Ball Darroch: Estimates Debate — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBall Darroch: Estimates Debate — In Committee[Sitting date: 11 August 2015. Volume:707;Page:5637. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]DARROCH BALL (NZ First): It is a pleasure to rise on behalf of New Zealand First to speak on Vote Social Development. I would just like to concentrate on the Limited Service Volunteers programme and its—Brett Hudson: Great programme.DARROCH BALL: Is it? Oh why did you cut it then? Why did you cut the funding then?I would like to talk about the funding or the lack of it and actually the reduced funding for a couple of reasons. One is that youth is one of the most important age groups that we have in our country but it is also one of the most underfunded and actually neglected by this Government. A second reason is that I was actually a platoon commander in the Limited Service Volunteersprogramme. I know the actual benefits and that it is a great course the Limited Service Volunteers course.I would just like to start by quoting the previous Minister for Social Development Paula Bennett and her explanation before the Government actually bolstered up the numbers from around 800 to about 2000 positions for trainees there.Paula Bennett said: “It’s not always easy as a young person to know what direction you are taking. Self confidence is sometimes lacking and the courage to take risks and open yourself to new opportunities is sometimes missing. I have seen first hand the light that switches on for young people while on LSV. They gain confidence they learn about themselves and what they are capable of. They come out with a plan. Sometimes it’s not just an employment or study plan but a life altering direction that they will take.”Actually they have gotsome statistics and results here in this release and it says that they have shown that of all those who have completed the course since 1993 45 percent gained employment and a further 30 percent entered trade-related training within 3 months of the course finishing.But apparently if you fast-forward just a few years theNew Zealand Herald says that “The Government has quietly scaled back boot camps for young beneficiaries and Treasury has advised that they should be scrapped altogether because they are not effective.”But not effective about what? And how is the Government measuring the success of the Limited Service Volunteers courses and why should it be cutting the funding to the Limited Service Volunteers?In fact a spokeswoman for the Minister for Social Development Anne Tolley said that the previous rise in funding was because of high youth unemployment during the financial crisis which was around the 2010-11 year. Well that is a load of rubbish because if we actually look at the statistics in the third quarter of 2010 there were 33000 15 to 19-year-olds who were unemployed—around 23.8 percent. If you fast-forward to 2015 when the Government wants to cut it from 2000 to around about 800 trainees there is exactly the same number of youth who are unemployed—33000—and it is around just over 21 percent. So there has been no change whatsoever in unemployment but apparently in 2010 that was a cause to increase the numbers of Limited Service Volunteers and increase the funding and in 2015 that was a cause to cut it. In fact if you want to look at the age group from 20 to 24 which does include positions for Limited Service Volunteers in 2010 there were just 26000 and in 2015 there are 30000. It has remained at 11.9 percent.So where is this Government getting its statistics from? It is making them up. What it wants to do is cut costs and it wants to do it by any means necessary. It is an absolute cop-out. It is letting these kids from this successful programme—the Limited Service Volunteers which the New Zealand Defence Force is running—go towards yet another youth benefit scheme. We have got a bill going through the House at the moment about extending the Youth Service. The Youth Service is actually fully focused on just one thing and that is education and National Certificate of Educational Achievementlevel 2. So how can you compare that—The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch): No no—not me.DARROCH BALL: Sorry Mr Chairman. How can members in this House and how can the Government compare that with the self-confidence the courage and the new opportunities that these trainees gain in the Limited Service Volunteers programme? They cannot.I would just like to finish with this. In the Treasury report it says that “The package does not include funding to continue the Limited Services Volunteer programme. There is limited evidence of its effectiveness in achieving [its] outcomes.” Well in 2010 the Government had the evidence to increase it and now it does not. What I would like to say is that I say and everybody else who has been involved with the Limited Service Volunteers says that you cannot measure the confidence the courage and the self-realisation that these individuals gain.