10 October 2022
Ref: DOIA 2223-0393
Tim
[FYI request #20327 email]
Dear Tim
Thank you for your email of 27 August 2022 to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE)
requesting, under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act), the following information:
I am interested to understand how much money has been spent on industry transformation plans to
date, and how much is budgeted.
Could this request please be extended to any other ministry / government entity that has budget for
this work. E.g. Min Primary Industries is doing forestry and food and beverage plans.
Please include in this request,
- how many full time equivalent staff are working on industry transformation plans, listed by
organisation
- what is the annual cost of staff working on industry transformation plans, listed by Ministry,
including salary and non-salary costs (e.g. overheads).
- what has been the spending to date on external contractors on industry transformation plans,
listed by external contractor and service provided.
- what are the different budgets for industry transformation plans and how much is in each budget,
over each year etc.
Finally, has any review been done by MBIE of the success of 'Industrial Policy' overseas and in
New Zealand's own history and the return on investment? If reports have been done considering
such matters, is it please possible to have a copy? Has MBIE relied on reports that exist already and
if so, which reports?
We contacted you on 15 September 2022 to inform you that the due date for a response was extended
under section 15A(1)(a) and section 15A(1)(b) of the Act until 14 October 2022.
I have addressed each part of your request as follows:
How much money has been spent on industry transformation plans to date, and how much is
budgeted?
What are the different budgets for industry transformation plans and how much is in each budget,
over each year etc?
Labour, Science and Enterprise
15 Stout Street, PO Box 1473, Wellington 6140 New Zealand
E [email address]
W www.mbie.govt.nz
What has been the spending to date on external contractors on industry transformation plans,
listed by external contractor and service provided?
As noted on MBIE’s website
(www.mbie.govt.nz/business-and-employment/economic-
development/industry-policy/industry-transformation-plans/), there are multiple Industry Transformation
Plans (ITPs). MBIE leads the Advanced Manufacturing, Agritech, Construction, Digital Technologies and
Tourism ITPs, as well as the cross-ITP Enabling Māori Fund. As such, MBIE has provided information in
relation to the ITPs it leads, and has transferred your request to the Ministry for Primary Industries in
relation to information it holds about the ITPs for which they are the lead agency.
Information regarding the funding allocated to ITPs in each Budget is publicly available in the Estimates
documents published with each year’s Budget. As an example, documents on the Budget 2022 website list
the appropriations with spend relating to ITPs provided to MBIE in 2021/22 and 2022/23 for Business,
Science and Innovation
(https://budget.govt.nz/budget/2022/by/vote/buscin.htm) and Building and
Construction
(https://budget.govt.nz/budget/2022/by/vote/buicon.htm). For MBIE-led ITPs, funding is
allocated into Vote Business, Science and Innovation through the
Economic Development: Industry
Transformation Plans and
Policy Advice and Related Services to Ministers appropriations,
and into Vote
Building and Construction through the
Building Policy, Regulation and Advice appropriation.
To summarise this information, the following table shows the funding that has been allocated to MBIE-led
ITPs to date through Budgets and including also any out-of-cycle funding provided. Please note that some
figures for the 2022/23 financial year are tagged contingencies that may be drawn down.
ITP
Lead
Budget
Budget
Budget Total ($m)
Agency
2020 ($m)
2021 ($m)
2022 ($m)
Advanced Manufacturing
MBIE
–
–
30*
30
Agritech
MBIE
11.4
–
5*
16.4
and MPI
Construction
MBIE
8.5
–
37.49
46.4
Digital Technologies
MBIE
5
–
20
25
Tourism
MBIE
–
10
–
10
Cross-ITP Programme Funding (Enabling
MBIE
16.5
–
15.42
31.92
Māori Fund, engagement funding, near-
term initiatives, programme capability)
Total
41.4
10
107.91
159.72
* Indicates tagged contingency funding.
The table below shows spend to date for each ITP:
ITP
Total spend to date (as at August 2022) ($)
Advanced Manufacturing
0
Agritech
5,765,293
Construction
8,470,577
Digital Technologies
4,602,807
Tourism
800,000*
Near-term initiatives
1,387,396
Enabling Māori Fund
4,755,268
Engagement and programme capability
539,482
* Approximate.
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The table below provides information on three ITPs where contracted spend has been used, namely the
Agritech, Construction, and Tourism ITPs. The services provided were in relation to project management.
