Official Information Act Response 20200360
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Reference: 20200360 8 December 2020 s9(2)(a) Dear s9(2)(a) Thank you for your Official Information Act request, received on 27 October 2020. You requested: Could I please request: Treasury Report T2020/1655: Impacts of COVID-19 on the Crown-owned companies Treasury Report T2020/1663: KiwiRail Equity Drawdown to Fund Multiple Projects Treasury Report T2020/1803: Letter to FEC: Petition of Willie Snowden: Help Save Regional Jobs and Businesses Joint Report by the Treasury and Ministry of Health T2020/560: Auckland and Canterbury District Health Board 2019/20 Annual Plans Aide Memoire T2020/1759: Meeting with Canadian Minister for Middle Class Prosperity Mona Fortier Treasury Report T2020/1862: Continuing New Zealand's International Monetary Fund Lending Commitments We sought an extension for our response to this Official Information Act request on 16 November 2020, due to the complexity of item 1 (see below) and the large number of parties who needed to be consulted on its contents. 1 The Terrace PO Box 3724 Wellington 6140 New Zealand tel. +64-4-472-2733 https://treasury.govt.nz Information being released Please find enclosed the following documents: Item Date Document Description Decision 1. 4 June 2020 Treasury Report and Cabinet paper: Impacts of Release in part COVID-19 on the Crown-owned companies 2. 8 June 2020 Treasury Report: KiwiRail Equity Drawdown to Release in part Fund Multiple Projects 3. 8 June 2020 Treasury Report: Letter to FEC: Petition of Willie Release in part Snowden: Help Save Regional Jobs and Businesses 4. 10 June 2020 Joint Report: Auckland and Canterbury District Release in part Health Board 2019/20 Annual Plans 5. 18 June 2020 Aide Memoire: Meeting with Canadian Minister for Release in part Middle Class Prosperity and Associate Minister of Finance, Mona Fortier 6. 25 June 2020 Treasury Report and Cabinet paper: Continuing Release in part New Zealand’s participation in International Monetary Fund Borrowing arrangements I have decided to release the relevant parts of the documents listed above, subject to information being withheld under one or more of the following sections of the Official Information Act, as applicable: • section 6(a) - making available this information would be likely to prejudice the security or defence of New Zealand or the international relations of the Government of New Zealand; • section 6(b)(ii) - making this information available may prejudice the information to the Government of New Zealand on a basis of confidence by an international organisation; • section 9(2)(b)(ii) –making this information available would be likely unreasonably to prejudice the commercial position of the person who supplied or who is subject to the information; • section 9(2)(ba)(i) - to protect information provided which is subject to an obligation of confidence, where the making of the available information would be likely to prejudice the supply of similar information, or information from the same source, and it is in the public interest that such information should continue to be supplied; • section 9(2)(f)(iv) - to maintain the current constitutional conventions protecting the confidentiality of advice tendered by Ministers and officials for the time being; • section 9(2)(g)(i) – to maintain the effective conduct of public affairs through the free and frank expression of opinions, 1 • section 9(2)(g)(ii) – to maintain the effective conduct of public affairs through protecting ministers, members of government organisations, officers and employees from improper pressure or harassment; • section 9(2)(i) - to enable commercial activities to continue without prejudice or disadvantage; • section 9(2)(j) – to enable a Minister of the Crown or any public service agency or organisation holding the information to carry on, without prejudice or disadvantage, negotiations; and • section 9(2)(k) – to prevent the disclosure or use of official information for improper gain or advantage. Direct dial phone numbers of officials have been redacted under section 9(2)(k) of the Official Information Act to reduce the possibility of staff being exposed to phishing and other scams. This is because information released under the Official Information Act may end up in the public domain, for example, on websites, including the Treasury’s website. Context Item 1, Treasury Report and Cabinet paper: Impacts of COVID-19 on the Crown-owned companies, was written based on information accurate as at 27 May 2020. There have since been a number of developments. In particular, Quotable Value has repaid the wage subsidy that it was noted as having received. Information publicly available The following information is also covered by your request and is publicly available: Document Website Address Item Date Description 1. 