7. Youth Guarantee—PerformanceCHRIS HIPKINS (Labour—Rimutaka) to the Minister for Tertiary Education Skills and EmploymentYouth Guarantee—Performance7. CHRIS HIPKINS (Labour—Rimutaka) to the Minister for Tertiary Education Skills and Employment: Does he believe his predecessor and officials have fully briefed him on the value and effectiveness of all existing programmes in his portfolio?Hon PAUL GOLDSMITH (Minister for Tertiary Education Skills and Employment): Yes although I would note that Vote Tertiary Education is a $2.8 billion spend delivered over a wide range of programmes not all of which have yet been fully evaluated. There is plenty of success in these programmes such as we have seen in the growing number of apprenticeships from 36000 in 2012 to 42000 an increase of 16 percent. We have seen the number of workplaces delivering literacy and numeracy programmes increase to 170 percent. That is from 27 employers to 73 in the past year. So the Government systematically reviews its programmes to ensure they are effective and continue to deliver value for money and if they are not we will look to make changes.Chris Hipkins: Does he believe that spending on the Youth Guarantee scheme represents good value for money given up to 20 percent of the students participating in the programme already hold a qualification at the level they are enrolled in?Hon PAUL GOLDSMITH: Yes. There is a target to get that down to 10 percent. There are lots of reasons that students might be studying in a programme at the same level. It ranges depending on a number of factors but for example some students may take a generic trades level 2 qualification which gives them experience in a range of trades before they then enrol in a level 2 qualification for their trade of choice. So it is not a simple thing to say that nobody should be doing a course at the same level but we do want to reduce the number of times it happens.Chris Hipkins: Was the Youth Guarantee scheme set up to assist those who were not succeeding in the education system; if so how does enrolling students who already have qualifications at the level of the Youth Guarantee programme they are enrolling in help to achieve that objective?Hon PAUL GOLDSMITH: The Youth Guarantee programme is indeed set up to help people who have not been in training get into training.Chris Hipkins: Does he believe that the taxpayer is getting good value for money from the Youth Guarantee scheme when around $44 million of the money being pumped into it over the last 5 years under Steven Joyce has gone to support kids getting qualifications at the same level as qualifications they already hold?Hon PAUL GOLDSMITH: As I said there would be a number of reasons why it sometimes makes sense for a student to be studying at the same level as they have before.Chris Hipkins: Why does he believe the Youth Guarantee scheme represents good value for money when an evaluation that has already been carried out by the Government last year found those who participated in the Fees-free Youth Guarantee programme were more likely to end up reliant on a benefit than those who did not?Hon PAUL GOLDSMITH: I am not sure of the member's figures in that area but I am certainly aware that the reviews have shown that the NCEA level 2 achievement rates are higher for participants against a comparison group and that an estimated 300 additional 18-year-olds achieved NCEA level 2 from their participation in the Youth Guarantee Fees-free programme than otherwise would have. We should be aware that this is the most difficult group and we are very keen to make sure that that group of New Zealanders has every access to education. There is a wide range of programmes across the tertiary sector. Many of them are very successful; others are successful in part. We are very determined to make sure that they improve and that is why we are very focused on it.