Pillay Lynne: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Pillay Lynne: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:608;Page:5604] 
7.  
LYNNE PILLAY (NZ Labour—Waitakere) 
 to the  
Minister of Justice 
: What if any initiatives is he planning to address the causes of youth offending? 
Hon PHIL GOFF (Minister of Justice) 
: 
 This year’s Budget will provide $600000 for a proven early intervention programme—Project Early—to be established in Auckland and $4.62 million for education and health assessments for high-risk young offenders appearing at family group conferences. Project Early will allow schools and pre-schools to identify and remedy behavioural problems in children aged 4 to 8 before those problems become entrenched and long term. The education and health assessments will allow family group conferences better to identify and address the causes of offending. 
Lynne Pillay 
: Why will health and education assessments make family group conferences more effective in dealing with young offenders? 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: The assessments will help family group conferences to identify underlying problems that are critical factors in young people engaging in serious and persistent offending. Problems in attendance and success at school and health factors such as drug and alcohol abuse or mental health disorders are direct factors in offending and have to be addressed in the decisions taken by family group conferences if we are to successfully reduce reoffending. 
Richard Worth 
: Given that family group conferences have been in place since the legislation was enacted in 1989 why has it taken 4 years in the term of this Government to re-establish money flows to the department for education and health assessments and what other initiatives are proposed to improve family group conferences—or is that simply as far as it goes? 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: The Children Young Persons and Their Families Act dates back to the late 1980s. It may have taken 4 years for this Government to put this particular money in but it is better than the 9 years that the previous National Government took and did absolutely nothing in. 
Lynne Pillay 
: What evidence is there that programmes like Project Early are effective in preventing later negative social behaviour including offending? 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: Project Early was piloted in Christchurch and it has been formally evaluated. That evaluation shows that in 80 percent of completed interventions the behavioural problem was permanently resolved. Early intervention is less costly and more effective than trying to deal with problems once they have become entrenched. There is no doubt that this is value for money in preventing the waste of human potential and the social and economic costs that are otherwise incurred through educational behavioural and offending problems. 
Larry Baldock 
: Is the Minister aware of the programme called the Home Instruction Programme for Pre-school Youngsters and would he consider that to be of a similar nature to and as worthy of support as that early intervention programme? 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: I am aware of the Home Instruction Programme for Pre-school Youngsters. In fact I was talking just over lunch to the woman who began it Lesley Max. I am very proud to say that my colleague the Minister of Education has poured a lot more money into that early intervention programme which has been similarly effective.