Yang JianDr JIAN YANG (National): I speak firstly about the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results. According to the latest Programme for International Student Assessment or PISA findings relating to New Zealand New Zealand has been doing very well actually. The results show that New Zealand has consolidated and improved its place in the top half of the OECD after a fall in rankings in 2012. So in reading New Zealand has come up from 13 to 10. Now I am coming to the topic—The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Trevor Mallard): Good good.Dr JIAN YANG: —because the point I am trying to say is that we have been trying very hard to raise our educational achievement. We understand very clearly that we need to make sure all young New Zealanders have those kinds of skills and qualifications to enable them to participate in the modern economy. So that is our particular goal.To do that we need to invest more; that is one thing. Also we need to be more innovative and we need to have more options. Partnership schools are one particular option for some kids; those kids from low-decile areas or from disadvantaged communities. Those kids have not been performing very well in the public schools or State schools. Partnership schools can be one option for those parents and their children. So this is why we believe that partnership schools have their place. Partnership schools and students—all our children—are all unique. They have their own ways of studying and that is why we believe there is a place for partnership schools.Of course this particular bill has a concern about the accountability of partnership schools but we do have safeguards there to make sure that partnership schools are able to deliver quality and to meet a standard. So what are these safeguards then? Well firstly partnership schools must have a sponsor which must be a governing body and also partnership schools must have a signed contract—a fixed-term contract—with the Crown which will make sure these schools must deliver specific school-level targets. So if it is unable to deliver its targets the Minister of Education could simply end the contract and the partnership school needs to be closed. So this is a particular safeguard. Of course we have more safeguards. In addition to the right to terminate the Minister could also intervene to make sure that schools are running properly and also that kids are receiving proper education and welfare. Partnership schools may have more—actually greater—transparency than State schools because they have to report quarterly 6 monthly and annually to the Minister of Education and also to the Partnership Schools Authorisation Board. So this is a more frequent reporting system. And also partnership schools need to deliver their annual audited financial statement and these statements can be subject to Official Information Act (OIA) requests. So this is another safeguard.Also we say that the partnership schools are not subject to the OIA or the Ombudsmen Act because they are not Crown entities; they are simply non-governmental organisations. Although they have a contract or are partly funded or fully funded by the Government there are many NGOs that deliver services and that are partly or fully funded by the Government that are not subject to the OIA or the Ombudsmen Act. So if these partnership schools are subject to the OIA or the Ombudsmen Act then how about the over 5000 education organisations that are receiving partially or fully their funding from the Government? So this bill is not right. Thank you.