11. Question No. 11—CorrectionsSIMEON BROWN (National—Pakuranga) to the Minister of CorrectionsQuestion time resumed.ORAL QUESTIONSQUESTIONS TO MINISTERSQuestion No. 11—Corrections11. SIMEON BROWN (National—Pakuranga) to the Minister of Corrections: Does he stand by his statement regarding community sentences we expect offenders to complete their hours"?Hon KELVIN DAVIS (Minister of Corrections): Yes. Eighty percent of community sentences are completed so there is still room for improvement. I also expect my officials to balance attendance against individual's employment and family responsibilities as well as other potential barriers such as health concerns or for example a global pandemic.Simeon Brown: How many offenders sentenced to community service had hours remitted under COVID-19 alert level 1 and how many hours were remitted?SPEAKER: Hang on I'm just going to review that question and contemplate whether in fact it flows from the original question. I'll let the member answer it but I do want to warn members that there has to be a relationship either between the question and/or the answer and the supplementary and jumping from a very general statement to a very specific one is not absolutely allowed.Hon KELVIN DAVIS: Well we did have a lockdown that kept people safe from COVID and Corrections did its part. Now this member has a very unhealthy fixation on a very few number of people who have traffic offences and the non-payment of fines.SPEAKER: Order! Order! Can I just say to the member I think suggesting that members have unhealthy fixations in current times is not a good thing to do.Simeon Brown: Why when businesses were allowed to open and workers go back to work was Corrections still remitting hours for offenders sentenced to community service during level 1 according to parliamentary written question No. 14424?Hon KELVIN DAVIS: Well again if the member had listened to the answer to the primary I also expect my officials to balance attendance against individuals' employment and family responsibilities—Hon David Bennett: They broke the law.Hon KELVIN DAVIS: —as well as other potential barriers such as health concerns or for example the pandemic. And I hear someone over there saying "Oh they broke the law." We're talking about the lowest level of offenders who had traffic offences and the non-payment of fines on the very day that his leader jokes about 29 people escaping from prison under her watch. It goes to show that the National Party has got their priorities wrong and it's certainly not the party of Key and English.Greg O'Connor: What other reports has he received on adherence by offenders to sentences imposed on them?Hon KELVIN DAVIS: Well I've seen one report that claims that between 2008 and 2011 and in the year 2016 there were no escapes from prison. I understand that the member in question said her eyebrows were raised indicating she was joking. So let me be clear: my eyebrows are level. This is just not true: 29 people escaped Corrections' custody under that member's watch. The new leader and her false claims are just proving again that the team opposite just ain't what it used to be.Simeon Brown: How does the Minister stand by his statement "we expect offenders to complete their hours" when over 138000 hours have been remitted from the sentences of more than 5500 offenders with hours continued to be remitted even under level 1 when New Zealanders were going back to work?Hon KELVIN DAVIS: Well again Corrections deals with 40000 offenders on any given day; three quarters of them are dealt with by community corrections. So what this member is talking about over a long period of time is a very small percentage of offenders—those who have traffic offences and the non-payment of fines compared to the Leader of the Opposition who jokes about 29 serious offenders escaping from prison under her watch. She thinks it's a joke. That is not the party of Key and English any more. They have got their priorities very mixed up.Simeon Brown: So is the Minister telling the House that people serving community service sentences shouldn't have to complete their sentences?Hon KELVIN DAVIS: No."