10 June 2020 Appendices of - https://www.cdhb.health.nz/wp- Joint Report: content/uploads/36b4a088-canterbury-dhb- Auckland and annual-plan-2019-2020.pdf Canterbury District Health Board 2019/20 Annual https://www.adhb.health.nz/assets/Document Plans s/About-Us/Planning-documents/Auckland- DHB-Annual-Plan-2019-20.pdf Accordingly, I have refused your request for the documents listed in the above table under section 18(d) of the Official Information Act, as the information requested is publicly available. 2 Please note that this letter (with your personal details removed) and enclosed documents may be published on the Treasury website. This reply addresses the information you requested. You have the right to ask the Ombudsman to investigate and review my decision. Yours sincerely Juston Anderson Acting Manager, Commercial Performance 3 TOIA 20200360 Table of Contents 1. Treasury Report T2020 1655 - Impacts of COVID-19 on the Crown-owned 1 companies 2. Treasury Report T2020 1663 - KiwiRail Equity Drawdown to Fund Multiple Projects 35 3. Treasury Report T2020 1803 - Letter to FEC - Petition of Willie Snowden - Help 44 Save Regional Jobs and Businesses 4. Joint Report by the Treasury and Ministry of Health T2020 560 - Auckland and 56 Canterbury District Health Board 2019-20 Annual Plans 5. Aide memoire - Meeting with Canadian Minister for Middle Class 72 6. Treasury Report T2020 1862 - Continuing New Zealand's International Monetary 83 Fund Lending Commitments 20200360 Doc 1 Page 1 of 102 COMMERCIAL-IN-CONFIDENCE Treasury Report: Impacts of COVID-19 on the Crown-owned companies Date: 4 June 2020 Report No: T2020/1655 File Number: SE-1-2-4 Action Sought Action Sought Deadline Minister for State Owned Enterprises Agree to the 12 June 2020, to allow for cross party (Rt Hon Winston Peters) recommendations consultation prior to lodgement by 10am on 25 June 2020 Minister of Finance Agree to the 12 June 2020, to allow for cross party (Hon Grant Robertson) recommendations and consultation prior to lodgement by sign the attached Cabinet 10am on 25 June 2020 paper Associate Minister of Finance Agree to the 12 June 2020, to allow for cross party (Hon David Parker) recommendations consultation prior to lodgement by 10am on 25 June 2020 Associate Minister for State Owned Agree to the 12 June 2020, to allow for cross party Enterprises recommendations consultation prior to lodgement by (Hon Shane Jones) 10am on 25 June 2020 Contact for Telephone Discussion (if required) Name Position Telephone 1st Contact Amanda Wilson Analyst, Commercial Performance s9(2)(k) Shelley Manager, Commercial Performance Hollingsworth Actions for the Minister’s Office Staff (if required) Return the signed report to Treasury. Lodge the signed Cabinet paper (with Appendix 1) with the Cabinet Office by 10am on 25 June 2020 – Minister of Finance’s Office only Enclosure: Speaking notes for SOP Cab paper (Treasury:4289927v1) Treasury: 4283822v1 COMMERCIAL-IN-CONFIDENCE 20200360 Doc 1 Page 2 of 102 COMMERCIAL-IN-CONFIDENCE Treasury Report: Impacts of COVID-19 on the Crown-owned companies Purpose of Report 1. This report provides you with a paper to take to the Cabinet Government Administration and Expenditure Review Committee to inform them about the impacts of COVID-19 on the Crown-owned companies monitored by the Treasury. Background 2. The Treasury has been providing fortnightly updates on the impacts of COVID-19 on the Crown-owned companies that it monitors, based on a number of scenarios that stress-test these companies. 3. This assessment has been completed based on a RAG (red, amber, green) rating over three periods. We have assessed all of these companies on the following dimensions (at a minimum), with a full report on the outcome of that assessment provided to Ministers for companies with red or amber ratings in either the immediate (0-3 months), medium (3-6 months) or longer-term (>6 months). a revenue impacts b cost flexibility c capital expenditure plans, and d balance sheet capacity and liquid resources. 4. This approach has allowed Ministers to identify and prioritise potential interventions required. We update this approach fortnightly in a SITREP format by highlighting any new or amended text from the previous report in red to allow for ease of reading. 5. As the common shareholder across the various company forms, the Minister of Finance has advised that he would like to take the RAG assessments to Cabinet to inform his colleagues on the state of the Crown-owned companies contained in this paper. A draft Cabinet paper has been provided for this purpose. Scenario 6. To ensure a consistent approach to the modelling provided by the companies, we asked them to provide forecasts based on the Treasury Scenario 5, which assumes Alert Level 4 for one month, Alert Level 3 for one month and Alert Level 2/1 for the balance of a 12-month period. We chose this scenario to provide a stress-test of the companies. The exact details of the scenario are not by themselves important; it was more important to apply a material but still plausible negative shock to the companies and to test their ability to withstand it.