Jeremy Shaw
[FYI request #25833 email]
30 April 2024
Dear Jeremy,
OIA 23-24-40: Funding provided to Te Hono and NZ Story Thank you for your email of 22 February 2024 to New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE),
making a request under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act). You requested the following
information:
Please supply an annual breakdown of NZTE's funding support to Te Hono from 2015 to 2024.
Please supply an annual breakdown of NZTE's spending on staff travel to Te Hono
events/meetings/conferences/retreats from 2016 to 2024, noting the location of the event, the
title(s) of the person(s) attending, and the class of air travel (ie economy, premium economy, or
business class if travelling internationally).
Please include a total accommodation cost for staff attending the above.
Please provide any documents produced since 2018 assessing the cost benefit/value of
NZTE's funding support to Te Hono.
If no such documents exist, please explain why the cost/benefit of this funding has not been
regularly assessed/reviewed.
Please provide any email correspondence/emails/letters or other documents between Te Hono
or its representatives and NZTE regarding funding support or funding requests for the period
between January 2022 and February 20, 2024.
Please supply a breakdown of NZTE's funding support for NZ Story annually for the past four
years.
Please supply an annual breakdown of NZTE's spending on staff travel to NZ Story
events/meetings/conferences/retreats from 2020 to 2024, noting the location of the event, the
title(s) of the person(s) attending, and the class of air travel (ie economy, premium economy, or
business class if travelling internationally).
Please include a total accommodation cost for staff attending the above.
Please provide any documents produced since 2020 assessing the cost benefit/value of
NZTE's funding support to NZ Story.
If no such documents exist, please explain why the cost/benefit of this funding has not been
regularly assessed/reviewed.
Please provide any email correspondence/emails/letters or other documents between NZ Story
and its representatives and NZTE regarding funding support or funding requests for the period
between January 2022 and February 20, 2024.
T: +64 4 816 8100
F: +64 4 816 8101
W: nzte.govt.nz
W: newzealand.com/business
Level 15, The Majestic Centre, 100 Willis Street, Wellington 6011, New Zealand, PO Box 2878, Wellington 6140, New Zealand
Answers to your questions are as follows
Please supply an annual breakdown of NZTE's funding support to Te Hono from 2015 to 2024.
Please refer to Appendix One for an annual breakdown of NZTE’s funding support to Te Hono
from 2015 to 2024. We note that NZTE is not the sole contributor to Te Hono. We understand
in the 2023/2024 financial year NZTE contributions are approximately 16.6%
of
Te Hono’s total
funding.
Please supply an annual breakdown of NZTE's spending on staff travel to Te Hono
events/meetings/conferences/retreats from 2016 to 2024, noting the location of the event, the
title(s) of the person(s) attending, and the class of air travel (ie economy, premium economy, or
business class if travelling internationally).
NZTE doesn’t keep a specific record of staff travel costs solely related to Te Hono events. This
is because travel may cover a range of other business as usual activities. Where spending on
staff travel and accommodation to Te Hono events from 2015 to 2024 has been specifically
annotated, please refer to Appendix Two.
Please include a total accommodation cost for staff attending the above.
This information has been aggregated together and included in the breakdown of NZTE’s
spending on staff travel and accommodation in Appendix Two. NZTE does not capture the
class of air travel in its records.
Please provide any documents produced since 2018 assessing the cost benefit/value of
NZTE's funding support to Te Hono.
If no such documents exist, please explain why the cost/benefit of this funding has not been
regularly assessed/reviewed.
Te Hono is a partnership between the leaders of Aotearoa New Zealand’s food and fibre sector
companies, iwi, and government agencies, established in 2011. Te Hono receives funding
through public and private partnership between government agencies and private sponsors.
NZTE’s direct financial contribution to Te Hono is outlined in the question on NZTE’s funding
support.
Te Hono’s purpose is to unite leaders from across the food and fibre sector to work together to
drive the transformation of the primary industry in New Zealand. They do this by delivering a
range of event-based activities designed to connect chief executives, industry leaders and
government officials who want to create change in the New Zealand primary sector and
agribusiness.
