Lotu-Iiga Sam: Annual Review Debate — In CommitteeText is subject to correctionLotu-Iiga Sam: Annual Review Debate — In Committee[Sitting date: 29 April 2015. Volume:704;Page:2977. Text is subject to correction.]Hon Peseta SAM LOTU-IIGA (Minister of Corrections):It is an honour to stand and take a call in this annual review debate. I want to take a call in the area of corrections. As the Minister of Corrections I think it is appropriate to talk about a department that has $1.2 billion worth of services that are provided firstly to protect the public. It is important that the Department of Corrections protects and secures the public from certain criminal elements that have broken the law.Secondly prisons should be a place of rehabilitation so that when prisoners return to civil society they are able to reintegrate and go back to become contributors to our wonderful society that we have here in New Zealand. Of course it has a certain punitive element whereby prisoners are denied their freedoms and liberties. On any given day there are over 8700 prisoners and we have over 30000 offenders in the community who may be subject to release conditions probation and other such conditions upon release from our prisons.In 2011 this Government the National Government committed to a Better Public Services target of reducing reoffending by 25 percent by the year 2017. Those targets are important as I said last night when I spoke about the health portfolio because it is about accountability it is about outcomes and it is about the prudent and efficient use of taxpayers’ funds. So we set that target in order for us to better rehabilitate people and in order for us to get to a point in our society where we have a prison system that we can be proud of and that is one of the best prison systems in the world. So how do we do that? Well I will talk about three things: firstly I will talk about working prisons; secondly I will talk about the role of education training and opportunities that are available to inmates; and thirdly I will talk about alcohol and drug treatments for prisoners that are available in order for them to go back into society and make a meaningful contribution to our society.Firstly on working prisons we know that the best way out of poverty the best way out of welfare and the best way to contribute to your family and to look after your families and your communities is to be in work. We know that outside the wire—outside of prison—and we also know that for people who are in prison. We are working towards a target in 2017 where every prison in New Zealand will be a working prison where each prisoner will have the opportunity to have a work routine of 40 hours per week. In 2014 the financial year that is under review here in the Committee today three working prisons were delivered with about 650 prisoners subject to or having full working rights within those prisons. We have four more on track this year in Northland in the Hawke’s Bay at Spring Hill Corrections Facility and in Otago. In 2013-14 we had 806 prisoners who participated in the Release to Work programme because we know that prisoners can contribute to society when they are work-ready when they have opportunities to work on the outside and when they are educated and trained.Secondly it is about education because we know that education unlocks opportunities where again those who are released from prison are better able to contribute to society. One of the sad facts that is present within the prison system is that two-thirds of prisoners are basically illiterate. They are illiterate. So we have put a great amount of resources into numeracy and literacy programmes inside prisons where last year there was a 206 percent increase in the number of level 2 and level 3 National Certificate of Educational Achievement qualifications that were available to our prisoners—a 206 percent increase. That is important because without basic literacy we know that they are not able to contribute.Finally we come to alcohol and drug treatments. We know that the programmes we have run have made a huge difference to our prison system. Thank you.