8. Question No. 8—HealthHon Dr AYESHA VERRALL (Labour) to the Minister of HealthQuestion No. 8—Health8. Hon Dr AYESHA VERRALL (Labour) to the Minister of Health: Does he stand by his decision to appoint a commissioner to Health New Zealand and does he agree that challenges with the operating model and governance of Health New Zealand had been identified from the early days of its establishment in large part deriving from a lack of transparency from the Board"? Hon Dr SHANE RETI (Minister of Health): Thank you Mr Speaker. Yes. I also agree with the very next sentence from the same Cabinet paper which reads: "The Ministry of Health had advised regularly that it did not have assurance that the Board was able to exercise its functions effectively…". Other officials including the Auditor-General and the Treasury have outlined concerns about the board's performance. The difference is that this Government has actually acted on those concerns. We took action by appointing a Crown observer a board member with financial expertise a new chair was appointed and finally appointing a commissioner. These appointments have been instrumental in getting to the bottom of the consequences of this botched merger. With the help of the commissioner and the front line this Government will get Health New Zealand back on track.Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall: Has the Minister been advised that a decision not to fully fund pay equity from the centre was a cause of the deteriorating financial position for Health New Zealand in financial year 23-24?Hon Dr SHANE RETI: I have been advised that pay equity will be funded from the centre and it was not a significant contributor to the deteriorating financial performance of Health New Zealand.Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall: Had he not been advised that the deficit in March was due to a change to the processing of pay equity at all?Hon Dr SHANE RETI: That was not one of the key factors that was contributing to the financial deficit of Health New Zealand.Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall: Has the board rejected the claim that the Treasury secretary asked the Health New Zealand board for information on productivity and the financial year 23-24 financial position at a meeting on 23 February this year?Hon Dr SHANE RETI: There were challenges getting important information from the board to the Ministry of Health who is the steward. On 4 April the chair of Health New Zealand wrote to the Director-General who is the steward of the health system. The title to that letter was "Regarding arrangements relating to sharing of board papers"; the first sentence is "We have recently begun providing you with board papers."Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall: Why won't he give a direct answer to questions about the lead-up to an important decision he took when he is busy accusing others of a lack of transparency?Hon Dr SHANE RETI: There are a range of decisions that that question could relate to. I stand by the decision to appoint a commissioner to address the terrible financial situation that that previous party left.Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall: Is Dr Curtis Walker former Health New Zealand board member and former chair of the Medical Council correct when he says "As the political pressure has come on the Government they have been increasingly desperate in [their] casting about [for] misinformation."?Hon Dr SHANE RETI: Dr Walker is correct when he said he first became made aware of the deteriorating financial position at Health New Zealand in March."