day 2021.

Detailed Breakdown of Initiatives by Vote#

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This section provides the titles, descriptions and funding amounts of each initiative, organised by Vote.

How to Read the Initiative Tables#

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This section outlines the key components included for each initiative.

New Initiatives#

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Agriculture, Biosecurity, Fisheries and Food Safety#

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Addressing Primary Sector Workforce Shortfall with Job Transition Support and Improved Public Data

This initiative will address both rising unemployment and the primary sector workforce shortfall linked to reduced availability of migrant and temporary workers. It will do this through a suite of initiatives that will upskill and support newly unemployed New Zealanders to fill current job vacancies, and develop a skills and employment dataset to better plan and implement people capability activities. It supports whole-of-economy efforts of the Ministry of Social Development, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and the Ministry of Education. Success will mean a primary sector workforce that is better positioned to increase the productivity, sustainability and value of our primary sectors, and support New Zealand's recovery from COVID-19.

Boosting Economic Activity and Future Growth Across the Horticulture Sector

This initiative will support a strong recovery from COVID-19 by accelerating growth in the horticulture sector. It will enable access to new export markets, protect access to existing export markets, and improve access to plant breeding material so that New Zealand growers can breed new and novel varieties that are in demand by overseas consumers. This initiative will speed up the current timeframes for development of market-ready horticulture products to support employment, export growth, and economic activity.

Containing Wallabies to Protect Agriculture, Forestry and Native Plants, and Boost Regional Economies

This initiative supports regional communities by providing employment and stimulating economic activity across a wide range of goods and services providers, through delivery of a management plan for wallabies. This initiative will enable more effective management of wallabies and reduce their growing impact on agriculture, plantation forestry and native vegetation. It will fund increased aerial and ground based control operations, including fencing to push wallabies back to existing containment/buffer zones in the Bay of Plenty, Waikato, Canterbury and Otago regions. This initiative will enable national coordination to contain and control wallabies in New Zealand.

Expanding Animal Wellbeing Support Activities Across New Zealand

This initiative protects animal wellbeing by providing additional resource to support the identification and management of animal welfare issues. This is to address concerns regarding animal welfare associated with COVID-19 restrictions and drought. This initiative will increase the number of frontline staff by eight full time equivalents to provide support and coordinate activity throughout New Zealand. Coordinators provide planning, reporting and coordination of animal welfare services through to recovery at a local level, and at the national level coordinate whole-of-supply chain responses across the country.

Mitigating the Impact of Economic and Social Disruption on Rural and Fishing Communities

This initiative will increase access to support services in rural and fishing communities that will support mental wellbeing and help them recover quickly from the combined impacts of COVID-19 and issues such as drought. The funding will target support to vulnerable groups, and will facilitate community engagement and learning, access to services, and enable primary sector businesses to receive financial and continuity planning advice.

National Wilding Conifer Control Programme to Boost Regional Economies and Employment

This initiative supports regional communities by providing employment opportunities and stimulating economic activity across a wide range of goods and services providers by controlling wilding conifers. This funding will enable the removal of extensive infestations, reduce the spread of wilding conifers, and minimise lifetime control costs. Controlling wilding conifers will also help to protect farmland, water and biodiversity.

Preventing Food Waste and Supporting Primary Sector Production by Supplying Food to New Zealanders in Need

This initiative addresses acute immediate food production challenges from the drop off in demand through COVID-19 restrictions by maintaining and redirecting products to struggling communities. The initiative will establish a contingency fund to directly purchase products where significant food waste, animal welfare, biosecurity concerns or environmental concerns would otherwise result, and will scale up Fruit in Schools to provide an additional 10,000 fruit and vegetable boxes a week for 10 weeks and enable other food products likely to be wasted to be redirected. It will also fund the development and trial of digital platforms to enable other novel solutions to connect food with consumers.

Replacement Crown Funding for Non-Recoverable Expenditure to Enable Food Businesses to Operate During the COVID-19 Pandemic

This initiative will fund non-recoverable expenditure to enable food businesses to operate. Existing and additional resources are being deployed to help food businesses continue to operate safely under COVID-19 restrictions. These resources have been redeployed from activities that would normally have been cost-recovered directly by users of the service. This has meant a drop in revenue for the Ministry for Primary Industries and a resulting need for additional funding. This initiative was funded through reprioritisation.

Replacing Lost Frontline Biosecurity Operations Revenue

This initiative will fund existing border biosecurity operations that are usually funded through passenger and cargo levies, as COVID-19 restrictions have eliminated passenger revenue and reduced cargo and freight revenue. Replacement funding will enable the Ministry for Primary Industries to pay existing salaries and other necessary operating costs (eg, scanning equipment leases) in the short to medium term. This will ensure New Zealand can manage biosecurity risks at the border.

Arts, Culture and Heritage#

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Antarctic Heritage Trust - Remaining Viable Following the Impact of COVID-19

This initiative will ensure Antarctic Heritage Trust can survive and remain viable for the next 18 months. Funding is for the reduced income impact as a result of COVID-19, along with increasing and existing cost pressures.

Creative New Zealand - Retain Core Arts Infrastructure and Deliver Arts Projects in Communities

This initiative will provide funding to Creative New Zealand to ensure arts organisations remain viable, retain core creative skills, and improve community wellbeing through the delivery of arts projects.

Cultural Sector Regeneration Fund

This initiative will support the cultural and creative industries to survive, adapt and revitalise following the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and increase wellbeing through greater public access to art and culture. Funding will be used for a National Public Arts Scheme to commission and award grants for new major creative works at a national and local level, for building capability in the cultural sector to adapt businesses to respond to COVID-19, and for a contestable Innovation Fund to encourage investment and disruptive innovation in the cultural and creative sectors.

Establishing a New Zealand Fale Malae

This initiative will commence detailed planning and consent work to progress the establishment of a New Zealand Fale Malae.

Matauranga Māori Te Awe Kotuku Fund

This initiative provides funding to support iwi/hapū/whānau to protect the irreplaceable matauranga central to Māori cultural identity from the impact and ongoing threat of COVID-19.

Museum Hardship Fund

This initiative will enable cultural heritage destinations to remain financially viable and allow them to re-open under lower COVID-19 alert levels. It will provide hardship funding for around 220 museums to support protection of heritage collections, access to collections, protection of jobs and continued viability of heritage infrastructure. The museum sector cares for New Zealand's collective cultural heritage, which is an important component of our national identity. There are clear benefits of reopening for domestic and international tourism, as well as the impact on broader wellbeing.

New Zealand Music Recovery

This initiative will provide funding to commercialise New Zealand music during the COVID-19 crisis, to restart the live music industry through domestic touring, and to recoup lost income and costs incurred for Outward Sound projects and New Zealand Music Month.

Pasifika Culture and Heritage Fund

This initiative will enable festivals to continue to provide platforms of opportunities to the festival ecosystem, with the aim of promoting and connecting New Zealanders to Pasifika culture and heritage, and cultural wellbeing.

Radio New Zealand Baseline Funding Increase

This initiative increases Radio New Zealand's baseline funding to support current levels of service including essential journalism, news and media. This increase extends time-limited funding that expires on 30 June 2021.

