Wall LouisaLOUISA WALL (Labour—Manurewa): It is a pleasure to speak in this the Committee stage debate of the Children Young Persons and Their Families (Advocacy Workforce and Age Settings) Amendment Bill. I particularly want to focus on Supplementary Order Paper 248 in the name of my colleague Jacinda Ardern and focus on our rationale for deleting clause 7 of the proposed legislation. New section 7A inserted by clause 7 is titled Delegations made under section 41 of State Sector Act 1988 to social workers" so the emphasis in this particular part of the bill is in fact on diluting the influence of social workers and social workers' current statutory responsibility in the management of the processes that determine whether or not young people are going to be removed from their families and then on who in fact is responsible for caring for those young people.I have managed to find the document titled Statutory Care and Social Work: Service Specifications which the Ministry of Social Development released in 2015. It says that under section 19 of the Children Young Persons and Their Families Act in working with iwi social service cultural social service and child and family support service providers the social worker actually is empowered as a care and protection coordinator within the system. They have a statutory function and a statutory responsibility under section 20 to convene the family group conferences.Within the proposed legislation there will be a requirement for delegations to persons who are not social workers. So it got me thinking: why would we want to remove that delegation? Why is the social work profession now not central to the whole functioning of the assessment of the needs of children young people and families that it then determines what the response is from the State? In the legislation we will enable the chief executive to delegate to—this is from new section 7C(2)(a)—"the person [who] is appropriately qualified to perform the function or exercise the power taking into account the person's training experience and interpersonal skills;". So currently people who are qualified in the social work profession are deemed to fulfil that responsibility.I would really like some further clarification from the Minister about whom she envisages is appropriately qualified to actually meet the objectives of the Children Young Persons and Their Families Act. Looking through the objects of the Act it is about promoting "the well-being of children young persons and their families and family groups by—(a) establishing and promoting and assisting in the establishment and promotion of services and facilities within the community that will advance the well-being of children young persons and their families and family groups and that are—(i) appropriate having regard to the needs values and beliefs of particular cultural and ethnic groups; and … (iii) provided by persons and organisations sensitive to the cultural perspectives and aspirations of different racial groups in the community:". So there is very much an emphasis on people having the skills to determine and make a diagnosis of what the actual issues are.When you look on the Child Youth and Family website at its job description for the people who are most appropriate to perform this function the ministry is really clear about what you need: "A qualification in social work (minimum of a Diploma at level 6 or Degree at level 7 or higher) is the preferred qualification." It talks about consideration being given to applicants who have some papers towards a social work qualification at level 6 but there is a big emphasis on "papers that provide a theoretical framework for understanding human behaviour and there is a clear commitment to completing a recognised social work qualification." So I think it is really important for the Minister to justify why at the heart of Child Youth and Family the social work profession is now being completely—in some ways—erased.I know having completed a Bachelor of Social Policy and Social Work that it is a 4-year commitment to a degree that then would have empowered me to have the qualifications to be able to make some of the determinations that we want from people who are participating in determining what the needs of the young person are and what the needs of children and families are with the hope—"