7. Question No. 7—Social DevelopmentHon LOUISE UPSTON (National—Taupō) to the Minister for Social DevelopmentQuestion No. 7—Social Development 7. Hon LOUISE UPSTON (National—Taupō) to the Minister for Social Development: Does she stand by her statement earlier this year that Our plans will result in fewer children growing up in extreme poverty and see more people moving off benefits and into decent long term work"; if so does she believe that she has delivered on this promise?Hon CARMEL SEPULONI (Minister for Social Development): Yes I stand by this statement and this Government is delivering on this. As I've said before there is more to do. However we have already introduced the Families Package which has benefited over a million New Zealanders; committed to indexing benefits to wage increases for the first time in New Zealand's history; invested more into helping young people upskill and move into work through programmes like Mana in Mahi and Limited Service Volunteers; lifted benefit abatement thresholds so people can keep more of what they earn; passed legislation to repeal the harmful sanction that penalised sole parents and their children; and put an extra 170 case managers on the front line at the Ministry of Social Development to support people into sustainable employment. Finally as I also said earlier this year we're taking a balanced approach and are committed to delivering change over the longer term and prioritising areas like housing and mental health which impact on all New Zealanders but particularly those in the welfare system.Hon Louise Upston: How can this have been delivered when there are 22000 more people on jobseeker benefit and 8000 more children in benefit-dependent households since the Government took office?Hon CARMEL SEPULONI: We know that the number of working-age New Zealanders on benefit proportionate to the population is one of the lowest that it has been in over a decade at 10.2 percent. What we've also seen during the July to November period was an additional 3600 benefit exits into employment compared to the year before. That's a 13 percent increase and that came about around the time that we introduced the new work-focused case managers. So I do believe that this Government is delivering for New Zealanders. Is there more to do? Absolutely and this Government's committed to doing it.Hon Louise Upston: How can she believe she has supported people into long-term work when she has not delivered 4000 Mana in Mahi places that the Prime Minister promised and only five percent of Oranga Mahi participants are still in work after six months?Hon CARMEL SEPULONI: Can I say that with respect to Mana in Mahi we are absolutely meeting the targets that we have set with getting people into Mana in Mahi placements. I think that the outcome that we've seen to date is that 70 percent of those who started in Mana in Mahi have continued in Mana in Mahi and of those that have come out about 16 percent have gone on to do something else supported by MSD and about 16 percent have ended up back on benefit. But we haven't given up on that 16 percent and we will continue to support those young people to get into meaningful upskilling and training because unlike that side of the House we don't believe that young New Zealanders are "pretty damn hopeless". We believe in their potential.Hon Louise Upston: Does she believe she has delivered on child poverty when John Campbell is stating that "There are many children here and they are waiting for food that their families might run short of" and when Green Party MP Marama Davidson says that the My Food Bag trial only hides the fact that people simply don't have enough to eat?Hon CARMEL SEPULONI: We have to be really careful in this House not to over-politicise child poverty. There's a reason that we all signed up to the child poverty reduction targets and that is because we know that we have an issue as a country. That issue didn't just come about when we took over two years ago. There were unfortunately children living in poverty under the previous Government but for far too long it was ignored. We're not ignoring it anymore; we're doing something about it. We've set those targets. We are absolutely focused on achieving those targets and we look forward to working constructively with other political parties in the House to do that.Hon Louise Upston: How can she be delivering on poverty when the head of the Christchurch City Mission said that things were better under National and food banks are reporting that they have never seen so many people in need?Hon CARMEL SEPULONI: We have to reflect on more than the past two years. Already what has been mentioned in the House has been the Children's Commissioner and his comments. I need to refer back to something that the Prime Minister mentioned and that is the Child Poverty Monitor. The stats that that side of the House keep referring to are stats that came about under their time in Government not ours. We are committed to addressing child poverty. That is why we introduced the Best Start payment for New Zealand families. That is why we introduced the winter energy payment. That is why we've lifted Working for Families. That is why we have indexed benefits to wages. That is why we have lifted the abatement threshold—so that people can earn more whilst being able to maintain their benefit and not be penalised. There is a lot that we're doing on this side of the House. Is there more that we have to do? Absolutely and we're committed to doing that."