9. Question No. 9—CorrectionsSIMEON BROWN (National—Pakuranga) to the Minister of CorrectionsQuestion No. 9—Corrections9. SIMEON BROWN (National—Pakuranga) to the Minister of Corrections: Does he stand by his statement regarding community sentences we expect offenders to complete their hours"?Hon KELVIN DAVIS (Minister of Corrections): Yes. My expectation is that people serving community sentences complete them. Currently 80 percent of community sentences are completed so there is still room for improvement.Simeon Brown: How many offenders who had hours remitted from their community service sentence during COVID-19 had failed to report for community service during the two months leading up to level 4 lockdown?Hon KELVIN DAVIS: That's a very specific question. At various alert levels community work was unable to take place—10745 people were subject to a sentence of community work through the lockdown period with more than half of these sentences imposed for traffic offences and non-payment of fines. Corrections identified 5576 people who had demonstrated compliance with their sentences during the month prior to lockdown and remitted on average between four to seven hours a week of community work per offender from 23 March to 5 June.Simeon Brown: Has the Minister's expectation been met that offenders complete their hours when half of the offenders serving community service sentences had their sentences reduced during COVID-19 and according to the written question No. 13740 which he provided to me 2539 offenders failed to report for their sentence in the two months leading up to lockdown?Hon KELVIN DAVIS: Well like all New Zealanders we had to stop undertaking a range of activities at different alert levels and Community Corrections sites were closed to people reporting and staff worked remotely. Community work was unable to take place. The offenders on other community sentences continued to be monitored by phone with home visits carried out where a case had been assessed as higher risk or where there were safety concerns. Corrections did a very tough job making sure that people who had community sentences did as much of it as they could. Simeon Brown: So is the Minister telling the House that essentially he has an expectation that those on community service sentences should complete their hours but his policies have left 2539 people who didn't turn up in the months leading up to lockdown essentially having more hours off than before?Hon KELVIN DAVIS: No.Simeon Brown: Did Corrections consult with victims of crime prior to the decision being made to reduce court-mandated community sentences?Hon KELVIN DAVIS: The offenders who were asked to do community hours—most of them as I said earlier were there for traffic offences and non-payment of fines so I'm not quite sure who we're expected to consult with when he's talking about victims.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Can I ask the Minister during the COVID lockdown which option did he prefer: mindlessly and myopically pressing on with enforcement of the law or protecting the public's health during a crisis?Chris Bishop: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I'm just wondering how that supplementary relates at all to the primary question around community sentences.SPEAKER: Well it relates to about five of the supplementaries. Can you ask the question again or—have you got the question? Ask it again.Rt Hon Winston Peters: During the COVID lockdown which option did he prefer: myopically and mindlessly pursuing with the enforcement of the law or seeking to act in the public health interest?Hon KELVIN DAVIS: Well of course the public health interest because if we had people doing community hours during that time—often they're picked up in vans; they're carted around the country—that would just have been impossible. They would have been in danger of transmitting COVID amongst themselves."