Hipkins Chris: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Hipkins Chris: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Sitting date: 18 October 2012. Volume:684;Page:5983. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
11. 
CHRIS HIPKINS (Labour—Rimutaka) 
 to the  
Minister of Education 
: How long will boards of trustees of the schools she proposes to close or merge in Christchurch have to consult with their local communities before they are required to provide feedback to her ahead of a final decision? 
Hon ANNE TOLLEY (Deputy Leader of the House) 
on behalf of the Minister of Education: The boards of trustees will have 50 working days from 28 September when they received their letters until 7 December to consult with their local communities. 
Chris Hipkins 
: Have any of the schools proposed for closure or merger approached her asking for an extension of time so that they can report back to her after the 7 December deadline she has set; if so has she allowed them that extra time? 
Hon ANNE TOLLEY 
: I understand that the Aranui and the Halswell clusters asked the Minister for an extension and the Minister decided that the time frame for individual schools—those that are proposed to be merged or closed—will remain the same. That time line of 7 December remains but consultation for clusters of schools is an ongoing process that is not linked to the legislative process and proposals that schools are undertaking about mergers and closures. That is a separate process. 
Chris Hipkins 
: How can clusters of schools engage with their local communities in a meaningful way about what education in their area might look like if one or more of the schools in that cluster is already formally the subject of a merger or closure consultation process and others are not? 
Hon ANNE TOLLEY 
: I understand that these are two separate processes and that discussions around the clusters of schools—all the schools are involved in clusters—involve more than just individual proposals to merge or close schools. 
Chris Hipkins 
: If one of the clusters of schools presents her after 7 December with a proposal that involves not closing or merging one of the schools that she had already concluded consulting on the closure or merger of will she therefore reopen the formal consultation for those schools? 
Hon ANNE TOLLEY 
: I can only repeat what the Minister said in the House yesterday which is that she is keen to listen to the views of parents and the school communities and she will take along with them the time that it will take. All of us she said are interested in getting this right and getting in place the best possible education system for the Greater Christchurch region. 
Chris Hipkins 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I asked the Minister a very specific question about whether she would reopen the consultation and she has not addressed that matter. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Yes indeed. That was really the heart of the question—whether in the ongoing consultation with the clusters a school that was to be merged or closed and therefore dealt with already supposedly according to the time lines could have consultation around that merger or closure reopened. I think that was the heart of the question. 
Hon ANNE TOLLEY 
: I understood that but I think the Minister’s words make it very clear that she is open to ongoing discussions with those schools. She is saying she will take along with them the time that it will take. She is making it very clear that she is willing to listen and talk with schools about the proposals and the way ahead. 
Chris Hipkins 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. The issue that we have is that under the Education Act—I am sure you are familiar with it—there is a legislative process around formal consultation with those schools the deadline for which the Minister has set as 7 December. The question that I have asked her is whether if those clusters of schools come up with an alternative proposal that comes to a different outcome from the one that she had already concluded the formal consultation on she would go back and reopen that formal consultation process. The Minister’s answer still has not addressed that matter. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: If the Minister can help it would be very helpful. 
Hon ANNE TOLLEY 
: Well I am not sure than I can help because the Minister’s answers are confined by the legislative process. So the Minister can answer only within the limits that that legislation puts in place. 
Chris Hipkins 
: That is exactly the point but she has not actually addressed the issue. Within the legislative process once the schools have made their submissions under the legislative process as it is now that has to be in by 7 December and I have asked her whether she would consider reopening it. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I think in fairness the Minister has been pressed and the member has made it quite clear what he is after but the Minister is answering on behalf of the Minister and I think it is probably unreasonable to expect the Minister answering on behalf of the Minister to be able to give the House that particular detail about matters beyond 7 December. I think it is probably unreasonable to press further on that. 
Chris Hipkins 
: Supplementary question. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I think the member’s party has used its allocation of 22 supplementary questions today. 
Chris Hipkins 
: I thought we still had one more to go. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: No no I think they have all been used.