Between January 2018 and February 2024 Te Hono delivered over 45 events and activities that
have been tracked in a table below.
Activities
Years
Number of
events/activities
National Summit
2018
1
Design, tech summit and
2018, 2021, 2022, 2023
15
speaker engagement events
Alumni meeting
2018
1
Volume to Value Leaders
2019, 2024
2
Forum
Stanford Bootcamp; Covid-
2019, 2021, 2022, 2024
4
period NZ Bootcamps
Speaker series
2020, 2021, 2022, 2023
24
Note: Covid-19 lockdowns and event restrictions impacted in-person event activity between
2020-2022
Please provide any email correspondence/emails/letters or other documents between Te Hono
or its representatives and NZTE regarding funding support or funding requests for the period
between January 2022 and February 20, 2024.
This information is attached in Appendix Three. As part of its Service Agreement with Te Hono,
NZTE provides annual funding of $200,000. The contract in place between NZTE and a third
party is being withheld under section 9(2)(b)(ii) of the OIA, to protect both the commercial
position of the third party and the operation of a public private partnership. We confirm that the
agreement is in place to manage the operations of Te Hono. It includes clauses relating:
• term of the agreement
• what roles are required to manage the operations of Te Hono (and who is in those
roles); and
• the obligations of NZTE and the obligations of the third party under the agreement.
It also includes standard contractual clauses generally contained within a commercial
agreement including governing law and jurisdiction clauses, and privity of contract.
Please supply a breakdown of NZTE's funding support for NZ Story annually for the past four
years.
Please refer to the NZ Story Briefings to Incoming Ministers for information on NZTE’s funding
support for NZ Story. Briefings from July 2019, November 2020 and November 2023 can be
found here:
https://www.nzte.govt.nz/page/government-publications-media
Please supply an annual breakdown of NZTE's spending on staff travel to NZ Story
events/meetings/conferences/retreats from 2020 to 2024, noting the location of the event, the
title(s) of the person(s) attending, and the class of air travel (ie economy, premium economy, or
business class if travelling internationally).
NZTE doesn’t keep a specific record of staff travel costs that relate solely to NZ Story events.
This is because travel may cover a range of other business as usual activities. Where spending
on staff travel to NZ Story events from 2020 to 2024 has been specifically annotated, please
refer to Appendix Four. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic there were no in-person NZ Story
events in 2020 and the first half of 2021. NZTE does not capture class of air travel in its
records.
Please include a total accommodation cost for staff attending the above.
Please refer to Appendix Four for accommodation costs for NZTE staff attending NZ Story
events.
Please provide any documents produced since 2020 assessing the cost benefit/value of
NZTE's funding support to NZ Story.
If no such documents exist, please explain why the cost/benefit of this funding has not been
regularly assessed/reviewed.
Please refer to the NZ Story Briefings to Incoming Ministers for November 2023 for information
about NZ Story’s operational targets and performance. The Briefing can be found here:
https://www.nzte.govt.nz/page/government-publications-media
Please provide any email correspondence/emails/letters or other documents between NZ Story
and its representatives and NZTE regarding funding support or funding requests for the period
between January 2022 and February 20, 2024.
NZ Story is club funded by seven agencies: New Zealand Trade and Enterprise, the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs and Trade, Education NZ, Tourism NZ, Ministry for Primary Industries, Te Puni
Kōkiri, and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, along with central Crown
funding. To ensure operational efficiency, NZ Story is housed within NZTE.
NZTE funding for NZ Story is $500,000 per annum, funded through the
Collaborative activity
and special events appropriation, as noted in NZTE’s Statement of Performance Expectations.
As such, there is no annual correspondence between NZ Story and NZTE related to funding
requests, as it is part of standard NZTE and NZ Story operations.
You have the right under section 28(3) of the Act to seek an investigation and review by the
Ombudsman. Information about how to make a complaint is available at:
www.ombudsman.parliament.govt.nz or freephone: 0800 802 602.
Yours sincerely
Melissa Trochon
Director – Board & Ministerial
