10. Question No. 10—Social Development and EmploymentRICARDO MENÉNDEZ MARCH (Green) to the Minister for Social Development and EmploymentQuestion No. 10—Social Development and Employment10. RICARDO MENÉNDEZ MARCH (Green) to the Minister for Social Development and Employment: Is she concerned some of our most vulnerable tamariki in benefit-receiving households are going to miss out on the $350 cost of living payment?Hon CARMEL SEPULONI (Minister for Social Development and Employment): Talofa lava Mr Speaker. Budget 2022 responded to the needs of tamariki in benefit-receiving households in a number of ways. It removed the policy which withheld child support payments to sole parent beneficiaries permanently halved public transport fares for people with a community services card increased the grant available for essential dental work and invested in disabilities services' budgeting services and also in the education and health sectors. On top of this on 1 April main benefits were increased to historic levels and on 1 May 350000 main benefit households began to receive the winter energy payment. It's really important to note that the winter energy payment supports around 200000 children and is a permanent fixture of our welfare system.Ricardo Menéndez March: Will the Minister consider wiping debts to the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) to lift the incomes of over 50000 people who got into debt because they couldn't afford basic essentials such as dental care or school uniforms and now have their benefit reduced by $24 a week on average—almost the amount of the winter energy payment?DEPUTY SPEAKER: In so far as it relates to the primary question the Minister can answer.Hon CARMEL SEPULONI: We currently have a cross-Government cross-agency work programme under way on how we respond to Government debt that New Zealanders incur. Currently it's treated differently across Justice Inland Revenue and MSD in particular those three agencies and there is some work that needs to go on with regards to making the system fairer and doing something to respond to New Zealanders who do have debt to Government. Are we thinking of wiping the debt that they have with any particular agency? That's certainly not something that's on the table at the moment.Ricardo Menéndez March: Is the fact that hardship grants continue to go up a sign that people on a main benefit are not able to meet the basic costs of living?Hon CARMEL SEPULONI: We absolutely acknowledge that New Zealanders are feeling the bite with regards to the cost of living increases that have come about because of everything that's happening internationally. We are not alone as a country; we are experiencing this alongside so many other countries. We have seen hardship grant increases. That's for a number of reasons. Cost of living surely does play a part but also we have lifted thresholds so that more low-income families can also access hardship support. And we have been going through a pandemic which has seen some job losses has seen some people with reduced hours and that has all led towards an increase in hardship need.Ricardo Menéndez March: When she speaks of the cost of living pressures that people on a benefit face will she commit to immediately doubling the winter energy payment as she did in 2020 so that cost of living pressures are alleviated for families relying on benefits?Hon CARMEL SEPULONI: That is not a consideration for us. As I spoke about in response to my primary answer there are a number of changes that we have made to alleviate the hardship pressure on families and to address the income adequacy issues that many of our whānau who are on benefits face. There are more things that we have done alongside that including things like indexing benefits to wages so that they go up more quickly on a standard year. Mr Benefit—oh not Mr Benefit"! Mr Speaker I've never shied away from the fact that there is more to do and we are absolutely committed to doing that."