5. Question No. 5—Prime MinisterDAVID SEYMOUR (Leader—ACT) to the Prime MinisterQuestion No. 5—Prime Minister5. DAVID SEYMOUR (Leader—ACT) to the Prime Minister: Does she stand by all her Government's statements and policies?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN (Prime Minister): Yes.David Seymour: Does she stand by the Government's policy of introducing an equity index for school funding which Considers 37 variables that we know relate to achievement and is based on the circumstances of individual tamariki and rangatahi" with those variables being based on actual students' performance over the previous 20 years?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN (Prime Minister): Yes I stand by the decision made by the Government on the equity index relative to the old decile system. The member will appreciate when you are taking into account a number of variables as the Minister has just described for a detailed analysis either questions on notice or to the direct Minister responsible will always be much more edifying for the member.David Seymour: Why is the Government using just one variable being ethnicity to determine access to certain types of healthcare instead of targeting healthcare funding to those most in need based on up to 37 variables like it's doing with education?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: If what the member is trying to claim is that the Māori Health Authority for instance isn't taking into account the history of our health system where we have consistently underperformed and underserved Māori to therefore describe why we shouldn't have that authority I have to say I firmly disagree. The evidence already demonstrates that on the old system where we had of course service provision that was provided under 20 district health boards we had outcomes that demonstrated we were poorly serving Māori. No one can disagree with that. Our view has been that if we want to improve we need to change the way the system is delivering services for Māori. I would hope the member would come on board with that system.David Seymour: Does the Prime Minister accept that education in New Zealand has also historically and chronically underserved Māori students and if so why is education but not health using an evidence-based data-driven formula to target human need rather than ethnicity?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: I would argue we are targeting human need. That demonstration of that is our data demonstrates that if you are Māori your outcomes for cancer are worse for every single cancer except melanoma. That is data and evidence that our existing services are poorly serving Māori. If we needed any demonstration that doing things differently services our populations well the COVID-19 response and the exceptional work done by Māori health providers was a proof point. I don't understand frankly why the member would be afraid to use Māori service delivery where it is available to try and lift health outcomes for Māori.David Seymour: Why is Pharmac using ethnicity to determine access to diabetes medicine the Ministry of Health using ethnicity to determine access to the flu jab meaning that a well-off person high in every other variable might be put ahead of a poorly-off person purely on the basis of just one variable when education shows there's a better way to do things?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: I wish it weren't true that in New Zealand health outcomes were worse for Māori and Pasifika populations but sadly they are. If we are going to be data and evidence driven we need to factor that in."