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5. Customs' Capabilities


Overview of the Customs Vote

For Vote Customs, departmental appropriations that the Minister of Customs is responsible total $125 million in 2008/09.

These are funded by the Crown ($80 million plus) and by industry and others ($40 million plus) - primarily importers and exporters. Third party revenue is showing signs of coming under pressure with reducing economic activity reflected in reducing Import and Export entry levels. The current fees were based on forecasts completed over 12 months ago.

Personnel and related costs make up over 75% of Customs expenditure baseline in 2009/10 with unavoidable committed costs in respect of accommodation, depreciation, capital charge, software and maintenance contracts. The maintenance of cargo screening equipment accounts for more than two thirds of the remaining baseline expenditure.

Customs ten output classes and the amount of funding allocated to each of them is summarised below. More detail on these can be found in the New Zealand Customs Service Statement of Intent 2008-2011.

  • $9 million on policy advice (including servicing 5 overseas posts)
  • $4 million on intelligence and risk assessment services
  • $42 million on clearance of international passengers, crew and craft
  • $46 million on clearance of import, export and excise transactions
  • $2 million on technical advisory services
  • $3 million on revenue collection, accounting and debt management
  • $6 million on surveillance, search and containment
  • $1 million on the National Maritime Co-ordination Centre
  • $10 million on investigations of offences
  • $1 million on prosecutions and civil proceedings.

Capability and Capacity

Our capabilities comprise the various resources that we need to do our work. Customs capabilities are provided through our: 

  • staff (through their professionalism, leadership, shared culture, knowledge and skills)
  • processes (through information, intelligence, technology, use of assets and organisational structure)
  • systems (through border management applications eg. passenger processing, risk management and targeting and intelligence analysis tools
  • relationships (including with other New Zealand Government agencies and with many stakeholders, both on and offshore).
Capacity describes the adequacy of the available supply of these various capabilities for delivering the necessary quantity and quality of service.

People Capabilities

Our success depends most of all on our people - specifically, on their shared capabilities, competence and integrity. Customs performance reputation is built on the performance and integrity of our workforce. We have an Integrity Assurance Framework supplemented by a Code of Conduct. These, together with a range of other policies, support staff to develop and maintain the highest standards of service.

Currently, the most notable trend in our workforce is the changing age profile of staff. A large cohort of older and experienced Customs staff has begun retiring and the overall staff age mix is shifting towards an overall profile that comprises a younger and less experienced workforce. Alongside this change, there are increasing demands on all staff to work with new and advanced technologies and other new system requirements. The changes will be reaching a peak over the next five years, and a focussed corporate strategy will be needed to deal with these.

Relationships

Good working relationships and agreements are crucial in our work, and we need to maintain and develop these. Some examples of our work to develop or support relationships are:
 
  • we play a lead role in upgrading customs capabilities in the Pacific region (through the Oceania Customs Organisation)
  • we have been instrumental in supporting the negotiations that produced the Secure Export Scheme with the USA, mutual recognition with Japan, and the China - NZ Free Trade Agreement
  • the Comptroller is the current Chair of the World Customs Organisation
  • we chair the Border Sector Governance Group
  • we have a number of memoranda of understandings with government agencies, including with Police, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Department of Labour and Ministry of Social Development.