In October this year, new requirements about publishing grant information come into force.
These changes:
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require more detailed information to be provided about applications received, approved and declined
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stop the requirement to publish grant details in hard copy versions of newspapers.
The details are found in section 110 of the Gambling Act and apply to Class 4 societies that mainly or wholly distribute net proceeds to the community (i.e. most non-club societies).
Information on grant decision making
From 21 October 2016, a Class 4 society will be required to publish, at least once a year, a statement that includes the following information:
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details of all applications received during the reporting period
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details disclosing, for each application that has been determined during the reporting period,
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whether it has been accepted in full or declined in full
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whether it has been accepted in part and declined in part
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if it has been declined in full or in part, the reasons for that decision.
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every amount of net proceeds from Class 4 gambling distributed in the reporting period and the applicant to whom that amount relates.
Societies will also need to provide an electronic version of the grants statement information to the Secretary of Internal Affairs (s110(4B)).
We are considering whether new regulations should be developed that specify that publication on the society’s website is the minimum “publication” that will be needed or whether other requirements are also needed.
We are seeking your views on this issue and would like to hear from you about what form future publication of grant information should take.
Tell us your views
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Do you consider that new regulations are required to clarify the meaning of “publish”?
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Do you consider that requiring publication on a website is the best option to replace the current newspaper publication requirement? If not, what alternative/s would you prefer?
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What is your preferred option for providing a statement electronically to the Department?
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Are there any further matters on which the Department needs to provide guidance around grant making?
Please send your comments to the Department of Internal Affairs by 18 July 2016.
Email: gamblingreview@dia.govt.nz with “grant publication” in the subject line
Post: Safer Communities Team
Policy Group
Department of Internal Affairs
PO Box 805
Wellington 6140
Please note that all submissions may be made publicly available. Even if you request confidentiality, we may have to release your submission at a later date if a request is made under the Official Information Act 1982. In your submission please highlight the information you would prefer was withheld should a request be made. (Please note that while you may indicate the information you would like withheld, it can only be withheld if it meets the relevant criteria under the Official Information Act.)
Broader work on what regulations should require around grant making is on a longer timeframe than the work on how to publish grant information. We will update you in due course to explore the potential to work with the Class 4 sector on grant information. This may also include the design of a standardised approach to electronic grants statements.
Requirement to disclose any interest in the grant recipient
There is also a new requirement for societies’ grant decision-makers (net proceeds committee members) to declare in their published statements any “interest” they have in a recipient of a grant their committee made.
A member of a net proceeds committee will have an “interest” in a recipient of a grant if:
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the member may gain a financial benefit from the grant or may have a financial interest in the recipient; or
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the member is a “part of the immediate family” of the recipient; or
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where the recipient is an organisation, club, society, or association, the member is
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an officer or a member of the recipient; or
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part of the immediate family of an officer or a member of the recipient.
“Part of the immediate family” is defined in a new section 110(6) as meaning, in relation to an officer or a member of a Class 4 society’s net proceeds committee, a person who is:
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the member’s spouse, civil union partner, or de facto partner; or
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the member’s parent, child, sister, or brother; or
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the parent, child, sister, or brother of the member’s spouse, civil union partner, or de facto partner.
