Mahuta Nanaia: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Mahuta Nanaia: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Sitting date: 24 October 2012. Volume:685;Page:6120. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
6. 
Hon NANAIA MAHUTA (Labour—Hauraki-Waikato) 
 to the  
Associate Minister of Education 
: How many teachers and support staff were incorrectly paid in the latest pay cycle and what is the total amount of outstanding pay still owed to teachers and support staff due to errors in the Novopay system? 
Hon CRAIG FOSS (Associate Minister of Education) 
: 
 I am advised that the Ministry of Education is aware of fewer than 100 non-payments or underpayments for the last pay cycle. In the past 5 days it has also been informed of approximately 390 overpayments. In terms of outstanding pay I am informed that 41 support staff or staff have received advances and 23 have indicated they are willing to wait to be paid at the next pay cycle. In regards to the total amount outstanding I am advised that it is not possible to extract this information from Novopay at this time but I can assure the member that every non-payment or underpayment that has been brought to the ministry’s attention is being addressed. 
Hon Nanaia Mahuta 
: What specific action has he taken to assure relief teachers that the reported problems with inaccurate deductions payslip timesheet and leave error provisions will be fixed given the ministry’s own website says the time frame for resolving these issues is “TBC”? 
Hon CRAIG FOSS 
: I fully acknowledge the frustration that some of the issues on implementation—particularly at the service centre and particularly those issues relating to Talent2 as opposed to Ministry of Education staff—have caused for some relief teachers and various non - full-time salaried staff. The commitments that they have are the communication from the Secretary for Education and in fact the commitment that 350000-odd pay transactions have been made accurately and correctly over the last four pay cycles but I fully acknowledge there are some outstanding issues relating to the first two pay cycles. 
Hon Nanaia Mahuta 
: What response does he have for a teacher returning from maternity leave at Pomaria Primary School who received full pay for the first and second pay periods only to find that the third and fourth pay periods had been botched by Novopay leaving her $2000 short unable to pay the mortgage and reliant on the school having to write a cheque from the operations grant rather than the Government’s pay system sorting the matter out in a timely way? 
Hon CRAIG FOSS 
: I acknowledge the angst that that caused that particular staff member. But I also acknowledge that we were acutely aware and put in place machinery or a process so that individuals if in fact for some reason their pay was not accurate or they missed completely were able to be paid from the operations grant from the school so that the individuals themselves did not a suffer penalty. If that individual does suffer a penalty for the mortgage payment for example I suggest they get in touch with the payroll officer and the ministry and the ministry will do what it can to investigate to make good. 
Hon Nanaia Mahuta 
: Did the Ministry of Education’s contract with Talent2 to provide the Novopay system include penalties for poor performance; if so does he intend to use such provisions in response to the incorrect payment of hundreds of teachers and support staff? 
Hon CRAIG FOSS 
: When the Labour Government signed the contract with Talent2 in 2007 or 2008 I am sure it put clauses such as that in there but yes in any such contract of course there are key performance indicators. I will repeat for the House that I am very frustrated at and disappointed in Talent2’s service centre performance which has led to much angst and difficulty. Ministry of Education staff have had to bear the brunt of that and they are doing a great job but Talent2 does need to improve its service centre actions immediately. 
Hon Nanaia Mahuta 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. The question was direct and it was simple. It asked whether the Minister was going to put into action the provisions of the contract with regards to the Talent2 system and whether he was going to enact penalties for poor performance. He did not attempt to answer that at all. It was a very straight and simple question. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The Minister said that undoubtedly the provisions are in there. He did not indicate in his answer whether he would pursue those provisions. 
Hon CRAIG FOSS 
: Excuse me. The Secretary for Education has had discussions with and commitments from the head executives and chair of Talent2 to discuss the enforcement of exactly those matters.