Korako Nuk: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeKorako Nuk: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 17 November 2015. Volume:710;Page:8018. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]1.NUK KORAKO (National) to the Minister of Finance: What steps is the Government taking to support a more diverse and resilient New Zealand economy?Hon BILL ENGLISH (Minister of Finance): One significant step is improving access for our exporters through trade negotiations. Alongside the recently completed Trans-Pacific Partnership the Government is currently negotiating the ASEAN Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership involving 16 countries; the Trade in Services Agreement involving 23 countries reducing barriers to service exports; and the Environmental Goods Agreement negotiations aiming to reduce tariffs on 54 environmental goods across 14 countries. A free-trade agreement with the European Union has recently been commenced. Just last week it was announced that exports to Chinese Taipei have increased 22 percent to $1.2 billion in the year since the agreement was signed with it.Nuk Korako: What recent reports has he received pointing to an improving outlook for the New Zealand economy?Hon BILL ENGLISH: It is pretty clear that the economy was softer than expected in the first half of 2015. Recent data is a bit more encouraging. The BNZ - BusinessNZ Performance of Services Index for October was 56.2 showing continuing growth in the service sector which matters because it is 70 percent of the economy. The BNZ - Business NZ Performance of Manufacturing Index was also in expansion at 53 showing growth in manufacturing for the 37th consecutive month.Nuk Korako: What role is the Public Service playing in increasing productivity as part of delivering better services for New Zealanders?Hon BILL ENGLISH: As I said services are 70 percent of the economy and the public sector is a significant proportion of those services. By tying the funding of public services to getting better results we are lifting accountability for each dollar that is spent. We are starting to see results. The total welfare liability is now independently estimated at $69 billion which is down $7.5 billion in the year to June 2014. About 2 percent of the reduction is due to reforms made by the Ministry of Social Development.Nuk Korako: How is the Government’s continuing investment in better social services helping to support higher resilience?Hon BILL ENGLISH: In one pretty important way and that is our investment in young people. The Government has developed a number of new pipelines for young people from school through training and into education in particular the Youth Guarantee and Youth Service programme. In both cases we are seeing good results and the number of young people not in employment education or training is as low as it has been for a long time.Rt Hon Winston Peters: If any of that is true why could he not tell his colleague who asked the question that in his numerous caucus or sub-caucus meetings rather than come along and try to bore the House?Mr SPEAKER: That is a very marginal question—the Hon Bill English.Hon BILL ENGLISH: Purely for the member’s benefit because he is known for conducting politics on the basis of being free of facts and it is always useful for him to hear from us. [Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! Question No. 2—[Interruption] Order! David Bennett I am calling for order.