ITP
Contractor spend to date (August 2022)
Agritech
$154,527.87
The Johnson Group Ltd
$95,697.10
Robert Walters NZ Limited
$58,830.77
Construction
$587,939.34
Manpower Services Ltd
$96,402.43
Momentum Consulting
$2,735.60
Talent International (NZ) Limited
$189,325.19
Gemtech Solutions
$238,353.71
Robert Walters
$2,696.01
TSA Management
$54,742.00
Other individual contractors*
$3,684.40
Tourism
$114,738.03
OCG Consulting Ltd (Chandler Macleod Group company)
$114,738.03
* Names of individual contractors have not been provided on the basis of privacy.
Please note that MBIE undertakes work as part of the yearly Annual Review process (which provides
information to Parliament about MBIE that is also made publicly available). One of the responses to Annual
Review questions lists all consultants and contractors who have worked within MBIE each year, which
includes those who worked on ITPs. Information on spend for all MBIE contractors for the 2020/21 year is
available on Parliament’s website at the following link:
www.parliament.nz/resource/en-
NZ/53SCED_EVI_119680_ED8679/afb27f6a0e154e9e1197b3b455d79e4e7cce1f63. Information on the
2021/22 year is likely to be published on Parliament’s website in late November 2022, though please note
that this process can sometimes be delayed into approximately February of the following year.
Could this request please be extended to any other ministry / government entity that has budget for
this work. E.g. Min Primary Industries is doing forestry and food and beverage plans.
We contacted you on 14 September 2022 advising you that this part of your request has been transferred
under section 14(b)(i) of the Act to the Ministry for Primary Industries.
How many full time equivalent staff are working on industry transformation plans, listed by
organisation;
What is the annual cost of staff working on industry transformation plans, listed by Ministry,
including salary and non-salary costs (e.g. overheads);
We have various teams at MBIE that have some staff working in some capacity on ITPs. It is not possible to
calculate how many full-time equivalent staff (including contractors) work solely on ITPs, because the
teams and roles involved encompass a wider range of tasks and projects. MBIE staff may also work across
several different ITPs at the same time (e.g. in the programme secretariat or for the administration of the
Enabling Māori Fund), and contribute to cross-agency ITP work. Therefore, aside from the information on
contractors as noted above, MBIE is unable to provide accurate information on the annual cost of staff
working on ITPs and a breakdown of salary and overhead costs. This aspect of your request is therefore
subject to a technical refusal under 18(e) of the Act, as the information does not exist or cannot be found.
Finally, has any review been done by MBIE of the success of 'Industrial Policy' overseas and in New
Zealand's own history and the return on investment? If reports have been done considering such
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matters, is it please possible to have a copy? Has MBIE relied on reports that exist already and if so,
which reports?
In developing the Government’s Industry Strategy, MBIE has considered similar industry policy and industry
transformation programmes in other countries, for example, Industry Transformation Maps in Singapore
and the United Kingdom Industry Strategy.
We have provided references below to some of the reports and papers:
• Related Cabinet papers and minutes, as noted on the MBIE ITP website (mbie.govt.nz):
www.mbie.govt.nz/business-and-employment/economic-development/industry-policy/industry-
transformation-plans/
• “Industrial Policy for the 21st century” paper by Dani Rodrik, John F. Kennedy School of
Government, Harvard University (harvard.edu): drodrik.scholar.harvard.edu/files/dani-
rodrik/files/industrial-policy-twenty-first-century.pdf
• “Frontier firms: An international small advanced economy perspective” paper by Dr David Skilling
(Landfall Strategy Group) for New Zealand Productivity Commission Te Kōmihana Whai Hua o
Aotearoa (productivity.govt.nz):
www.productivity.govt.nz/assets/Documents/frontier-
firms/2580acf490/Frontier-firms_David-Skilling.pdf
• “New Zealand firms: Reaching for the frontier” by the New Zealand Productivity Commission Te
Kōmihana Whai Hua o Aotearoa (productivity.govt.nz):
https://www.productivity.govt.nz/assets/Documents/Final-report-Frontier-firms.pdf
• “Beyond Industrial Policy” by Ken Warwick, OECD Science, Technology and Industry Policy Papers,
No. 2, OECD Publishing (enterprise-development.org)
: www.enterprise-development.org/wp-
content/uploads/Beyond_Industrial_Policy.pdf.
I trust you will find this information useful. You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the
Ombudsman of this decision. Information about how to make a complaint is available at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone 0800 802 602.
Yours sincerely
Gina Williamson
Manager, Industry Policy
Labour, Science and Enterprise
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