Retain Core Capability of Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga

This initiative will retain core capability of Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga and enable continued capital investment and conservation in heritage properties.

Retain the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa's Core Capability

This initiative enables Te Papa to maintain core operations and critical infrastructure following the impact of COVID-19 on commercial revenue. Te Papa has been delivering core outputs using the profits from its commercial activities - these core outputs are now at risk.

Royal New Zealand Ballet - Surviving the Effects of the COVID‑19 Pandemic

This initiative provides operational funding to Royal New Zealand Ballet so it can survive the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and be in a position to recover quickly once it is possible to resume delivery of live performances and community and education programmes.

Te Matatini - Funding for COVID-19 Related Costs

This initiative covers sunk costs and lost revenue to allow the postponed regional kapa haka competitions and the National Festival to occur. It also provides funding for internal capability and capacity to meet increased demands on the organisation from Government and regions.

Waitangi National Trust - Surviving the Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic

This initiative provides operational funding to the Waitangi National Trust so it can survive the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and be in a position to recover quickly once domestic and international tourism restarts.

Business, Science and Innovation#

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Accelerating Rollout of Business Connect

This initiative advances the rollout of a platform to support businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. This is an expansion of an existing service funded under Budget 2019. Business Connect is a digital platform launched in 2019 that enables integrated services for businesses when dealing with local and central government. It allows businesses to apply for a range of licences, permits and registrations from different government agencies in one place thus reducing compliance time and cost.

AgResearch Lincoln Facility Development

This initiative provides support for AgResearch's development of a new research facility and corporate headquarters in Lincoln.

Better for Business: Making it Easier and More Seamless for Business to Engage with Government

This initiative provides funding for Better for Business (B4B), a strategic programme focused on making significant improvements to the business experience with government. B4B leads initiatives that unify public services for business, including leveraging digital technologies and innovating approaches to policy design, service design and delivery to achieving B4B outcomes. B4B is uniquely placed being systems focused; provides deep insight into the needs of New Zealand's small businesses; and has systems in place to help identify the impacts of policy and regulation on business. This will become more important in the post-COVID-19 environment as businesses pivot towards new - and mostly digital/eCommerce - operating models.

Business Debt Hibernation (BDH) Scheme

This initiative updates the online systems of the business registers administered by the Companies Office, including the Companies Register, to record businesses making use of the Business Debt Hibernation (BDH) scheme. Business registers will record entities in BDH, making certificates uploaded by businesses publicly available and enabling users of information from registers to see if a business is in BDH through Companies Office websites and application processing interface (API) channels.

Capital Investment in Callaghan Innovation for a Short-Term Research and Development Loan Scheme

This initiative establishes a short-term research and development (R&D) loan scheme. This scheme will provide immediate cash support to R&D performing businesses in order to reduce the impact that the COVID-19 crisis will have on R&D investment and to position New Zealand for the economic recovery.

COVID-19: Infrastructure Investment

This initiative provides funding for investment in infrastructure to support the economic recovery from COVID-19, including projects identified by the Infrastructure Reference Group and others submitted by government agencies.

Crown Research Institutes COVID-19 Response and Recovery

This initiative provides funding to Crown Research Institutes to maintain national science capability and progress capital investment programmes to enable them to support New Zealand's COVID-19 recovery efforts through continued research, science and innovation work.

Expanding the Warmer Kiwi Homes Programme to Support Low-Income Households

This initiative provides funding for subsidised insulation and heating retrofits in houses occupied by low-income owners. It will expand the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority's existing Warmer Kiwi Homes programme and will increase the proportion of the cost of insulation and heating retrofits that is covered by government grants. This will increase the incentive for low-income owner-occupiers to access the Warmer Kiwi Homes grants. It will provide a greater level of support to help low-income households keep their homes warm and dry, leading to significant health benefits.

Funding for the Commerce Commission to Promote Competition in Markets

This initiative provides increased capacity for the Commerce Commission to quickly analyse and respond to the impacts on competition in markets due to COVID-19. Building on its existing work, the funding will enable the Commission to more effectively promote competition in markets. This in turn will contribute to improving New Zealanders' living standards during the COVID-19 pandemic and over the longer term.

Implementation of e-Invoicing in New Zealand

This initiative represents a joint commitment by the Prime Ministers of Australia and New Zealand to combine efforts through the Trans-Tasman e-Invoicing arrangement heads of agreement signed by Minister Nash and his Australian counterpart. As part of the Single Economic Market, both countries have agreed to create a seamless Trans-Tasman business environment across the full e-Procurement cycle. Both countries have entered into a contractual relationship with the Peppol system, a global standard for e-Procurement. By implementing global standards, New Zealand will become better equipped to participate in global trade. e-Invoicing is the foundation for the full e-Procurement digital infrastructure, aiming to improve productivity, for both public and private sectors.

Industry Policy: COVID-19 Recovery and Transformation Package

This funding builds on the foundation established in the Government's Industry Strategy, including to support three sectors to contribute to the post-COVID-19 recovery; enable engagement with these and other key sectors to identify recovery initiatives. It comprises of $8.5 million to support the Construction Sector Accord COVID-19 Response Plan and Action Plan, $11.4 million to implement key initiatives in the Agritech Industry Transformation Programme, $5 million to implement digital economy initiatives, $5 million to support engagement and identification of recovery initiatives with key sectors, $5 million to implement identified near-term initiatives, and $6.5 million to enable innovative projects in the Māori economy.

International Growth Fund (IGF) COVID-19 Extension

This initiative provides an extension of funding to address an overspend in the International Growth Fund, due to COVID-19.

Maintaining Research and Development Services to New Zealand's Businesses

This initiative provides Callaghan Innovation with funding to ensure it can maintain critical in-house research and development capability to serve New Zealand businesses and support New Zealand's economic recovery.

New Zealand's Economic Recovery: Revitalising the International Business Sector

This initiative supports the export leg of New Zealand's economic recovery from the COVID-19 shock by increasing the scale, intensity and reach of New Zealand Trade and Enterprise's (NZTE) support services for exporters over several years. This funding doubles the number of companies (from 700 to 1400) who could receive “Focus”-level support from NZTE, provides expanded NZTE international business development capacity in selected key markets, establishes Centres of Excellence in Freight and Digital Commerce, and funds a concerted campaign to reinforce and broaden New Zealand's national brand in key markets, via NZ Story. The programme of work will be delivered in a way that addresses the need for sector-specific interventions, and in close collaboration with NZ Inc partners domestically and offshore.

Support for Small Businesses Tailored to COVID-19 Needs

This initiative will enable business.govt.nz, with help from 200 partners, to create and deliver recovery-focused, tailored guidance to 600,000 small businesses. The Kiwi Business Boost will connect these businesses with tailored support from their industry or region. Resources will focus on how to: forecast and manage cash flow and adapt their businesses; obtain finance to meet needs now and for future growth; market their businesses here (especially tourism) and globally; adopt new digital technology, including e-commerce and productivity enhancing tools; and deal with isolation and mental health issues. These products will enhance productivity, sustainability and wellbeing longer term by connecting businesses with tailored guidance.

