Sepuloni CarmelHon CARMEL SEPULONI (Minister for Social Development and Employment): We have made a number of announcements in the past week that really reflect where this Government's priorities lie. We have had some challenging times—that would be probably an understatement—particularly in light of the pandemic that we have been faced with. However not only have we been focused on ensuring that New Zealand is in the best place possible it can be during this pandemic and making sure that New Zealanders' health is front and foremost the biggest priority but we've also taken this time as an opportunity to make investments where they have been so desperately needed.I was very proud to be part of the cross-agency announcement that was made the other day on driver licensing. There were a number of Ministers involved in pulling this together—an area that would seem simple from the outside but in fact has been overly complex and actually has had so many barriers in place to a large number of New Zealanders being able to access this kind of fundamental qualification.We are going to be able to provide 64000 New Zealanders with access to drivers' licences. Why is this important? Because we as Government are focused on supporting New Zealanders into employment and 70 percent of jobs that are promoted or that are advertised require that people have a licence of some sort. Why else is it important? Because a large number of New Zealanders that have interactions with the justice system usually have their first interaction being not having a driver's licence at all or driving on the wrong driver's licence.I have seen a number of young people participating in these programmes. Not only does it give them better access to employment but we shouldn't underestimate the role that it has to play with regards to lifting self-esteem and building their confidence. I am very proud of that announcement and very proud of the cross-agency work that took place to make it happen.Also yesterday another good example of cross-agency cross-ministerial work was our announcement around further investment into Apprenticeship Boost Mana in Mahi and Māori trades training. I think one of the most shameful parts of what happened during the global financial crisis was that actually rather than investing more into the upskilling and training of New Zealanders funding was cut to apprenticeships. As a result of that what did we see? We actually saw workforce shortages in critical areas like the trades.We took the opposite approach and have actually invested heavily in this space. What we will see with Budget 2022 now is that we will further be supporting another 38000 apprentices into employment education and training. We will be expanding the already successful Mana in Mahi programme—that has already had 4700-plus young people participating on it—so that we can provide a further 1600 places to young people in Mana in Mahi.Quite often in this House we are called to our feet to discuss the effectiveness of that programme. Make no mistake: it is successful. Around 89 percent of those that have participated in the programme have ended up completing the programme—or are still in the programme—and those that have left the programme have not ended up back on benefit. Considering the demographic that we are talking about that is successful and that is certainly the type of success we want to see across all of our employment initiatives.I also want to acknowledge my colleague the Hon Willie Jackson and the role that he has played in a number of these employment initiatives but in particular with regards to Māori trades training where will see further investment so that we can further support more young Māori being able to get into what really is sustainable and meaningful employment with a trade.It's not just about giving them access to the training though. It's actually working with Māori providers so that it is Māori doing this for and with Māori. I'm very proud of the announcements that we have made in the past week; they really are reflective of where our Government's priorities lie.