Xu-Nan Lawrence; Mitchell MarkDr LAWRENCE XU-NAN (Green): Thank you Mr Chair. I would also like to first thank Mr Chair for allowing us to take a number of calls around the removal of Te Tiriti o Waitangi clause. This is incredibly significant and this is incredible significant for the Opposition to hear as well because this removal took place after the select committee stage so in fact no submitters have been able to comment on this. Hence a lot of people have been questioning around what modelling and what extend so I want to thank the Minister for that.I hope Mr Chair will be happy to know my question is not related to Te Tiriti. However the first question I have is related to non-offence – based programme. I want to thank the Minister before who talked about the importance of having the non-offence - based programme for people on remand who are still awaiting trial. But one of the things we know within the prison system within the correction system is the disproportionate number of people who are neurodivergent or who have dyslexia. And I wanted to check whether the non-offence - based programmes that have been named here have considered the neurodivergence and also the dyslexia that is experienced by our prison whānau and whether these non-offence - based programmes would then be tailored to the people who may not learn in a one-size-fits-all manner within this programme system. So that's my first question to the Minister.Now my second question is on clause 5 which is around the Transitional savings and related provisions". And I want to specifically focus on Schedule 1AA which is in Schedule 1. Now there are going to be people who are talking about other elements of the rest of bill and the transitional nature of the bill but I want to focus specifically on Schedule 1AA when they talked about clause 2(1) around management plans. But what I want to focus on which would really pique my interest is the provision that it potentially has in place that prevents a retrospective penalty or double jeopardy that is in line with section 26 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act (NZBORA). So I have a question around the transitional plan in terms of whether the Minister has considered as part of this transition and all other elements that we will be discussing that relate to the bill whether that transitional plan has taken into consideration that when a person has been sentenced or is in the corrections system or is on remand waiting for a sentence the risk of this bill creating a harsher punishment for these people more so than when at the time of their sentencing or at the time of their trial ergo creating a harsher sentence ergo double jeopardy. So I wanted to check if that has been a consideration by the Minister or by the officials around this because one of the things that is in the regulatory impact statement in the table on page 31 when it talks about monitoring. As an example it talks about the fact that this may affect section 14 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act around the rights to freedom of expression because some prisoners may have expressed that they are not able to express themselves fully if they're being monitored—which implies that there is a level of consideration that they may feel that the treatment they are getting is harsher than when they were first sentenced. So whether that has been considered and upon balance whether the Minister or the official has considered for certain provisions in here to not be applied to prison whānau with a certain duration of sentence or to prison whānau on remand waiting for sentence that potentially will make their treatment worse than when they were sentenced or worse than when they were trialled.So those are the two questions: whether neurodivergence and also dyslexia have been considered when we're talking about non-offence programmes and what that would look like; and also in terms of Schedule 1AA around the transitional phase and whether we are looking at any potential issues with section 26 of NZBORA around retrospective penalty and double jeopardy. Thank you.Hon MARK MITCHELL (Minister of Corrections): Yeah thank you Mr Chair. Look I think what you've highlighted—and it's true that Corrections deal with a wide range of very complex issues: from addiction issues to mental health issues. I think you raise a very good point around neurodivergence and people with dyslexia and whether those needs can be met. I can't give you a very definitive answer on that. The only thing that I would say to you is that Corrections are very sensitive to this. They've got very good processes in place. They make sure that the prisons are supported in the best way that they can be.In terms of transitional planning I think that you've highlighted one of the issues that the previous speaker was talking about. That's how dynamic the environment is and a lot of that stuff is outside Corrections' control in terms of someone that's going up for parole may get parole or may not get parole how long are they going to be in the system for and whether they are going to be there long enough to be able to complete a programme. These are all very specific issues that Corrections have to deal with on a daily basis but they'll take all of those matters into full account when they're making a decision in terms of when they are delivering a programme always always with the priority being how they give that person the best possible support and the best chance of being reintegrated and making good decisions when they leave the corrections service."