Supporting COVID-19 Contact Tracing - New Zealand Business Number

This initiative provides funding for the purchase of an annual license fee over two years for entities with a New Zealand Business Number. This will support the Ministry of Health's national contact tracing system for COVID-19 through robust identification of business premises across New Zealand.

Supporting Small Businesses into Digital Commerce

This initiative provides contingency funding to support small businesses to move into digital commerce and support longer-term business transformation. This includes: support to identify if digital commerce is appropriate and understand the longer-term implications on business models; ongoing support and advice to successfully implement and maintain digital commerce and adapt to the new business environment; improving access to advice; improving the availability of information on digital commerce service offerings, upskilling the ability of business advisors to provide advice on digital commerce strategies; and incentives/grants to encourage adoption.

The Auckland Pacific Skills Shift

The initiative supports Auckland Pacific peoples in low-skilled or precarious employment to transition into quality employment by providing wrap-around support to impacted Pacific households. It provides programmes to build capability of Pacific communities and facilitates the delivery of micro-credentials to individuals in low-skilled jobs in Auckland businesses.

Tourism Sector Recovery Fund

This initiative provides support for the tourism sector to cushion the impact of COVID-19 and to position the sector for recovery.

Conservation#

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Crown Concession Revenue - Provision for Bad and Doubtful Debts

This initiative provides funding for an increase in the anticipated write-off of Crown concession revenue invoiced during 2019/20. The increase is sought as a result of the financial impacts of COVID-19 on businesses' ability to meet their 2019/20 payment obligations.

Enhancing Biodiversity Outcomes on Public and Private Land

This initiative will fund significant job creation across the country, particularly in the regions through nationwide community programmes delivered by third party providers, regional councils and landowner groups to provide support for protection and restoration of indigenous biodiversity and habitat, revegetation of private and public conservation land and land riparian buffer protection and maintenance.

Pest Management, Including Predator Free and Eradication

This initiative will fund significant job creation across the country, particularly in the regions through nationwide community and catchment led pest and predator control programmes. This will assist in protecting New Zealand's most threatened species and habitats.

Supporting Employment Through Environment Projects on Department of Conservation Land

This initiative will focus on the swift redeployment of a portion of the labour market who are facing job insecurity into new temporary nature-based jobs that support regional environmental projects. Projects will include boosting predator control efforts, restoring wetlands, planting, and improving tracks, huts and other recreational and visitor assets on public conservation land.

Corrections#

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COVID-19 - Addressing the Department of Corrections Annual Leave Costs

This initiative funds increased annual leave cost impact due to COVID-19. Normally employees taking annual leave will reduce the leave liability and the cost of annual leave expenditure. Department of Corrections staff being unable to take annual leave during the COVID-19 response means that costs have not been offset.

COVID-19 - Personal Protective Equipment

This initiative funds the immediate response to the COVID-19 pandemic and also an expansion to the Department of Corrections' existing service to ensure that front-line sites have sufficient and appropriate Personal Protective Equipment, medical supplies and enhanced cleaning regimes in place to operate safely within Ministry of Health guidelines in response to COVID-19.

COVID-19 - Supported Accommodation

This initiative provides funding for the Department of Corrections to take over responsibility from the Ministry of Social Development for the immediate future for sourcing emergency accommodation for individuals being released from prison or being bailed with an immediate accommodation need.

Maintaining Connectivity Between Our Staff, and Between People in Our Care and their Whānau During COVID-19

This initiative funds changed communication capability requirements and related network impacts linked to changed operational processes, including remote working and other measures in response to COVID-19.

Modular Build Programme Impacts from COVID-19

This initiative incorporates additional programme expenditure incurred due to the combined effects of the COVID-19 lockdown construction delays, additional time and cost of increased stringent health and safety requirements and ‘make good' payments to sub-contractors unpaid by the main contractor going into liquidation. This is to be funded by the receipt of $12 million in revenue from the utilisation of bonds ‘in lieu of retention' relating to the liquidation event and therefore the initiative is fiscally neutral.

Responding to COVID-19 by Strengthening our Health, Safety and Wellbeing, and Communications Capacity and Capability

This initiative addresses additional capacity and capability needs that have emerged in response to COVID-19 in the workforce including the Health, Safety and Wellbeing team, and within communications functions.

Savings Initiative

This initiative reduces the ‘Re-offending is Reduced' appropriation by $16.670 million to reflect Corrections managing a portion of the COVID-19 expenditure within existing baselines.

Thermal Imaging Detection System - COVID-19

This funding supports the effort to keep the prison environment free from COVID-19 by temperature screening everyone entering a prison site and certain other Department of Corrections sites.

Courts#

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Strengthening the Family Court: Initiatives to Enhance Child and Whānau Wellbeing - COVID-19

This initiative will provide funding to strengthen the Family Court, consistent with the recommendations of the Independent Panel's report on the 2014 Family Justice reforms. The expected impacts include reduced child and parental stress, increased personal safety and greater connections with whānau, all of which will be particularly beneficial to whānau in the current environment as a result of COVID-19. The initiative aims to ensure parents and whānau are supported by the court in their time of distress and promotes the safe and durable resolution of care of children disputes.

Customs#

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Increase to Doubtful Debts Provision Due to COVID-19

This initiative increases the Non-Departmental Other Expenses Appropriation: Change in Doubtful Debt Provision for impacts related to COVID-19. This appropriation provides for doubtful debts on revenue collected by the New Zealand Customs Service on behalf of the Crown. This is a non-cash appropriation.

Defence Force#

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Veteran Health Connect

This initiative provides funding for Veterans' Affairs to access a secure medical information exchange system, which enables applications and medical information to be exchanged across the health system in a fast and secure environment. This technology will enable faster decision-making by Veterans' Affairs so that treatment can be accessed sooner by veterans.

Education#

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100% Qualified and Certificated Teachers

This initiative provides funding to reinstate a higher funding band for teacher-led, centre-based Early Childhood Education (ECE) services (ie, kindergartens and education and care centres) that employ a 100% qualified and certificated teaching workforce. This is expected to improve the quality and frequency of teacher-child interactions and lead to better learning and developmental outcomes for children in services employing a 100% certificated workforce. COVID-19 is likely to lower demand for early learning services. This initiative maintains employment opportunities for qualified ECE teachers in an environment in which fewer services are likely to be operating.

Early Intervention: Te Kōhanga Reo - Learning Support Initiative and Targeted COVID-19 Response

This initiative enables the Ministry of Education to partner with Te Kōhanga Reo National Trust to co-design and co-deliver targeted strategies and support for the kōhanga whānau (kaiako, parents, whānau) to support tamariki with learning support needs and reduce the gap in access to learning support. This initiative will focus on keeping kōhanga whānau connected during COVID-19 alert levels and enabling a safe return of all tamariki and whānau to Kōhanga.

Programmes that benefit Māori must reflect cultural ways of knowing and being. The combined expertise of the Trust (Te Ao Māori and Te Reo Māori) and the specialist knowledge of the Ministry, will ensure that all communication, resources and approaches are built on Kaupapa Māori and meet the unique needs of their communities.

