1. Question No. 1—HealthDr TRACEY McLELLAN (Labour—Banks Peninsula) to the Minister of HealthORAL QUESTIONSQUESTIONS TO MINISTERSQuestion No. 1—Health 1. Dr TRACEY McLELLAN (Labour—Banks Peninsula) to the Minister of Health: What are the next steps that need to be taken to prepare the health system for the reforms due to take effect on 1 July 2022?Hon ANDREW LITTLE (Minister of Health): With passage of the Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) Bill through its third reading this week we now have our sights firmly set on the reforms going live on 1 July. A critical next step is to appoint permanent governance boards of the new Health New Zealand and Māori Health Authority who will be responsible to Ministers and New Zealanders on delivering on the promise of Pae Ora. To make these appointments the transition unit in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet will advise me on the Health New Zealand board members. In relation to the Māori Health Authority the interim Hauora Māori Advisory Committee will provide Minister Henare and me with advice on the appointment of that board. Alongside this the Ministry of Health interim Health New Zealand the interim Māori Health Authority and the interim Public Health Agency have been preparing for the operational transition on day one and I remain confident that they are on track to assume full responsibility for health services from that day. Dr Tracey McLellan: What next steps are being taken to establish the Public Health Agency?Hon ANDREW LITTLE: Steps are now well under way for establishing the Public Health Agency in preparation for day one. The priority is to ensure that all critical data and surveillance systems have been identified and a plan will be put in place to maintain their functionality over the transition period. The interim agency has already received two tranches of functions in order to test readiness for 1 July and have worked to make sure it can carry out the range of functions it needs to undertake particularly as it relates to the COVID response and the winter wellness work programme. Another key part of this is the transferring of Te Hiringa Hauora the Health Promotion Agency whose core functions will transition to the new Public Health Agency. In the longer term the Public Health Agency will continue to develop its operational model to fulfil its potential as the lead on public health for the reformed system.Dr Tracey McLellan: What next steps are being taken to transfer workforce and assets?Hon ANDREW LITTLE: The interim Health New Zealand and Māori Health Authority are now well advanced in their function design and planning for the transfer of activities from existing entities and they will be ready to take on their full range of anticipated functions on day one. The interim entities having the benefit of early transfers and time to build their organisational structures are now stress testing their systems to make sure that day one of the reformed health system delivers as expected for patients the workforce and providers. This foundational work is critical because day one is only the next step in rebuilding our health system and I look forward to continuing to report to this House on the benefits of the new system for the health of all New Zealanders.Dr Shane Reti: Isn't it correct that rather than diverting scarce health sector time and energy into creating new bureaucracy he should be focused on filling the 3000 nursing vacancies he described yesterday which are by far the biggest barrier to New Zealanders getting the healthcare they need today?Hon ANDREW LITTLE: Unlike the previous Government we have remained focused on fixing up our health system pretty much from day one when we became the Government. That member might continue to defend the need for 20 different entities running 20 different administrative systems causing great inefficiency but we are focused on a streamlined coherent well - co-ordinated system that best serves the interests of all New Zealanders