Rich Katherine: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Rich Katherine: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:617;Page:12973] 
9.  
KATHERINE RICH (National) 
 to the  
Minister for Social Development and Employment 
: Is he confident that information and advice supplied to him by the Community Employment Group are correct; if so why? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY (Minister for Social Development and Employment) 
: 
 No I have not been. Earlier this year the Community Employment Group of the Department of Labour supplied me with incorrect information to use in answers to questions for written answer. The Community Employment Group discovered that the information was incorrect while providing information to answer subsequent questions. On each occasion I have provided the member who has just asked this question with a corrected reply at the earliest opportunity. The Community Employment Group has apologised to me for providing incorrect information and has undertaken a thorough review at management level of the files for the project grants that were the subject of the written questions. As a result of this I am now confident that I am receiving accurate information for use in answers to written questions. 
Katherine Rich 
: Will the Minister confirm that as a result of poor information processes within the Community Employment Group he has had to correct nearly 50 answers to me within 1 month and can he explain to the House why 47 projects that were originally classified as not having met their project objectives have been miraculously redefined as perfect in the eyes of the Community Employment Group? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: I can confirm the first part of the question and I can explain the second part. I am sure the explanation will not satisfy the member but it is this: the people who put together the answers to the original questions worked off summary information; when they went back at the request of myself and others to look at the information from the base data they found the difference that has occurred. 
Russell Fairbrother 
: What is being done to strengthen the Department of Labour’s capability to address the labour market problems of disadvantaged communities? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: In the second half of last year I became concerned that the efforts of the Community Employment Group in the community employment grants funding process were spread too widely and were not sufficiently focused in addressing the labour market needs of disadvantaged communities. I therefore initiated a review and clarification of the strategic focus of the Community Employment Group. This review is currently being considered by Cabinet and I expect to be in a position to make an announcement in the very near future. 
Katherine Rich 
: Is the Minister disturbed by reports based on information from the Community Employment Group that just 44 percent of projects last year were finished and met all their objectives or by Audit Office concerns that the Community Employment Group’s processing procedures showed “a lack of audited accounts” a “lack of documentation on Grant files” and “evidence of a lack of governance documents”; if so why can we trust the information the Minister is getting from the Community Employment Group? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: I am concerned whenever things are not as they should be and I want to assure the member that the head of the Department of Labour James Buwalda has taken personal responsibility for ensuring that we do get the right systems in the Community Employment Group. I have already said that we have frozen funding. We have also in addition to that undertaken a review of this organisation and I will guarantee it is got right. But I say to members that there would not be anybody in the House who cannot report to other members that—through something like the employment matters—they do have something in their electorate that is run by the Community Employment Group and is working very well. 
Sue Bradford 
: Can the Minister advise whether the funding for the Community Employment Group is still being undertaken solely through Dr James Buwalda; if so is the Minister sure the funding is meeting the original kaupapa or objectives of the Community Employment Group? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: Yes I can reassure the member that any grant now given by the Community Employment Group is approved by James Buwalda personally and yes I can assure the member that the whole point of what we are doing with the Community Employment Group is to ensure that the organisation’s original focus is restored. It did seem to drift off base. 
Dr Muriel Newman 
: Can the Minister give an assurance that his flagship Community Employment Organisations strategy administered by the Community Employment Group is not going to prove—like the hip-hop programme—to be an embarrassing waste of taxpayers’ money; if he can give that assurance why has an organisation like Taua Mahi Trust had over $80000 in grants and subsidies used to employ only one person who by last December had left? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: Referring to the social entrepreneur programme I would for example direct the member’s attention to the programme run by Jim Moriarty as a result of his receiving that funding. It is an outstanding programme which I imagine many members would have been to see personally as he passed through Parliament. That is the kind of programme run through there. In the case of the Community Employment Organisations yes I am reasonably pleased with the way they are going. As the member knows they were designed to expand the labour market. We never really put as much emphasis on the Community Employment Organisations as we thought we might need to because unemployment now is at 4.3 percent. That programme was designed to look at people who have difficulty getting into the labour market. These days many of the places that we were going to go actually have no unemployment. 
Katherine Rich 
: Is the Minister concerned when we see lapses such as the incorrect assessment of those 47 projects that the opposite may be occurring with projects that are failing to meet their objectives being given a pass mark when in reality they are little more than a rort; if not why not? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: No. I am convinced now given that I have been reassured by Mr Buwalda that going back through the base data has given us an accurate look at those programmes.