9. Question No. 9—Public ServiceJAN LOGIE (Green) to the Minister for the Public ServiceQuestion No. 9—Public Service9. JAN LOGIE (Green) to the Minister for the Public Service: Have any pay equity settlements been reached since the new pay equity process came into force over a year ago; if not why not?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS (Minister for the Public Service): There are currently 23 claims in train; 13 of which have been raised since the Act came into force last year and none have yet been settled. Those claims cover 170000 employees. Five of the claims are in the final phase of bargaining for settlement having completed the comprehensive assessment and analysis work this year. We hope to see those settled within the next six months and they'll reach over 66000 employees.Jan Logie: Is he confident the framework for governance and oversight of State sector pay equity claims is working and if so why are the DHB admin workers still waiting for settlement when agreement around undervaluation was reached well over a year ago?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: I am overall satisfied with the way pay equity claims are being governed. I do acknowledge that the DHB claim that the member refers to is probably one of the most complex of all of the pay equity claims that we have seen being lodged. I think I'm not supposed to say it's in the final stages but it is getting pretty close and I'm optimistic.Jan Logie: Why after a three-year process have 10000 school administrators been told they can't enter final negotiations before Christmas because the Government hasn't given sign-off?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: I am again optimistic around the school administration claim that the member refers to. There is a fairly comprehensive process that we need to go through. It includes making sure that all of the relevant steps have been followed to ensure that the claim has been made out that we're ready for bargaining that the parameters of the bargaining are clear and so on. The Government is working its way through that. As I've indicated there are a number of claims. There are some overlapping interests between claims that we're working our way through ensuring that we're getting alignment so that we get consistent outcomes for the claimants. Then of course there's issues around the current bargaining which some of those who are involved in claims are also involved in at the moment. So it's not a complete black and white straightforward set of issues.Jan Logie: Considering a lack of information about pay rates slows down the claim assessment process will he advocate for pay transparency legislation this term?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: Thank you. I'm not responsible for pay transparency legislation but I certainly do think that there is merit in the wider issues around pay transparency. Whether legislation is the best way of achieving that is not something that I have ministerial responsibility for.SPEAKER: Question No. 10. Jamie Strange—oh sorry.Jan Logie: Oh sorry Mr Speaker.SPEAKER: I thought I got the nod the member was finished.Jan Logie: I was just too quiet unusually. Does the Minister acknowledge that justice delayed is justice denied and despite it being almost 50 years now since the Equal Pay Act passed women particularly in essential services are still waiting for a fair deal?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: In answer to the first part of the member's question absolutely yes. In answer to the second part of the question do I think that the elapsed time to achieve genuine pay equity is an acceptable one? No I don't at all. One of the things that I have been pushing as Minister for the Public Service is making sure that we are prioritising and properly resourcing pay equity claims so that we can actually get those settled. There is a significant financial cost involved in those and over the next 18 months or so I think members will see just the scale of the cost that's involved in settling those pay equity claims. But we need to think about that not just in terms of the cost but in terms of who is bearing the cost of that at the moment which is that yes that will be an increased cost to the taxpayer but what that actually means is that the women of New Zealand are currently subsidising the operation of Government and public services by not being paid what they should be.