Home Schooling Demand

This technical initiative transfers funding from schools resourcing to home schooling, reflecting home schooling growth and the subsequent reduction in school rolls. Significantly more students are being home schooled, including through Te Kura, in the first part of 2020, in part due to the impact of COVID-19. This is putting pressure on the Home Schooling Allowances baseline which provides allowances for parents and caregivers of children in full-time correspondence programmes for primary and secondary education and parents and caregivers of children receiving their primary and secondary education at home.

Increasing Trades Academy Places and Supporting Secondary Transitions

This initiative provides funding to increase the volume of Trades Academy places by 1,000 places a year from 2021 onwards. This is intended to give schools more options to meet the needs of their students during the expected economic downturn and will ultimately help with the economic recovery by building up our skilled workforce. It will also continue funding for the network of Ministry regionally-based staff to provide specialist support for schools and tertiary education organisations, focusing on learner achievement, retention and transition, and those not in education, employment or training.

Maintaining Kōhanga Reo Viability During the Post-COVID-19 Rebuilding Phase

This initiative provides funding to improve the sustainability, capacity and capability of Kōhanga Reo. This will assist the Crown to revitalise te reo Māori and help integrate it into the learning of children by 2025. The initiative will increase the funding rates for each Kōhanga Reo and the annual funding the Ministry provides the Kōhanga Reo National Trust (the Trust) to support the Kōhanga Reo network. The support for the Trust includes funding to assist with assessment of, and associated remedial and rehabilitation work on, kōhanga reo properties.

Mitigating Impacts of Socioeconomic Disadvantage: School Lunches

This initiative provides funding to relieve food insecurity and improve educational outcomes for students through expanding the Free and Healthy School Lunch Programme to up to 200,000 more Year 1-13 students. Delivery targets schools with the highest disadvantage using the Equity Index. Before the pandemic around one in five children lived in households with severe or moderate food insecurity. This initiative will help cushion the blow of COVID-19 impacts on students in already socio-economically disadvantaged households who will now be experiencing heightened financial stress, job and income losses. In Term 3 recruitment, planning and systems development will support the scaled up programme, with expansion of school lunches starting in Term 4.

Operating Contingency - Targeted Support for Pacific Learners and Families

This initiative provides funding to ensure Pacific learners and families are equipped to access education during the COVID-19 response. It supports Pacific learners' access to education by: funding brokerage services between Pacific learners and families and education services, Pacific providers and government agencies; establishing a Pacific Education Innovation Fund to promote culturally sustaining practice in the COVID-19 context; enabling leaders in Tautai o le Moana, a principal leadership collaborative, to promote culture change in schools to support Pacific learners; providing governance and management support for Pacific early learning centres; and translating and distributing key materials in Pacific languages.

Support for Schools Payroll

This initiative provides funding for Education Payroll Limited to cover the additional costs and increased workload incurred as a result of COVID-19. This includes funding for temporary staff to clear the backlog of operations work and to cover the increase in costs regarding the delayed implementation of the Education Payroll Development Programme and the new payroll user interface, EdPay.

Supporting Māori Learners and Te Reo Māori Post COVID-19

This initiative will support Māori learners and whānau to reconnect with education services following COVID-19 to ensure they access the full range of education and wellbeing services and achieve successful outcomes by engaging Iwi and Māori organisations to provide facilitation and brokerage services. It will also strengthen the delivery of te reo Māori in Education through enhanced distance- and place-based blended approaches, including targeted support for the education workforce, resource development and information to learners and whānau.

Environment#

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Phasing Out Problem Plastics and Implementing the Waste Disposal Levy Expansion

This initiative will provide funding to establish cross-agency governance to consider recommendations from the Chief Science Advisor's report on Rethinking Plastics. This will aim to advance key recommendations including standardising kerbside recycling and consumer labelling on recyclability. The initiative will also provide funding to prepare for a potential increase and expansion of the Waste Disposal Levy and improve data on waste and resource recovery, pending Cabinet's decision.

Post-COVID-19 Economic Recovery Through Environment-Related Activity: Improving the Health of New Zealand's Waterways

This initiative will provide funding to improve the health of New Zealand's waterways and support economic recovery. This will involve working in partnership with local government and farmers. It will include restoring mini wetlands, stabilising river banks, removing sediment, and providing for fish passage. The funding will support employment across New Zealand, including the Kaipara catchment.

Health#

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Maintaining Essential Disability and Home and Community Aged Care Support Services Through COVID-19

This initiative provides funding to ensure that essential disability and aged care support services are maintained through the period of the COVID-19 response. This funding pays providers for increased levels of service for vulnerable populations through Alert Levels 4 and 3, including covering for staff on special leave and additional requirements for personal protective equipment. This will ensure that providers continue to provide critical support and that core health and safety standards are not compromised.

Maintaining Private Hospital Capacity, Capability, Resources and Staff to Support the COVID-19 Response

This initiative provides funding to support arrangements for a four week period for District Health Boards to fund private hospitals for the direct costs of maintaining facilities, including available private intensive care unit capacity should it have been required during the COVID-19 response period.

Maintaining Service Continuity for Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust

This initiative provides funding to Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust (ARHT) to continue to meet operating costs following a sudden and immediate reduction in revenue due to COVID-19. This funding is to ensure continuity of emergency helicopter services in the Northern region delivered by ARHT.

PHARMAC - Increase in the Operational Budget

This initiative provides an increase in PHARMAC's operational budget to support an expanded Combined Pharmaceutical Budget (CPB), together with improvements in PHARMAC's assessment and decision-making processes to make them faster, clearer and simpler. PHARMAC considers, consults and decides on which medicines are publicly funded in NZ, and operates procurement processes to achieve price savings from suppliers. This funding will enable them to better support the COVID-19 response.

Planned Care – COVID-19 Backlog

This initiative provides funding to lift the levels of Planned Care delivery to address increases in waiting lists and waiting times incurred during Alert Level 4 and the follow-on period, while delivery has been reduced.

Primary Care – Additional Funding to Maintain Affordable Access to Primary Care Services

This initiative provides funding to maintain co-payments for Very Low Cost Access (VLCA) practices and community service card holders at $19.50 (ie, under $20). Access to affordable primary care services is key to ensuring that people on lower incomes seek appropriate and timely treatment for COVID-19 and other health conditions.

Housing and Urban Development#

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Government Housing Build Programme

This initiative supports 8,000 additional Housing Places over the next four to five years. These will provide more places for those in temporary contracted motel Transitional Housing as a response to COVID-19, to ensure that those without suitable accommodation do not return to rough sleeping when temporary places end after October 2021; to provide needed Public Housing to transition those in Transitional Housing to more permanent accommodation; and to reduce Emergency Housing Special Needs grants which will otherwise rise as more people need emergency housing assistance, and for longer periods of time.

Te Maihi O Te Whare Māori - Māori and Iwi Housing Innovation (MAIHI)

This initiative provides funding for a range of interventions to deliver comprehensive responses including: continuing to strengthen existing Māori and iwi Housing Providers to work directly with whānau, accelerate the supply of quality housing stock through refurbishment, deliver more affordable options to support those who are vulnerable, and support community-based housing projects, including those prioritised through the cross-agency Iwi/Māori Partnerships Programme.

