7. Question No. 7—HealthMATT DOOCEY (National—Waimakariri) to the Minister of HealthQuestion No. 7—Health7. MATT DOOCEY (National—Waimakariri) to the Minister of Health: Does he agree with the Mental Health Foundation CEO who said in response to the Director of Mental Health and Addiction Services' annual report They are not reporting on the very thing they are trying to improve as a top priority. If the data is there why not continue to publish it in the report where people are used to seeing it? … you are making the whole situation less transparent"; if not why not?Hon ANDREW LITTLE (Minister of Health): No because it is not correct to say that information previously reported on is not being reported.Matt Doocey: How is his Government living up to its goal of being open and transparent when mental health service data that is being reported in the same format for over a decade is no longer published in the annual report?Hon ANDREW LITTLE: The member is incorrect on two counts. First of all all the information that has previously been reported and has been for 20 years continues to be publicly available in the Nationwide Service Framework. The second point is that because this Government takes seriously the crisis in our mental health system largely as a consequence of the neglect of the previous Government we have invested very heavily in upgrading its services—$1.9 billion alone in 2019. That has led to the establishment of the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission as well as the Suicide Prevention Office both of which will have reporting responsibilities openly transparently and accountably.Matt Doocey: When the Minister just said the information was found elsewhere how does the Minister's answers align with one ministry official who said "Some data omitted would not be produced elsewhere" and who doubts it would be available publicly if not retained in this annual report?Hon ANDREW LITTLE: I'm not responsible for what another official has said. I'm responsible for the facts of the matter which is—SPEAKER: Order! Order! Dr Nick Smith will stand withdraw and apologise. His late correction didn't help him.Hon Dr Nick Smith: I stand withdraw and apologise. Point of order Mr Speaker. The longstanding convention is that a Minister is responsible for his officials. For the Minister to stand up in the House and say it's not his—SPEAKER: Right the member will resume his seat. The member is absolutely right and he gets to it by asking a question not making an out of order interjection.Hon ANDREW LITTLE: Mr Speaker I hadn't concluded that answer. The point I was going to make is that the advice I've received is very clear: that the information that appeared in previous reports by the Office of the Director of Mental Health and Addiction Services is available in other places but most importantly is available in the Nationwide Service Framework that has been publicly available for 20 years.Matt Doocey: Is it open and transparent when revealed in ministry official emails that a risk lens was run over the data and removed because it was negative statistics?Hon ANDREW LITTLE: The advice I've received is that to the extent there were changes in this year's report by the Office of the Director of Mental Health and Addiction Services for the 2018 and 2019 years it was because since that data was collected other decisions have been made by this Government including the establishment of the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission and the establishment of the Suicide Prevention Office both of which have reporting responsibilities and will report. But nevertheless as the bottom line the place where this data is always reported continues and that is the Nationwide Service Framework.Matt Doocey: Is the Minister confident that no one in the office of the Minister of Health had any communication with the Ministry of Health officials regarding the decision to remove data in the annual report and/or delay the release of the report?Hon ANDREW LITTLE: Yes absolutely.Matt Doocey: We'll see.SPEAKER: Order! Who said that? Who made that last interjection? Someone on my left. Was it you Mr Doocey?Matt Doocey: Mr Speaker I said "We'll see."SPEAKER: Yeah and the member will now stand withdraw and apologise. [Interruption]Matt Doocey: I withdraw and apologise. SPEAKER: And—I'm just trying to work out what to do with Nicola Willis at the moment. She will stand withdraw and apologise.Hon Member: She didn't say anything.SPEAKER: Which member was it? If it wasn't Nicola Willis which female member on my left was it? [Interruption] One female member on my left injected then which was it? [Interruption] No it was someone in this group here. It was a three-letter interjection when I instructed Mr Doocey to withdraw. Who said "Why?"Hon Todd McClay: Point of order Mr Speaker.SPEAKER: No it's not a point of order.Hon Dr Nick Smith: Mr Speaker I said the word "Why".SPEAKER: Sorry I apologise for being—Dr Smith will leave the Chamber.Hon Dr Nick Smith withdrew from the Chamber. SPEAKER: I do apologise for getting the gender mixed up. I apologise in particular to Nicola Willis who I named. Right we'll get on to the next question I think."