Bradford Sue: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Bradford Sue: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:624;Page:19308] 
3.  
SUE BRADFORD (Green) 
 to the  
Minister for Social Development and Employment 
: Does he accept that the provision of training is an important part of assisting people who receive invalids benefits and sickness benefits into the workforce? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY (Minister for Social Development and Employment) 
: 
 Yes. For instance over 1000 invalids benefit recipients are receiving a weekly training incentive allowance for support with their study costs. Plus one of the most important changes that will occur with the shift to the single core benefit is that people’s eligibility for programmes and services including training will be determined by their individual circumstances rather than their benefit category. 
Sue Bradford 
: Is the Minister aware that a sickness or invalids beneficiary needs to have been enrolled as a job seeker for 26 weeks in order to access the training opportunities programme and is this not a classic catch-22 because to get a sickness or invalids benefit in the first place people will most likely be too sick or too disabled to work? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: Yes I am aware of that. It is one of the reasons however that we are changing to the new service model that will allow people who perhaps have a disability but are seeking work to access services around training much earlier when they are capable of going back to work. 
Georgina Beyer 
: What is the Government doing now to put in place a more proactive approach to helping people who receive invalids benefits and sickness benefits? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: In addition to the changes I outlined in my primary answer the new service for sickness and invalids benefits recipients piloted last year is now being rolled out across regions. This includes cutting case manager loads by more than half addressing medical needs that stand in the way of a return to work assistance to employers and tailored career services and skills identification. We have seen from these pilots between a 9 to 17 percent increase so far in people moving back into work. 
Judith Collins 
: Has the Minister seen the statistics that show that there has been a 38 percent increase in the number of sickness and invalids beneficiaries since his Government came to power and why does he not concentrate on fixing up that mess instead of focusing on continual administrative shuffle-ups like the “new service delivery model” he is introducing right now? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: I thank the member for that question. I am aware that there was a 94 percent increase in these figures during the time of her Government and unlike that Government we began piloting programmes last year that—and I will repeat this for the member because I like the sound of the figures—we have already seen from the 6-month pilot between a 9 and 17 percent increase in numbers of people going into work. 
Sue Bradford 
: When will the new programme that the Minister has just been talking about actually start and can he assure training providers and beneficiaries that in future sickness and invalids beneficiaries will be able to access the Training Opportunities Programme despite not having been registered as job seekers for 26 weeks? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: The pilots started last year—in other words we started them during 2004—and they are being rolled out this year and the full new service model rolls out from May. 
Sue Bradford 
: Why is the Government dragging the chain on expanding the Providing Access to Health Solutions programme that in his own words offers specially tailored clinical and social support for clients experiencing anxiety depression stress or similar mental health conditions to ensure a speedy return to employment and when will all the one in five New Zealanders who could benefit from this programme have access to it? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: We are not dragging the chain. We need to negotiate the provision of service with providers like district health boards. Of course it takes time for them to put those services in place and we will do that as fast as we can. 
Sue Bradford 
: Can the Minister assure the House that he has no plans to introduce work capacity testing of the accident compensation variety for sickness and invalids benefits as a means of classifying them as job seekers; if not when will he introduce the new tests? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: In the new model we intend to look at the capacity of individuals to take on part-time or full-time work. The mistake that has been made in the past was to simply categorise people as capable. That was clearly a disaster. But to look at the individual circumstances of a person and his or her capacity is something that has actually been asked for.