7. Abuse of Children in State Care—Potential Royal Commission of InquiryMARAMA FOX (Co-Leader—Māori Party) to the Minister for ChildrenAbuse of Children in State Care—Potential Royal Commission of Inquiry7. MARAMA FOX (Co-Leader—Māori Party) to the Minister for Children: Will she support a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the institutional abuse of children and if not why not given calls from organisations and members of the public?Hon ANNE TOLLEY (Minister for Children): No. As I have previously said in the House any kind of abuse of children in State care is absolutely abhorrent. I note that successive Governments have decided against holding an inquiry and the previous Labour Government introduced the Confidential Listening and Assistance Service (CLAS) which was extended under this Government. This service provided more in the way of help than an inquiry ever would helping people access their old records funding counselling sessions and referring them to agencies for investigation. The lessons from this service fed into the expert advisory panel's recommendations which underpin the new Ministry for Vulnerable Children Oranga Tamariki. We have also taken steps to resolve claims directly and quickly in a way that is personal to each case. An inquiry would not resolve the claims of individuals or provide payments or offer personal apologies.Marama Fox: Does she not consider the Children's Commissioner's State of Care report on the Confidential Listening and Assistance Service report chaired by Judge Henwood of which over 1100 children who suffered abuse at the hands of the State form the basis of that report a compelling enough reason to hold a royal commission of inquiry; if not why not?Hon ANNE TOLLEY: The Children's Commissioner's State of Care report's recommendations echoed the recommendations of the expert advisory panel. As I said in my primary answer they underpin the formation of the new Ministry for Vulnerable Children Oranga Tamariki. In fact I think that if the member goes back to all of those recommendations from that State of Care report she will see that Cabinet endorsed all of them. In fact I am confident that Cabinet went further than the commissioner's recommendations. The design of the new system which is being rolled out by the Ministry for Vulnerable Children Oranga Tamariki is working very closely with the current Children's Commissioner and his office. The recommendations of the CLAS are all on the website. Most of them have been or are being addressed.Marama Fox: What confidence does the Minister have that the new reforms are in the areas needed if a royal commission of inquiry has not identified those areas to ensure that we do not have another 100000 children and vulnerable adults put into institutional care with almost half of those being Māori?Hon ANNE TOLLEY: Thankfully the era of borstals and 100000 children in State care are long gone. The 1988 Pūao-te-ata-tū report highlighted the historic and widespread abuse and trauma suffered particularly by Māori and helped shape the then ground-breaking Children Young Persons and Their Families Act 1989 and the findings and the recommendations of the CLAS report were made available to the expert advisory panel. As this new ministry rolls out the new system which encompasses prevention intensive intervention care support youth justice and transition support and reports to this House on a regular basis I am absolutely confident that we can make sure that this never ever happens again.