Tolley AnneCHILDREN YOUNG PERSONS AND THEIR FAMILIES (ADVOCACY WORKFORCE AND AGE SETTINGS) AMENDMENT BILLSecond ReadingHon ANNE TOLLEY (Minister for Social Development): I move That the Children Young Persons and Their Families (Advocacy Workforce and Age Settings) Amendment Bill be now read a second time. This Government has committed to major State-care reforms and a complete overhaul of our care protection and youth justice systems to improve the long-term outcomes of our most vulnerable children and young people. We know that the current system does not place children at its centre and is not meeting the needs of vulnerable young people as they move into adulthood. This bill represents the first step in major and far-reaching legislative reforms to enable a foundation for a child-centred system. I expect to introduce a further set of legislative reforms to the House later in the year.This bill includes a set of amendments to the Children Young Persons and Their Families Act 1989 and will make some consequential amendments to other legislation. The bill extends the statutory age of care and protection to include all young people under 18. This enables vulnerable young people aged 17 to remain in State care for an additional year and if necessary to have access to interventions under the Act to protect them from maltreatment.Ensuring that the voices of children and young people are heard is critical if we want a system that is truly child-centred. This bill introduces a number of changes to make this happen. First it will support the establishment of independent advocacy services with a particular focus on children and young people in care through a new duty on the chief executive. Second it strengthens obligations to support children and young people to participate in decisions made about them under the Act and to have their views considered. Third a new duty will be placed on the chief executive to ensure that policies and services of the department have regard to the views of children and young people.The new Ministry for Vulnerable Children Oranga Tamariki will take a more multi-disciplinary approach to child protection work and decision making. I want to acknowledge that social workers will still be the main professionals responsible for carrying out many of the functions specified under the Act; however drawing on a wider range of professionals is expected to be necessary in the new ministry. This is a significant shift from the status quo. The bill enables this change by vesting functions and powers that currently sit with social workers in the chief executive. The chief executive will then be able to delegate these functions and powers to social workers and to other appropriately qualified individuals. I have to say that as I have been talking with social workers around the country they have been overwhelmingly supportive of the fact that the new operating model acknowledges that they cannot do everything. They do need the support of their colleagues from Health and Education in particular to address the increasingly complex needs of children.I would like to commend the Social Services Committee for its consideration of the bill. I would also like to acknowledge the members of the public who committed their time to consider and submit on the bill. The committee received 22 written submissions from organisations and individuals; 11 of these submitters made oral submissions. It was encouraging to see how many submitters supported the intent of the bill and to see how strongly people supported giving children and young people a greater voice in the system. I note the overwhelming support for raising the upper age of care and protection to include 17-year-olds. The need to make a positive difference in the lives of our most vulnerable children and young people came through strongly.The committee has recommended a number of amendments that will provide greater clarity in order to give effect to the intent of the bill. The committee recommended two minor changes to the provisions covering the participation of children and young persons in the decisions that affect them. The committee has recommended that the bill clarify that participation of children and young people at family group conferences includes not only the conferences themselves but also the preparation for them. This will explicitly recognise that there are a number of decision points during the preparation for a family group conference where children and young people should be able to express their views.The bill requires that support must be provided to children or young people who face barriers to expressing their views or being understood. Such barriers could include for example age language or disability. The committee has recommended an amendment to allow a person supporting a child or young person to express views or to be understood to be present at the proceedings or processes under the Act in order to continue to provide that support except where this is impracticable or inappropriate.The bill enables the chief executive to delegate powers and functions to a wider range of professionals. To ensure that delegated functions and powers are exercised competently and transparently the bill requires that the chief executive must be satisfied that the potential delegate who is not a social worker is appropriately qualified to perform the function or power. For ease of operation the committee has recommended that this appropriately qualified" requirement not apply where the chief executive is delegating a functional power to a person in a management position who would not be performing the task themselves but would then sub-delegate to other persons under their management.For consistency and to ensure alignment with the policy intent the bill has been amended to require that all persons who are sub-delegating functions and powers to persons other than a social worker must be satisfied that a potential sub-delegate is appropriately qualified to perform the task. The bill requires that information relating to delegations be made available online. For greater transparency the committee has recommended that this extend to sub-delegations as well. To improve the accessibility of this information the committee has also recommended that the publication of delegations must be available for inspection free of charge at the head office of the department.The committee has recommended a consequential amendment to the Search and Surveillance Act 2012. This Act sets out who may exercise powers under different legislation. A minor change is required to reflect that certain sections in the Children Young Persons and Their Families Act relating to search powers will shift from social workers to the chief executive.In relation to provisions to enable a wider range of professionals to perform functions under the Act the committee recommended a number of minor technical drafting changes to better reflect the policy intent.The final change recommended by the committee is that the commencement date be amended from 31 March 2017 to 1 April 2017. This will ensure that the commencement of this bill aligns with the date that the new ministry will be in place.To conclude this Government is determined to make a positive difference in the lives of the vulnerable children and young people who come into contact with New Zealand's State care protection and youth justice systems. These legislative changes form just one part of the wider programme of transformational work to completely reform these systems. This bill marks a fundamental shift toward creating a legislative framework that is child-centred and sets a strong foundation for the further legislative reforms I expect to introduce later in the year. I commend the Children Young Persons and Their Families (Advocacy Workforce and Age Settings) Amendment Bill to the House."