Internal Affairs#

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Creating a Safe Online and Digital Environment for Children and Young People - Phase Two

This initiative is a public awareness campaign to help keep children and young people safe by: providing them with tips via direct messaging services (such as text messages), creating engaging materials for young people to support them to stay safe while online; and directing them to age-appropriate information and resources online. Phase two of the public awareness campaign will be over multiple channels (for example, it may include television, radio, and online social media). Messaging will be designed to target different age groups, varying degrees of access to technology, learning support needs, cultures, and those who speak languages other than English to create a safe online and digital environment for children and young people.

Digital Skills

This initiative addresses urgent gaps in digital skills for individuals, whānau and small businesses to deliver increased capability for people to communicate, transact, and survive through digital channels. This will be done by funding intermediaries to scale up their existing digital skills programmes, and working with Māori communities through trusted intermediaries (with a kaupapa Māori approach) to address digital skills gaps.

Ethnic Communities Multi-Lingual Information Network

This initiative will establish a network of ethnic community partners (information facilitators) who will disseminate critical government information into communities in multiple languages. This will enable the office of Ethnic Communities (OEC) to extend its reach beyond ethnic community leaders and organised groups, into ethnic households.

Gambling, Racing and Community Funding Policy Programme

This initiative provides funding to address issues arising from the impact COVID-19 has on the revenue streams of New Zealand's community and voluntary organisations, sporting organisations and racing industry. Many of these organisations rely on the proceeds of gambling for survival. COVID-19, and measures in place to combat it have significantly reduced these revenue streams in some areas to nil with no likelihood of business-as-usual resuming in the immediate future and contributed to decreasing lotteries sales. Ministers have directed the Department to deliver a significant multi-faceted programme of work under an accelerated timeline to address these issues. This includes the delivery of complex regulatory reform to introduce a managed online gambling market by the end of this Parliamentary term.

New Zealand Libraries Partnership Programme

This initiative supports librarians and library services to be retained in New Zealand libraries to support community recovery. This will be done through upskilling and providing specialist librarians; bolstering reading and digital literacy and learning activity; providing free public internet through all public libraries; providing relief for New Zealand libraries by waiving user charges and procurement costs for collaborative library services; and increasing Public Lending Right payments for authors.

One Time Identity

This funding will allow the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) to quickly and easily verify the identities of applicants and process new benefit applications. COVID-19 has put significant strain on MSD's contact centre to process new benefits requests and MSD anticipates another wave of applicants for support in the coming months.

Racing Industry Initial Recovery Package

This initiative provides emergency funding to ensure the survival of the racing industry through to 31 July 2020 and prevent the Racing Industry Transition Agency (RITA) from becoming insolvent. This would lead to the loss of jobs and impact on efforts to revitalise the racing industry. The funding will be spent repaying creditors, restructuring the industry and meeting other costs to support the implementation and monitoring of the support package.

Statutory Inquiries Extensions

This initiative provides funding for additional costs faced by the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Attack on the Christchurch Mosques and the Government Enquiry into Operation Burnham, due to COVID-19. The costs relate to the retention of Inquiry Secretariat staff, Inquiry Members, premises and other physical resources, and to support the inquiries over a longer timeframe than originally planned.

Supporting Local Government Response and Recovery

This initiative provides funding to enable the Central-Local Government Partnership Group (CLGP) to continue its work on local government reform programmes and to support the development and implementation of a Local Government Recovery Plan.

WhatsApp Channel

This initiative provides funding for the WhatsApp channel that was established by the Government Chief Digital officer in response to an urgent request for assistance from the Ministry of Health. The channel communicates authoritative COVID-19 information to New Zealanders, relieving pressure on queries to the Ministry of Health's contact centre.

Justice#

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Whānau Protect - Expanding National Home Safety Under COVID-19

This initiative will provide funding for the Whānau Protect service, which assists children and whānau who are at high risk due to repeat family violence by making practical security improvements to their homes. The funding will increase services, helping victims remain in their homes, remove the cost and burden of relocating, deter perpetrators and reduce the likelihood of further violence, including while restrictions on movement are in place as a result of COVID-19. Whānau Protect is effective in preventing family violence and directly impacts on children to improve life trajectories.

Labour Market#

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He Poutama Rangatahi

This initiative provides ongoing funding for He Poutama Rangatahi (HPR) in the regions, and accelerates its establishment into urban areas that have the greatest volumes of young people not in employment, education or training (NEET). HPR provides funding to community-driven programmes to resolve barriers to employment, education and training.

Investment in Labour Market Response

This initiative provides funding for a temporary increase in resourcing for the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment's employment services to increase the availability of support and guidance for workers and workplaces following COVID-19, including a contestable fund for business organisations, unions, and community providers.

Jobs and Skills Hubs

This initiative provides funding for three existing Jobs and Skills Hubs that were agreed as part of the Construction Skills Action Plan [DEV-18-MIN-0187], and the establishment of three additional Hubs. The Hubs work with employers involved, for instance, in key construction and infrastructure projects in specific locations to facilitate fast-paced jobs brokerage and training across a range of job levels to use workers from the local workforce.

Māori Apprenticeships Fund

This initiative provides funding for programmes that support Māori apprenticeships to be sustained through an economic downturn (including through supporting group trades training schemes). Sustaining Māori apprenticeships will help industries hit the ground running with the skilled workers they need as the economy recovers. It will also help to sustain improvements in Māori skills, employment and earnings and, in turn, improve economic and social outcomes for whānau and Māori communities.

Regional Skills Leadership Groups (RSLGs)

This initiative funds the establishment and ongoing operation of 15 Regional Skills Leadership Group (RSLGs), as agreed by Cabinet as part of the reform of vocational education. RSLGs' purpose is to facilitate local dialogue to ascertain regional labour market needs, and develop Regional Workforce Plans. These will be used to inform economic development and skills investment needs, informing the Government's reformed vocational education, immigration and welfare systems. RSLGs will be comprised of members from local industry, union, iwi and broader community representatives, with the support of a local RSLG secretariat. This network will be supported by a central secretariat providing data analytics, policy and governance to support RSLGs to develop strong intelligence and planning.

Support for Industry Health and Safety Leadership Groups

This initiative provides funding to support industry health and safety leadership groups to sustain core capacity to deliver planned activities in priority sectors that directly contribute to healthy and safe economic recovery. Job losses across leadership groups would be felt acutely in the health and safety system, due to the loss of significant sector and technical expertise.

WorkSafe New Zealand Operational Response to COVID-19

This initiative provides funding to support WorkSafe New Zealand's operational response to COVID-19, including a media campaign to raise awareness and support businesses on the effective implementation of COVID-19 controls, and the provision of additional technical guidance and advice to businesses and workers.

Lands#

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Bad and Doubtful Debt Increase as a Result of the Impact of COVID-19

This initiative will increase the provision for bad and doubtful debts as a result of COVID-19. This funding is a non-discretionary expense necessary to meet the increase in cashflow problems of Land Information New Zealand's (LINZ) tenants forecast as a result of COVID-19. This is a technical initiative.

