The Crown can pay for certain expenses without needing extra approval. You might wonder what kind of expenses these are. The Crown can reimburse a local authority or Watercare Services Limited for expenses they incurred during an emergency, but only if the expenses are for civil defence emergency management activities.

The expenses must also meet certain criteria that were set out in a Government policy before the emergency happened. This means the Government had already decided what kinds of expenses would be allowed.

The Crown can use public money to pay for these expenses, as long as they follow the rules set out in the policy.