11. Question No. 11—ChildrenKAHURANGI CARTER (Deputy Musterer—Green) to the Minister for ChildrenQuestion No. 11—Children11. KAHURANGI CARTER (Deputy Musterer—Green) to the Minister for Children: Does she stand by the Government's Budget description of the Oranga Tamariki Contracting Service Costs savings initiative that This initiative improves the efficiency of service delivery with no reduction in frontline services"; if so how is Oranga Tamariki ensuring no reduction in frontline service provision? Hon KAREN CHHOUR (Minister for Children): In answer to the first part of the question yes. And in answer to the second part of the question that savings initiative is money Oranga Tamariki expects will be returned where a provider has been funded and services have not been delivered. Previously organisations were allowed to sit on funding even if they weren't using it. Now where services and outcomes are not delivered Oranga Tamariki will be asking for the money back. I think taxpayers would be alarmed to learn that this was not happening in the past. In terms of front-line service provision what is happening is where contracts are being changed it is because this Government is making sure funding is delivering outcomes for children and young people and the taxpayers are getting value for money. Where organisations have not delivered on their full value of their contracts last year Oranga Tamariki will be funding them this year based on that prior delivery. Going forward we will be funding these organisations that are delivering outcomes for children and not funding those who don't. Kahurangi Carter: How does she reconcile this commitment to no reduction in front-line services with Family Start losing 40 percent of their front-line staff due to their funding being cut by $14 million per year compromising their ability to support at-risk infants in Nelson?Hon KAREN CHHOUR: I would like to refer to a media release released this morning by Oranga Tamariki speaking to specifically this provider. For example the He Matapuna Ora the Family Start provider in Nelson stated they are in the top four performing Family Start providers in the country. Based on their own quarterly reports and our internal review of all Family Start contracts between 2022 and 2024 January they achieved on average 80 percent of the whānau volumes lower numbers of home visits than were expected. Based on this information we have reduced their FTE from 12.75 to 10. At one point He Matapuna Ora reported in previous financial years that they had 17 FTEs despite being contracted for 12.75. Kahurangi Carter: Supplementary? [Interruption]SPEAKER: Just hold on hold on a minute. OK.Kahurangi Carter: Does she agree with Family Start Nelson manager Rebecca Ravenscroft who says "our whānau workers are frontline workers they are in the homes of these whānau and whenever they visit they have to sight the baby so they are definitely frontline workers" and if not what is the Minister's definition of front-line services?Hon KAREN CHHOUR: I'll refer to the previous answer where I stated that this organisation in particular only met 80 percent of the whānau volumes and lower numbers of visits than were expected. So that money that was not delivered on will be redirected to a front-line service that can deliver that.Kahurangi Carter: Does cutting funding for Family Start Nelson meet her expectations for Oranga Tamariki's savings initiative when evaluation found that their programme reduced overall post neonatal mortality in the first year of life by 42 percent and if not why is Family Start facing these cuts?Hon KAREN CHHOUR: I think I've actually answered part of that in my previous answers but what I would say is it does meet my expectation if money cannot sit in these organisations' bank accounts that's not being spent when it could be redirected to organisations that could be delivering a service for our young people.Kahurangi Carter: Will she recommit as the Government did in the Budget to there being no reduction in front-line services because of the $120 million of cuts to Oranga Tamariki contracted services and if so how will Oranga Tamariki fill the gaps already created by these cuts?Hon KAREN CHHOUR: Overall the Government and Oranga Tamariki are not reducing front-line services. Savings coming from getting money back where it hasn't been used are redirected to other front-line services. Separate to this what we are doing unlike previously is reviewing contracts and making sure we are getting what we pay for. Changes have been made based on previous utilisation and delivery and where demands and needs have changed in particular regions. Oranga Tamariki has also looked at where there is duplication of services in the same areas. This means some providers will see a decrease in funding and others will see an increase. Funding does not equal delivery. As we saw under previous years you can throw more and more money at a problem but unless you demand results things can get worse."