3. Question No. 3—EducationHon NIKKI KAYE (National—Auckland Central) to the Minister of EducationQuestion No. 3—Education3. Hon NIKKI KAYE (National—Auckland Central) to the Minister of Education: Does he stand by all of his statements and actions? Hon CHRIS HIPKINS (Minister of Education): Absolutely. I particularly stand by the fact that 80000 students in post-secondary education and training have benefited from the first year free in tertiary education I stand by 2000 more teachers being supported into schools after inheriting a 40 percent reduction in those training to be teachers and I also stand by this Government making the largest ever investment by a New Zealand Government in school property and the first national plan for managing student growth in classrooms. Hon Nikki Kaye: Does he stand by his statement in 2018 regarding reducing teacher to student ratios in primary schools that the Government will consider any changes as part of future Budget rounds and why has he not delivered on this? Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: We've still got plenty of Budget rounds to go and I'm sure there will be many Budget rounds to go. The biggest impediment to lowering class sizes at the moment is that we're struggling to find enough teachers to fill the vacancies that we already have. I note that it takes three to four years to train a teacher and this Government has been in office for only two years. It will take some time to repair the damage that we inherited from the nine years of neglect of the last Government. Hon Nikki Kaye: Has he apologised to the Prime Minister given under his watch early intervention times have increased by nearly 50 percent when the Prime Minister promised to reduce waiting times? Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: Again the biggest impediment to reducing early intervention times is a lack of a skilled workforce to do so. That is a problem that we inherited from the last Government. We are taking action to deal with that. Early intervention times are unacceptable—they're utterly unacceptable. They were on an upwards trajectory under the last Government. They've continued on that trajectory because we haven't had the skilled workforce to be able to deal with that. It's not good enough. We will do better. This Government will do better. We will repair the damage done by the last Government. Hon Nikki Kaye: Does he stand by his decisions regarding his donation schemes given statements by principals that are calling his scheme confusing and inequitable? Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: What has become abundantly clear is that despite the denials of the last Government a number of schools haven't been following the law when it comes to what they can charge fees for and what they can ask donations for and that is actually part of the issue that this policy has highlighted. I stand by the introduction of the policy because for the vast bulk of schools who are taking it up—and there is a significant number who are—they're going to end up significantly financially better off. Hon Nikki Kaye: Does he stand by this Government's decisions regarding the roll-out of learning support coordinators given that educators have recently said it has failed the test on delivering to the children that needed it most first? Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: The learning support coordinators won't actually be in place until the beginning of next year so I think it's a little premature for the member to be making that judgment. I absolutely stand by that decision to roll out the learning support coordinators. It was something that Labour New Zealand First and the Green Party committed to when we were in Opposition when we did the detailed work on what was going to be required to undo the damage to learning support that was done by the last Government. Hon Nikki Kaye: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. When we look back at the Hansard what I actually said was given educators have said that it failed the test". I'd be happy to seek leave to table—SPEAKER: No no I think that question has certainly been addressed. Some would argue that it's been answered. Hon Nikki Kaye: Does he stand by his actions which include overseeing a failed first-year fees-free policy longer intervention times in early childhood the decision to strip—SPEAKER: Order! The member has had her supplementaries. Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: I absolutely stand by the introduction of fees-free. For the 80000 students who haven't had to borrow for their first year of study it has been a significant boon to them. They have certainly welcomed it their parents have welcomed it and I look forward to the National Party coming up and telling those students and those parents what their policy is because at the moment they don't seem to have one."