3. Question No. 3—FinanceHon PAUL GOLDSMITH (National) to the Minister of FinanceQuestion No. 3—Finance3. Hon PAUL GOLDSMITH (National) to the Minister of Finance: How did the Government arrive at the figure of $50 billion that was allocated for the COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund in Budget 2020 and is the Treasury being required to use the CBAx tool when assessing bids for the fund? Hon GRANT ROBERTSON (Minister of Finance): Ngā mihi ki a koe. There were a number of factors the Government took into consideration when establishing the level of funding to set aside for the response and recovery fund. This included advice from Treasury on the likely impact of COVID-19 on businesses and public services and the level of fiscal stimulus to get the economy back up and running as quickly as possible. As I said in my Budget speech the $50 billion is an envelope that can be spent as necessary and required and is not a target per se. To answer the second part of the member's question I would encourage him to speak to his senior colleague the Hon Amy Adams who would tell him that the CBAx—which was developed under the previous Government—is not used by Treasury to assess Budget bids. Rather it is a tool departments may choose to use when requesting funding. Hon Paul Goldsmith: Why is his Government hardly using such an important tool to assess the quality and effectiveness of new spending right at the moment when it has never spent so much? Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: We've followed on from the decision made in 2017 that the CBAx tool was not a requirement. It could be used by agencies and departments to put forward bids. What we have done is taken an assessment of every single bid that has come forward for its value for money and its ability to support New Zealand to recover and rebuild from COVID-19. Hon Paul Goldsmith: So when the Government developed its $1.1 billion programme for possum trapping and other environmental projects with the expectation of 11000 jobs what cost-benefit analysis was applied to the decision? Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: Treasury undertook an analysis of each of the proposals that came forward to establish how they aligned with our plan to respond recover and rebuild; their investment readiness and timing implications; the clarity of their outcomes and costings; their alignment with overall Government objectives; an options analysis of what other options could achieve similar outcomes; whether or not money could be reprioritised from baselines; and how cross-agency work would support this. All of those factors were taken into account. Hon Paul Goldsmith: To the nearest $10 million how much new spending has he announced every day on average since the Budget? Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: The member won't be surprised that I don't have that figure with me but I would encourage him to listen to the words of his new leader when he said on Monday night we shouldn't quibble about how much money's been spent. Hon Paul Goldsmith: So is so much money being announced that he's lost track of it? Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: Far from it—far from it. Every single day the Government works to support New Zealanders to recover and rebuild and as I say the new Leader of the Opposition has been very clear: we shouldn't be quibbling about whether it's more or less expenditure. We should be focused on creating jobs and supporting New Zealand households which we are. Hon Paul Goldsmith: So is he satisfied with the results of the business finance guarantee scheme announced in March to act quickly to get $6.25 billion of new lending out to business when to date just $60 million has been lent? Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: I've made very very clear in comments in the media and indeed in this House that I would like to see that scheme work as well as it possibly can and it may well do that in the future. But the Government as we have done throughout our response has made sure that we've acted in response to what we've seen. That led us to bring in the small-business loan guarantee scheme which today ticked over $1 billion worth of lending to support small businesses. Hon Paul Goldsmith: Would he describe the business finance guarantee scheme as more or less successful than KiwiBuild? Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: What I would say is it's much more successful than that member has been. Hon James Shaw: Has he seen any recent reports on how New Zealanders rate the Government's response to the economic impact in the coronavirus outbreak and putting aside his legendary modesty could he explain why it might be? Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: Well far be it for the kūmara to speak of how sweet it may be but I think what we saw in the survey that the member is referencing is the fact that New Zealanders understand that this Government is focused on creating jobs and rebuilding New Zealand rather than focused on ourselves.