Goldsmith Paul: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Goldsmith Paul: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
[Sitting date: 19 September 2012. Volume:684;Page:5362. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
2. 
PAUL GOLDSMITH (National) 
 to the  
Minister of Finance 
: What is the Government doing to deliver better public services within its wider economic programme? 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Before the Minister answers please a little less interjection from my left. 
Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN (Associate Minister of Finance) 
 on behalf of the Minister of Finance: The delivery of higher-quality public services is one of the Government’s four priorities for this term. It sits alongside responsibly managing the Government’s finances building a more competitive economy and rebuilding Christchurch. The Government’s Better Public Services programme sets ambitious targets in five key areas which include welfare dependency education health crime and the economy. The Government aims to achieve these targets with little or no new money and under a lower cap on core government administration. New Zealanders care about the quality and the success of the public services they receive and they also deserve value for money. 
Paul Goldsmith 
: What are some examples of the results targets under the Better Public Services programme? 
Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN 
: Our education targets include increasing the proportion of 18-year-olds achieving National Certificate of Educational Achievement level 2 and increasing the proportion of children in early childhood education. We have set goals of a 20 percent reduction in violent crime and a 15 percent reduction in overall crime. We have also set a goal of having 70 percent of transactions with government performed online and we are aiming to lower benefit dependency and increase immunisation rates. We aim to achieve all of these results by 2017. 
Paul Goldsmith 
: What progress has been made in delivering better public services? 
Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN 
: Over the last few months the Government has launched action plans for each of the 10 result areas. The recently announced welfare reforms will encourage families to enrol children in early childhood education. Justice agencies will work as one operational unit aiming to reduce reoffending by 25 percent. The police report good progress in reducing crime and reoffending. We have also introduced legislative changes to the House to improve cross-agency collaboration and use of shared services. These efforts are focused on— 
Grant Robertson 
: I seek the leave of the House for Dr Coleman to table his statement and sit down. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Even though it is not a strictly valid point of order I think the point the member is making is that these answers are too long. 
Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN 
: Too long for what? 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! 
Hon Gerry Brownlee 
: Too long for what? You want accuracy.  
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! In the Speaker’s opinion they are too long—that is what. They are too long. There has been a tendency in recent weeks for Ministers in responding to questions from their own colleagues to give speeches rather than succinct answers. It is not good enough. We want succinct answers. I do not— 
Hon Christopher Finlayson 
: Succinct! 
Mr SPEAKER 
: It is not a difficult word—succinct.