What external legal costs, if any, were incurred by any department or entity for which the Minister is responsible in each financial year since 2020/21, broken down by department or entity and by the nature of the legal work (litigation, commercial advice, employment matters, Treaty matters, or other)?

Answer

Department of Internal Affairs: Please see table attached. Fire and Emergency New Zealand I am advised that Fire and Emergency New Zealand does not centrally record external legal expenditure by the categories requested (litigation, commercial advice, employment matters, Treaty matters, or other). This information is held at an individual level and would require a manual review of invoices and files to classify, which cannot be completed within the timeframe for responding to this written parliamentary question. Fire and Emergency New Zealand’s total external legal costs for each financial year since 2021/22 are set out in the table attached. The Classification Office: In 2023/24 and 2024/25 the quality review of classification decisions which is required in their Statement of Performance Expectations (see the 2025/26 document here, page 7) was conducted by lawyers. In the past it had been conducted by writing experts. The cost of the review is included in the attached table. Lotto NZ: Please see table attached.

Answer attachment

Download WQ_09363_2026.pdf

application/pdf · 216,988 bytes