Land Information New Zealand Biosecurity Programme for Immediate and Sustained Job Creation to Remove Pests and Weeds

This initiative will enable the scaling up of LINZ biosecurity programme to remove pests and weeds from some of New Zealand's iconic landscapes. This expense will bring immediate and sustained employment and economic stimulus benefits for some of the regions most impacted by COVID-19.

Land Information New Zealand Third Party Funding Shortfall

This initiative will provide a capital injection to LINZ to enable LINZ to meet its operating expenses and provide stability for its balance sheet as it faces a significant shortfall in third-party funded revenue as a result of COVID-19.

Māori Development#

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Te hanga hapori pūmau, manahau hoki mā te whakapiki me te whakawhānui i te matatau pakihi o ngā whakahaere Māori

Building Sustainable and Resilient Communities Through Increasing the Capability and Capacity of Māori Organisations

This initiative provides funding to support iwi and Māori Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) to contribute to strategic planning and implementation processes throughout the response to COVID-19, and to respond to the needs of local communities. Iwi and Māori organisations have worked at the forefront of the COVID-19 response and have a critical role in building sustainable and resilient communities through the recovery period. This supports a Treaty Partnership approach to the recovery, enabling participation, partnership and protection, and will ensure the social and economic needs and aspirations of Māori are addressed. This will support an estimated 80-100 NGOs.

Te Ao Pāpāho ki Tua: Te tautoko i te whakapikinga o ngā mahi whakaputa kōrero o te wā

Māori Media Sector: Supporting News and Current Affairs Capacity

This initiative will enable Te Māngai Pāho to fund the provision of additional COVID-19 related news and current affairs content. This would support the Māori Television Service and iwi radio to have improved capacity to deliver quality news and current affairs in the COVID-19 environment and provide COVID-19 related news and information to whānau and Māori communities.

Te tautoko mā Ngā Kete Tuku Iho a Te Puia

Support for New Zealand Māori Arts and Crafts Institute

This initiative will support the New Zealand Māori Arts and Crafts Institute (NZMACI) to continue to deliver on its legislated role under the New Zealand Māori Arts and Crafts Institute Act 1963 to ensure the ongoing preservation of Māori art, craft, culture and identity, including the development of technical skills and kaupapa. Funding will cover costs related to maintaining taonga, infrastructure, and enable 80 people into employment per annum. Funding will also support the local Rotorua economy. NZMACI is a core part of the Te Puia Tourism Centre, which attracts almost half a million visitors each year through its unique culture and commerce model. As a destination tourist attraction, NZMACI is likely to help stimulate the local economy.

Te tautoko i ngā ara mahi, whakawhanaketanga mā ngā Tahua Ākonga

Supporting Employment Opportunities and Development Through Cadetships

This initiative seeks funding to expand the Cadetships programme to enable employers and Māori employees to maximise new opportunities from the economic stimulus package and address the growing unemployment rate as a result of the economic impact of COVID-19. The Cadetships programme supports employer-driven upskilling and re-skilling activities for Māori employees, supporting Māori workers to move towards higher-skilled positions. Cadetships has demonstrated a positive impact on Māori earnings, skills and employability, and improves business productivity. It will contribute to broader health and wellbeing outcomes for Māori, who otherwise would likely be even harder hit by the economic impact of COVID-19 than other population groups.

Te tautoko i te whakaoranga whānau i te mate korona ināianei tonu, ā ngā rā tata e tū mai nei hoki

Whānau Ora: Supporting the Immediate and Near-Term Recovery of Whānau from COVID-19

This initiative provides funding to ensure that Māori and Pacific whānau can continue to receive support to navigate the near and medium-term impacts of COVID-19. Whānau Ora has taken on significantly more whānau during this crisis, and because Māori and Pacific whānau are uniquely impacted by COVID-19 from socio-economic, health and cultural perspectives, higher levels of demand are set to continue over the immediate and near term. This funding will ensure that Whānau Ora can continue to provide support that is timely and flexible as the socio-economic, health and other impacts of COVID-19 continue to affect whānau wellbeing.

Oranga Tamariki#

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Emergency Financial Assistance for Caregivers in Response to COVID-19: Base Rate Increase

This initiative seeks funding to increase the rates of the Foster Care Allowance (FCA), Orphan's Benefit (OB) and Unsupported Child's Benefit (UCB) by $25.00 per week per child, with an implementation date 6 July 2020.

Emergency Financial Assistance for Caregivers in Response to COVID-19: Supporting Stability and Care

This initiative seeks funding to deliver a package of support to caregivers to respond to the challenges and pressures as a result of COVID-19. The initiative provides funding for: (a) additional provision of approved respite care so that caregivers of children in State care continue to receive the Foster Care Allowance (FCA) for up to 20 days while the child they care for is in respite care; (b) caregivers who may provide care for less than 12 months to access the Orphan's Benefit (OB) and Unsupported Child's Benefit (UCB); and (c) an extension of the Birthday and Christmas Allowances to OB and UCB caregivers.

Pacific Peoples#

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Increase the Reach and Volume of Service of Tupu Aotearoa Across New Zealand

This initiative provides funding for the Tupu Aotearoa programme, administered by the Ministry for Pacific Peoples. This programme helps Pacific young people Not in Employment, Education and Training (NEET) to find employment, complete further training or undertake study. This initiative funds additional places in the programme in response to anticipated growth in Pacific unemployment, expands Tupu Aotearoa into new regions (Northland and Nelson/Marlborough) and expands the scope of the programme to Pacific people over the age of 39.

Operating Contingency - Improving Housing for Pacific Families and Communities

This initiative will improve housing across the continuum for Pacific communities. It will fund financial literacy services, support Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) to build 200-300 homes for Pacific families, support Pacific organisations to be able to register as Community Housing Providers, and explore opportunities outside of metropolitan cities for Pacific peoples to create their own success.

Pacific Community Content

This initiative seeks funding to develop culturally appropriate and Pacific language content for families and communities across Aotearoa. This is to ensure that Pacific families and communities are kept informed and can access and benefit from the various COVID-19 support packages available in a timely and meaningful way. The content will be delivered and shared across several well-established platforms including community radio, television and via multimedia including print and online.

The Pacific Aotearoa Community COVID-19 Recovery Fund

This initiative funds the Pacific Aotearoa Community COVID-19 Recovery Fund which invests in the ‘informal, unpaid or volunteer' Pacific economy. The Ministry for Pacific Peoples will work directly with Pacific communities to release funding which will enable communities to drive and lead their own COVID-19 recovery strategies, initiatives, and actions.

Toloa - Increasing Skills and Income Through Empowering Pacific Participation in Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics

This initiative provides funding to increase access to education, employment and business opportunities in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) related sectors by scaling up the Ministry's existing Toloa STEM initiative to meet unmet demand. This will help position Pacific families and communities to respond to and recover from the negative impacts of COVID-19. The Toloa STEM initiative provides a pathway approach for Pacific communities to increasingly participate in STEM related activities, inform Pacific young people about STEM subjects and careers, and provide tertiary scholarships and internships and create a new digital incubator and physical platforms to engage Pacific peoples in STEM.

