7. Question No. 7—EducationERICA STANFORD (National—East Coast Bays) to the Associate Minister of EducationQuestion No. 7—Education7. ERICA STANFORD (National—East Coast Bays) to the Associate Minister of Education: Does she stand by the press release issued by her predecessor in February 2020 titled School attendance has to improve"; if so is she satisfied with her Government's progress in tackling truancy so far?Hon JAN TINETTI (Associate Minister of Education): Yes. I stand by the statement made by my predecessor the Hon Tracey Martin that school attendance has to improve and I agree with her. That is why the Government is taking targeted action to re-engage students who aren't attending regularly and investing in evidence-based initiatives that prevent disengagement early.Erica Stanford: Point of order Mr Speaker. I'm not sure that she addressed the second part of the question: if she's satisfied.SPEAKER: Well I think she said "yes" right at the beginning.Erica Stanford: If she is satisfied with her Government's actions why is it that we have seen a doubling of chronically truant students with 60000 children under this Government's watch?Hon JAN TINETTI: As I've said before in this House attendance started to decline in 2015. That was shortly after the Attendance Service was taken away into a more bureaucratic system from schools by the then - National Government. I would admit that the two years of battling a global pandemic has had a major impact—and rightly so. Post-lockdown some parents have been worried about sending their kids back to the classroom for learning but this Government introduced a range of evidence-based practices to address that. Only today I had principal from a decile 1 school contact me to say that they are incredibly excited that the ability that that has given them that today they have 94 percent attendance back in their decile 1 school.Erica Stanford: Why is it when a year ago she received a comprehensive aide-mémoire from the director of policy at the Ministry of Education outlining actions to tackle truancy that in a reply to my written question on what actions have implemented she replied "I will announce the details of this work shortly." and how is this in line with being proactive as the report advises?Hon JAN TINETTI: The member opposite will be aware that at the same time there has been an inquiry that has been happening through the Education and Workforce Committee—of which she sits on. It is really important that we take all of the evidence into account. But I will say that over that time we have not sat on our hands and done nothing. Over that time Budget 2021 had $67 million focusing on preventing children and young people from disengaging from their learning. Just recently I announced with my colleague the Hon Chris Hipkins Budget 2022 had $88 million for targeted intervention. Over that time we have delivered free counselling services free health lunches free period products. We've delivered enhanced learning support for our most vulnerable. We've delivered a—SPEAKER: Order! Order! Order! The question was answered some time ago. We don't need the additional material.Erica Stanford: In relation to the answer she just gave if her Government have done all that why has chronic—SPEAKER: I'll just get the member to start again. "In response to the answer the Minister gave" I think is a much politer way of saying it. Erica Stanford: Sorry. Why is it that—given the Minister's answer just now why is it that 60000 children are chronically truant are doubling under her Government's watch? Hon JAN TINETTI: I do actually caution the member about her use of statistics and her ability to interpret them is something because we do need to look at the causes—[Interruption]SPEAKER: Order! Order! Now this is one of the National Party's front-bencher's questions. If we're going to continue with this question line I want to be able to hear the answer and because of the very loud noise from my left led by Mr Bayly which is quite unusual—"B" is a common factor to the noisy ones but it's not normally him. Hon JAN TINETTI: We do need to look at the complete causal factors. The young people that the member is talking about are the most chronically absent. Often there are out-of-school factors that are part and present of those young people's lives. That's why we need to make a whole-of-Government approach to those young people. We do want to see every young person and child participating and progressing in their learning. Melissa Lee: What's she done about it? SPEAKER: Order! Look was that Nicola Willis? Melissa Lee: It was me sir. SPEAKER: Right. Well seeing the member hasn't been warned today I won't make her withdraw and apologise. But she's not a new member and she knows what's out of order. Erica Stanford: What does she say to the 8000 students who were unenrolled from the school system in March—the highest figure in three years—who are waiting patiently for her evidence-based approach to be announced and does she think that she should be moving with a bit more urgency? Hon JAN TINETTI: Again I do caution that member about making assertions on that particular data. The students who aren't in school or who are not represented in those figures could have left school recently to go into further forms of education employment or training and they'll still be counted in that figure. There needs to be an in-depth look at that and using that figure just out of the air and plucking it out of the air is not the right approach to be taking. The students who aren't in school or who are in another form of education employment or training will be referred to the Attendance Service who deal with the most chronically absent children in our school system. Again I reiterate that we want to see every child or young person present participating in their education which is why we have put so much into this."