Collins JudithPOLICING (COST RECOVERY) AMENDMENT BILLThird ReadingHon JUDITH COLLINS (Minister of Police): I move That the Policing (Cost Recovery) Amendment Bill be now read a third time. This bill amends the Policing Act 2008 to enable cost recovery for certain policing services that fall within the definition of a demand service". The New Zealand Police is one of the few police services worldwide that does not have legislation that explicitly allows for some degree of cost recovery.Cost recovery is common for many public sector agencies in New Zealand both at local and central government level. For example the Ministry for Primary Industries has a system in place to recover the costs of providing for food safety fisheries and biosecurity services and the Department of Internal Affairs charges fees for the provision of New Zealand passports. Providing for cost recovery in the Policing Act through regulations will enable the Police to substantially meet the costs associated with certain policing services. This will avoid placing additional strain on taxpayer funds or shifting resources towards those services at the expense of other policing services. It will also safeguard the delivery of these services by ensuring that funding is specifically ring-fenced for them.Under this bill the Minister of Police can recommend regulations prescribing fees or charges for certain policing services. The service must be a demand service. The fee or charge must be consistent with certain cost-recovery criteria and everything reasonable must have been done to consult persons and organisations affected. A demand service is a policing service requested by an individual organisation that is of direct benefit to that individual organisation even though there may also be some indirect benefit to the public. It does not include responding to 111 calls. It does not include conducting criminal investigations nor the prosecuting of criminal offences.The bill does not list the specific policing services that costs can be recovered for other than the provision of vetting services by the Police. This is the only policing service currently being considered for cost recovery. Following the passage of this bill it is intended to introduce regulations to enable cost recovery for the police-vetting service. The regulations will set a fixed fee of $8.50 per vetting request to cover the actual and reasonable costs of the police-vetting service. Regulations will also provide for a range of fee waivers including for agencies making 20 vetting requests or fewer per year and for registered charities. Fees may also be waived for agencies facing extreme hardship and in cases where there are exceptional circumstances.I would like to acknowledge at this stage the support of our support parties—the Māori Party United Future and the ACT Party and particularly note their submissions relating to registered charities.In conclusion the Policing (Cost Recovery) Amendment Bill enables the Police to recover the costs of certain policing services that come within the definition of a demand service as set out in the bill. This will help the Police ensure that resources are not diverted from front-line services. Cost recovery by public sector agencies in New Zealand already occurs and leads to better allocation of taxpayer resources. I believe there is a strong case for this to include cost recovery for policing services where the service is of direct benefit to individuals or organisations. I commend this bill to the House."