Police#

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Funding for COVID-19

This initiative will enable the New Zealand Police to fund response costs including the procurement of Personal Protective Equipment and cancellation of annual leave.

Funding for Family Violence COVID-19 Response: Increased Funding for Counties Manukau Whāngaia Ngā Pā Harakeke Site

This initiative will provide additional funding for Counties Manukau through the Whāngaia Ngā Pā Harakeke site to support triaging of cases and enable the purchase of family violence services. Volume of family violence in Counties Manukau is the highest in New Zealand, and is at risk of worsening during the period of COVID-19. This funding will ensure that family violence services can be accessed through Whāngaia Ngā Pā Harakeke when needed.

Funding for Family Violence COVID-19 Response: Services for Children and Youth Experiencing Violence

This initiative seeks funding to purchase services for children and young people experiencing family violence and who are identified through multi-agency community response sites (eg, Whāngaia Ngā Pā Harakeke and Integrated Safety Response). This is particularly important at this time, as usual support networks of children and young people are disrupted during the period of COVID-19.

Prime Minister and Cabinet#

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Leading and Coordinating the All-of-Government COVID-19 Response Effort

This initiative supports the operating costs of leading and coordinating the All-of-Government (AoG) COVID-19 response, including the capital associated with establishing facilities and equipment for the AoG response team.

Revenue#

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Retaining Capability to Support the Government's Response to COVID-19

This initiative covers the retention of resources required to support customers, and other government agencies, in the immediate response to COVID-19. Funding will be used to support a broad range of activities, including new policy and policy changes. It also funds the resources required to maintain the integrity of the tax system and respond to new and existing compliance risks.

Introducing Grace Periods for the In-Work Tax Credit

This initiative will enable Inland Revenue to continue paying the in-work tax credit (IWTC) for two weeks when a family stops deriving employment income. The off-benefit rule would still apply (meaning that payments will stop if they go on a benefit, including within the two-week period). This will begin in the 2021/22 tax year.

Serious Fraud#

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Strengthening the Response to COVID-19 Related Serious Financial Crime

This initiative will strengthen the Serious Fraud Office's (SFO) response to the anticipated increase in serious financial crime during the COVID-19 related economic downturn and recovery. It will allow the SFO to lead prevention activities to reduce losses due to fraud and corruption in COVID-19 recovery activities and increase its investigative capacity to meet demand. Overall, the initiative will bolster the public sector's counter-fraud capability during this critical time.

Social Development#

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Continuing He Poutama Taitamariki for Young People

This initiative provides employment and other support to young people in Northland who are most at risk of long-term unemployment and poor social outcomes and may be disproportionately affected by the impacts of COVID-19. This will be achieved by supporting approximately 2,500 participants to find a future through work, training and new opportunities, with more intensive support for a minimum of 750 young people aged 18-24 and specialist assistance for a smaller group of young people aged 15-17.

COVID-19: Boosting Building Financial Capability Services to Assist the Recovery of Individuals and Whānau Impacted

This initiative provides support to key groups experiencing or at risk of experiencing hardship by strengthening Building Financial Capability (BFC) services. This will be achieved through strengthening the existing 131 Building Financial Capability providers to respond to the expected increase in demand due to COVID-19.

COVID-19: Building Māori Partnerships to Strengthen Social and Economic Wellbeing

This initiative strengthens and builds partnerships between the Ministry of Social Development and hapū/iwi organisations enabling them to deliver urgent support to whānau affected by COVID-19. This will be achieved through the establishment of a fund enabling a for Māori by Māori approach with a specific focus on supporting mobilisation of services and networks during lockdown, co-investing in initiatives that support whānau affected by COVID-19 and supporting co-design of local recovery phase services.

COVID-19: Investing In the Resilience and Recovery of Communities Affected by COVID-19

This initiative supports communities to enhance their wellbeing through connectedness and social cohesion. This will be achieved by strengthening community groups with a specific focus on enabling Māori, Pacific, refugee and migrant communities to respond to and more readily recover from the current and anticipated impacts of the COVID-19 crisis. Community groups are not traditional providers, instead they are made up of a cross-section of the local community, and public or population interest groups. The Ministry of Social Development and Department of Internal Affairs will work together on the allocation and distribution of funding.

COVID-19: Investing In the Resilience and Recovery of Providers Affected by COVID-19

This initiative will invest in the capability and resilience of existing providers to enable them to respond to and more readily recover from the current and anticipated impacts of COVID-19. This funding will enable providers to strengthen their organisational capability. Providing health and safety resources and implementing processes to continue to operate within the COVID-19 restrictions and adapt as we move throughout the different alert levels. This investment will protect the sector from the impacts of COVID-19 enabling it to continue to provide services to those already accessing their services, and to support new clients emerging as a result of the impacts of COVID-19.

COVID-19: Providing Support for Foodbanks, Food Rescue and Community Food Services in the COVID-19 Recovery

This initiative directly responds to an estimated additional 500,000 individuals and families impacted by COVID-19 who are struggling to afford food. Funding will increase support to foodbanks, food rescue and other community food services. It will also support leveraging of surplus donated food from food producers, manufacturers and suppliers that would otherwise go to landfill.

COVID-19: Responding to Increased Demand for Family Violence Services

This initiative will provide $8.6 million in one-off grants for 200 family violence providers to increase their capacity and ensure they are prepared to respond to an expected increase in need for services as a direct result of COVID-19. Further work on access to services is underway for the rest of the initiative.

Delaying the Implementation of the New Zealand Superannuation and Veteran's Pension Legislation Amendment Bill

This initiative provides funding to delay the implementation of the New Zealand Superannuation and Veteran's Pension Legislation Amendment Bill. This will enable the Ministry of Social Development to redirect resources to respond to the significant demand increase as a result of COVID-19.

Employment and Financial Support Response to COVID-19

This initiative will increase the workforce capacity of the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) to provide financial support services for an increased number of people expected to become unemployed due to COVID-19. This will expand and adjust MSD's employment resourcing to support more people requiring employment assistance and expand MSD's service delivery workforce to support more people expected to require financial assistance in the next 12-24 months.

Employment Service Response to COVID-19

This initiative provides funding for employment services to respond to the impact and assist with the recovery from COVID-19. It will increase the capacity of the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) to provide employment support by expanding and adjusting MSD's employment support services enabling MSD to take a more proactive and innovative approach with employers and employees, including providing ‘light touch' services before people enter the benefit system.

Expand and Strengthen Existing Employment Services to Support More Disabled New Zealanders into Employment

This initiative aims to enhance the employment outcomes of disabled individuals by expanding successful employment services. This will be achieved by increasing the capacity of services, making services available to young people in their final two years of school, and further upskilling jobseekers currently enrolled who face additional barriers to employment.

Supporting Offenders into Employment Phase Two

This initiative strengthens and expands employment services targeted towards individuals on remand awaiting their court appearance and who were previously in employment. This will improve employment and wellbeing outcomes for recently released prisoners, and reduce the risk of reoffending by providing them with long-term, intensive, wrap around support. It will improve prison release processes between the Department of Corrections and the Ministry of Social Development as well as improve reporting on outcomes and collaboration with other agency partners.

