Dear Bay of Plenty District Health Board,

Ministry of Health provided me with the Schedule 7 (capital expenditure) which shows year to date monthly capital expenditure for BOP DHB for 2016 year.
However, I am puzzled by the fact that year to date capital expenditure can be negative.

For example, given below is the capital expenditure on two asset classes: Clinical equipment & Other Equipment for year 2016, which is provided by MOH.

District Health Boards Year Month Clinical Equipment Other Equipment
Bay of Plenty DHB 2016 Jul-15 -317.00 -476.00
Bay of Plenty DHB 2016 Aug-15 -317.00 -476.00
Bay of Plenty DHB 2016 Sep-15 -317.00 -476.00
Bay of Plenty DHB 2016 Oct-15 -681.00 -476.00
Bay of Plenty DHB 2016 Nov-15 -682.10 -476.00
Bay of Plenty DHB 2016 Dec-15 -682.10 -476.00
Bay of Plenty DHB 2016 Jan-16 403.53 -476.00
Bay of Plenty DHB 2016 Feb-16 403.53 -476.00
Bay of Plenty DHB 2016 Mar-16 93.30 -476.00
Bay of Plenty DHB 2016 Apr-16 349.62 -512.07
Bay of Plenty DHB 2016 May-16 1234.54 -490.40
Bay of Plenty DHB 2016 Jun-16 1417.53 -486.86

The data shows, both 'clinical equipment' expenditure and 'other equipment' expenditure started as negative capital expenditures. Can you tell me why this? How can expenditure start as negative value?
In January 2016, the year to data expenditure on 'Clinical equipment' became positive, so what changed from December 2016 to January 2016 to make it positive?

For asset class 'Other equipment', the negative expenditure increased from $476 in March 2016 to $512.07 in April 2016. How did negative capital expenditure increase?

Ministry of Health, advised me to contact you directly in regards to this, hence this Official information request.

Expecting an explanation.

Yours faithfully,

Antony Andrews