In 2019, our report Using “functional leadership” to improve government procurement looked at how well public sector leadership over procurement was helping deliver on the expectations that public organisations understand and treat procurement as a strategic activity that is focused on outcomes. Our report included recommendations for New Zealand Government Procurement (part of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment) and Te Kawa Mataaho Public Service Commission to help strengthen the framework that underpins the procurement functional leadership role.

We asked both agencies to provide an update on their response to our recommendations. The agencies wrote to us with their updates, which we have published on our website.

Controller update: What do you know about Supplementary Estimates?

This update explains how changes to the Budget are scrutinised and approved, and the Controller and Auditor-General’s role in monitoring these approvals.

The Supplementary Estimates is an important, but not so well known, part of the way in which Parliament authorises Government spending.

When the Government introduced the Budget in May 2021 for the year ahead (2021/22), it also introduced a second Bill – the Supplementary Estimates Bill – which asked Parliament to approve an extra $20.1 billion of spending for the then current year (2020/21). It is normal for the initial Budget to be updated through this process. It happens every year, under every government.

In recent years, the increases made during the year to the initial Budget have ranged between $0.9 billion and $4.8 billion. Because of the size of this year’s increase ($20.1 billion – a 15% increase), we thought it useful to explain more about this process to the public.

We’d like your feedback: Our website includes a feedback form. Please tell us if you found our information useful.

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