Tolley Anne: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Tolley Anne: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:645;Page:14256] 
9.  
ANNE TOLLEY (National—East Coast) 
 to the  
Minister of Education 
: How many secondary school-age children under 16 are not enrolled in a school? 
Hon CHRIS CARTER (Minister of Education) 
: 
 We will know soon; schools started last week. Primary and intermediate school student records are currently transiting across to secondary schools. These new enrolments are being processed by individual schools and the Ministry of Education expects they will all be processed by March when a clearer picture will emerge. 
Anne Tolley 
: Why in the same week that the Government announced it wants to keep students in school up to the age of 18 is the Ministry of Education telling its regional offices that the hardest cases to keep enrolled in school under the current law can no longer be dealt with by the contractor that is meant to get those non-enrolled students back to school? 
Hon CHRIS CARTER 
: It is for exactly the reasons the member has outlined that the Schools Plus programme has been developed. We are losing too many students not just at the 16 and 17-year-old age range but younger. We need to revolutionise the secondary school system to deal with exactly the problem the member has outlined. 
Dr Ashraf Choudhary 
: What action has the Labour-led Government taken to identify and place back into education the students who are not enrolled at school? 
Hon CHRIS CARTER 
: One student not enrolled in school is one too many. The Labour-led Government has been very active in addressing truancy. Measures have included a complete review of truancy services which led to enhanced funding in Budget 2006/07 school-to-work programmes like Gateway and Youth Apprenticeships and the $6.4 million enrolment system which once all schools have been operating for a year will give us accurate and consistently updated enrolment information. 
Anne Tolley 
: Why did the ministry sign a contract with a private provider which means that students who are not enrolled and who are in contact with Child Youth and Family or with the police will no longer be targeted to get back into school? 
Hon CHRIS CARTER 
: All students who are legally obliged to be in school are being targeted. Schools all around New Zealand are engaging in a variety of different initiatives to try to address this problem. One example is Rotorua Girls’ High School which has reduced the number of Maori students leaving school with no formal qualifications from one in three 6 years ago to zero last year. 
Anne Tolley 
: Why in that same contract does the ministry say that students who are excluded—so are not enrolled in school—will also not be targeted to get back into school? 
Hon CHRIS CARTER 
: The member clearly was not listening to my earlier answer. One student not in school is one student too many. This Government is absolutely committed to upskilling students and keeping them in school in New Zealand. That is why we have launched Schools Plus. It is all about the concerns the member has raised. 
Anne Tolley 
: Why should we believe any of this Minister’s or this Government’s rhetoric about keeping students in school until they are 18 when there is a lost tribe of 6000 kids not enrolled in any school when there are 31000 truants every day when the Government cannot even keep them in school until they are 16 and when they disappear off the radar because they get into trouble the Government washes its hands of them? 
Hon CHRIS CARTER 
: The member once again is being very free and easy with the figures. The reality is that we have done a complete review of truancy services increased the funding for it introduced and supported programmes like Gateway and Youth Apprenticeships and set up the electronic enrolment system which in a year’s time will for the first time ever let us know exactly how many students are falling out of the system. 
Anne Tolley 
: I seek leave to table a document outlining recent changes to the Non-enrolment Truancy Service which shows excluded students who have contact with Child Youth and Family or the police— 
Document by leave laid on the Table of the House. 
Hon CHRIS CARTER 
: I seek leave to table a document I launched in January called  
Staying at School 
 which outlines eight incredible initiatives by schools around New Zealand to keep students in school. 
Document by leave laid on the Table of the House.