The Construction Accord: Expand Skills for Industry Initiative (COVID-19 Response)

This initiative will expand employment services provided to targeted groups through key partnerships under the Construction Accord Skills for Industry initiative. This will be achieved by engaging with partners, supporting planning for services whose delivery has been affected by COVID-19, piloting the Mayor's Taskforce for Jobs initiative and positioning the Ministry of Social Development to engage with the sector and employer and provider partners to support the Government-led recovery and help reduce the impact of COVID-19.

Transfer of Funding to Meet Current Demand Levels for the Community Awareness and Preparedness Fund (CAP Fund)

This initiative is a technical transfer, bringing $960,000 appropriated in 2020/21 for the Community Awareness and Preparedness Fund (CAP Fund) forward into 2019/20. The CAP Fund provides support to community groups with innovative local solutions, building community resilience and wellbeing and to help through challenges communities may face in the coming months due to COVID-19. The funds need to be brought forward to help meet a significantly higher demand for the funds than was originally anticipated. Additionally, $1.1 million allocated for E Tu Whānau and Pasefika Proud in 2020/21 will be brought forward to 2019/20 and re-prioritised for the CAP Fund.

Wage Subsidy Scheme Extension

This initiative funds the Wage Subsidy Scheme Extension. The Extension will provide further support to businesses who continue to be adversely impacted by COVID-19. An eight week extension is available to firms and self-employed workers who have experienced a revenue loss of at least 50 per cent for the 30-day period prior to applying. The extension will be open for applications from 10 June 2020 for a 12-week period and will be paid as an eight-week lump sum to employers at the same weekly rates as the current scheme.

Sport and Recreation#

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Recovery Package for the Play, Active Recreation and Sport System in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

This initiative will support the play, active recreation and sport system to respond to the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and associated lock down measures. The emphasis is on rebuilding community play, active recreation and sport organisations and also includes funding for Olympic and Paralympic sport.

Securing and Strengthening Frontline Water Safety Rescue and Prevention Services to Reduce New Zealand's Drowning Toll

This initiative will provide funding to ensure critical frontline rescue services delivered by Surf Life Saving New Zealand and Coastguard New Zealand are maintained at existing levels. It also invests in enhancing sector leadership and efficiency and addressing identified gaps in the sector's ability to deliver the goals of the Water Safety Strategy 2020.

Tertiary Education#

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Adult and Community Education (ACE) - A Modern Approach to Night Classes

This initiative provides funding to build the capability of providers and expanding the range of Government-funded Adult and Community Education (ACE) programmes to better meet the learning needs of New Zealanders in the post COVID-19 21st century.

Careers System Online: Tiro Whetū

This initiative enables the Tertiary Education System to develop a free, consistent, accessible, high quality tool for learners and workers to use throughout their lifetime to plan and manage their careers. It will help New Zealanders understand their transferrable skills and develop a personalised career plan. With a focus on supporting vulnerable populations and key government agencies. The tool will help New Zealanders understand the skills they have and their transferability to other jobs; clarify job-to-job flows, and raises New Zealanders confidence that their experience has given them skills relevant to jobs in demand. It will help secondary school students to gain line of sight to career opportunities and learning pathways needed, broadening their options to enable good decision-making.

Contingency: COVID-19 Support for Apprentices

This funding will support employers to keep their apprentices and continue to support their training, with a focus on apprentices getting industry-relevant skills that support ongoing sustainable employment.

COVID-19 Centres of Research Excellence Funding Transfer

This initiative is a fiscally neutral funding transfer to implement a six-month extension of current contracts with 10 Centres of Research Excellence due to the impact of COVID-19 and to avoid breaching appropriations.

COVID-19 Tertiary Education Grant Funding Transfer

This initiative provides funding to implement the Minister of Education's commitment to give tertiary education organisations funding certainty in 2020, regardless of any impact on domestic student numbers resulting from COVID-19. This initiative is fiscally neutral over 2019/20 and 2020/21, but requires an urgent and necessary transfer of funding to avoid breaching appropriations. It has no impact on payments to tertiary education organisations in 2020, or the funding available for 2021.

Establishing a Student Hardship Fund for 2020

This initiative establishes a COVID-19 student hardship fund for 2020 of $20 million to be available immediately. This will help students who may fall through the cracks of the general COVID-19 financial supports to access financial support and allow them to remain connected with their education provider.

Establishing Workforce Development Councils to Support COVID-19 Recovery

This initiative provides funding to accelerate the establishment of Workforce Development Councils (WDCs) to give industry greater leadership across the vocational education and training system, and help ensure the delivery of the skills industries needed to recover from the impact of COVID-19. WDCs are a foundational component of the Government's Reform of Vocational Education.

Meeting Increased Learner Need for Tertiary Education

This initiative provides funding to manage the cost of funding additional tertiary education enrolments from 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2023 expected as a result of COVID-19.

Support for Group Training Schemes to Retain Apprentices in Preparation of Post-COVID-19 Economic Recovery

This initiative funds Group Training Schemes to continue to employ apprentices whose host employers (primarily small construction businesses) are unable to support them and provide on-the-job opportunities. Retaining these apprentices through the COVID-19 restrictions will enable a quick restart of training once the restrictions are lifted and business opportunities improve for host employers. This will ensure apprentices can continue with their training and become work-ready sooner.

Targeted Training and Apprenticeship Fund

This initiative provides funding to make vocational learning options fees-free over the immediate period of the economic recession (2021-2022), to support people to upskill during the economic downturn, within the workplace, or at providers. It supports education and training towards qualifications to meet industry skill needs, and vocational learning for roles that support community wellbeing. It also provides training in smaller learning blocks, which supports delivery flexibility during the pandemic alert levels and will help fill gaps in learners' employment.

Transitional Industry Training Organisation and Workforce Development Council-Led COVID-19 Response Projects

This initiative provides funding for projects led by Transitional Industry Training Organisations (TITOs) and Workforce Development Councils (WDCs), involving industries, industry groups and training providers. The investment will be used to develop local and industry training responses to COVID-19, design alternative arrangements for apprentices who have lost jobs, design learning pathways with providers that work for industries, and review existing training standards and programme components so they are fit for purpose as short packages of learning or as part of changed pathway designs.

Transport#

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COVID-19 Funding to Maintain Essential Transport Connectivity

This initiative provides sector-specific support to maintain essential transport connectivity during the COVID-19 response and recovery. It enables the Government to respond quickly, on a case-by-case basis, where failure of a transport service would have significant negative social and economic outcomes.

COVID-19 Impacts for Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency's Regulatory Memorandum Accounts

This initiative supports the management of cost pressures generated by the response to COVID-19 on Waka Kotahi's regulatory memorandum accounts. The funding sought will enable Waka Kotahi to maintain the expenditure required so the agency can deliver its core regulatory functions across the land transport system.

COVID-19 Impacts on the National Land Transport Fund

This initiative enables Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency to manage the cash flow impacts on the National Land Transport Fund arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.