Update - Wednesday 6 August 2020
COVID-19 Local Government Response Unit main page
COVID-19 Response Preparedness
- COVID-19 continues to be a global issue and with kiwis continuing to return home we need to remain vigilant and prepared to respond to any resurgence of cases.
- While restrictions/requirements on businesses are lifted at Alert Level 1, we encourage councils to continue to promote best practice within your communities for good hand hygiene, cough etiquette and to support people to keep a diary of activities through displaying the contact tracing QR codes. You may find posters to support these messages here: https://covid19.govt.nz/updates-and-resources/posters/
- As noted above, the Response Unit leadership continues to meet regularly. We remain prepared to ramp up our support for local government if required in the instance of a resurgence.
- In July the Government set out the plan for responding to new cases of community transmission, should these arise.
- This “Stamp it Out” framework (PDF, 48KB) acknowledges that while it has been many weeks since our last case of community transmission, there is still a global pandemic raging outside our shores and we need to remain vigilant and prepared.
- In the event of community transmission, the Government has indicated it would move immediately to implement the “Stamp it Out” approach again.
- However, the alert level system and associated framework would this time be applied at a localised or regional level in the first instance.
- We have re-attached a set of key messages (PDF, 527KB) and an A3 on strategy that you may find useful to support you in conversations with your communities.
- The COVID-19 webpage continues to be updated with supporting material: https://covid19.govt.nz/updates-and-resources/latest-updates/
Update on the COVID-19 Response (Further Management Measures) Legislation Bill (No 2)
- On June 24 the Response Unit and the Office of the Auditor-General informed you of the Government’s proposed legislation to allow for extensions for annual reporting deadlines for local government.
- Today the House passed the Covid-19 Response (Further Management Measures) Legislation Bill (no2) giving effect to a two-month extension for local authorities to prepare their annual reports. You can find the legislation here: http://www.legislation.govt.nz/bill/government/2020/0318/latest/LMS361422.html
- Under this legislation, the new dates for local authorities to meet reporting timeframes are 30 November 2020 for Council Controlled Organisations and 31 December 2020 for Councils. The extension will be repealed 1 February 2021.
- It is important to communicate with your auditors to establish whether further time is required to prepare your audit opinion.
- While we support the need for high quality reporting at all times, we also appreciate that your communities face an important conversation about their response to the COVID-19 pandemic through the next long-term plan. Therefore, where possible, local authorities should aim to meet the original statutory deadline or complete their annual report as close to that deadline as possible so that your focus can shift to long-term plan preparation.
- The Auditor General will write to local authorities to provide further guidance for auditors and councils during this time.
Foreign Nationals Support Programme: messages and milestones
- The Assistance to Foreign Nationals Impacted by COVID-19 Programme (also called Visitor Care Manaaki Manuhiri by New Zealand Red Cross) formally began on 1 July.
- Please find attached the week 5 Dashboard (PDF, 751KB) based on data up to midnight Wednesday 29 July. This dashboard is unclassified – please feel free to share with your colleagues.
- As of midnight on Wednesday 29 July, the Programme has received 2339 applications and provided 3453 applicants with in-kind assistance.
- The Programme team continue to further refine and embed operational processes to ensure foreign nationals can easily access and navigate the online application process to receive the support they need.
- The process for supporting those in serious hardship, who are part of the RSE scheme or are international students, is in place. Furthermore, a review process has been set up and is working well.
- New Zealand Red Cross (NZRC) have increased public promotion with public engagement via NZRC contact centre and face-to-face interactions.
- The Programme team continue to address the time taken to process applications, by increasing the processing capacity and providing additional assistance to complete applications.
Recovery Reference Group
- The Recovery Reference Group will meet on Friday 7 August.
- At this meeting representatives from the Ministry for the Environment will attend to present on the jobs for nature mahi.
- We continue to consider how we might best share knowledge and insights from the Recovery Reference Group more broadly with local government sector beyond these update emails.
