11. Question No. 11—Child Poverty ReductionHon ALFRED NGARO (National) to the Minister for Child Poverty ReductionQuestion No. 11—Child Poverty Reduction11. Hon ALFRED NGARO (National) to the Minister for Child Poverty Reduction: Does she have confidence in her ability to deliver on her child poverty reduction targets? Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN (Minister for Child Poverty Reduction): Yes. Hon Alfred Ngaro: Does she accept that the report out today does not allow us to say what difference the Families Package made directly to child poverty children's outcomes and other measures of wellbeing and if so will she stop claiming that it does? SPEAKER: Any one of the four questions. Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: The member will well recall from the debate around the Child Poverty Reduction Bill that one of the issues this House has is that there is a lag in the measurement of all of our statistical data and it is something that all of us in this House have had to grapple with including the last Government. So we haven't been able to see the full impact through the survey work that's done. The partial impact of the Families Package will be illustrated in figures released by Stats New Zealand in February 2020. Till then we're reliant on modelling by Treasury and of course then the stats around the uptake of the package. Hon Alfred Ngaro: Does she agree with the Children's Commissioner that the Government response to the Welfare Expert Advisory Group has been—and I quote—inadequate" and that the action has to follow words? Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: I do agree that action has to follow words which is why in the last Budget we did what a Children's Commissioner has called one of the biggest things that you can do to make a difference to child poverty and that was index benefits to wages. That came in in our last Budget. It will have a huge impact for families and the Children's Commissioner themselves recognised that. Hon Alfred Ngaro: Does she believe that the Child Poverty Action Group's criticism of the Government inaction is valid given that seven of the nine child poverty indicator targets have got worse under her Government and will this become just another broken promise? Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: I suggest the member may wish to exercise caution. I can only assume that the reference to the seven out of nine indicators would be the reference to the Child Poverty Reduction Act and the last data release which substantively actually covered household incomes in late 2017. We don't have the full data under this Government's Families Package in changes we have made but if the member wishes to criticise his own Government's record he's obviously welcome to. Kieran McAnulty: What advice has she received in regard to the number of children likely to be lifted out of poverty as a result of the Government's Families Package? Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: As I've said we're reliant on modelling that's being undertaken as a result of both our Families Package and the changes that were made in the last Budget and that has suggested that we will lift between 50000 and 74000 children out of poverty. Because of the $5.5 billion package that included paid parental leave and an increase to the family tax credit which is the biggest jump we've seen since 2005. It included the winter energy payment which went to families who are on benefits and it included the introduction of the Best Start payment which targets children both in the first year but also extends around income testing to years two and three. Added to that—and this isn't included in the modelling—are the changes that we made removing the sole parent sanction; expanding employment support; of course delivering extra public housing places; increases to the minimum wage; regulating housing quality; reducing the cost of GP visits; and of course the work we're doing on predatory lending. I am proud of this Government's legacy on addressing child poverty. It's one of the reasons so many of us are here and I think we can stand proud on the action we've taken in 24 short months."