12. Question No. 12—HealthMATT DOOCEY (National—Waimakariri) to the Minister of HealthQuestion No. 12—Health12. MATT DOOCEY (National—Waimakariri) to the Minister of Health: Why has the year three stocktake of the Budget 2019 Mental Health and Addiction package found the delivery status of the mental health infrastructure programme has not meaningfully improved" since the previous Health Minister Andrew Little said he was "extraordinarily frustrated … we seem to be a long way behind actually getting a shovel in the ground" and why did the $30 million allocated to support delivery result in a finding that the programme has not accelerated and estimated completion dates are unlikely to be met?Hon Dr AYESHA VERRALL (Minister of Health): To the first part of the question the report was written in June 2022 and since then solid progress has been made. I'm advised by Te Whatu Ora that many of the recommendations in the report have been implemented or are well under way. I'm advised that of the 16 mental health infrastructure projects two are complete eight are in construction four are in planning and two are in the business case stage. I understand my colleague Minister Little's frustration. COVID has been disruptive to project delivery. Inflation demand for skilled workers and supply chain disruptions have had flow-on effects to Government infrastructure projects. In response to the second part of the question: $30 million was ring-fenced to accelerate projects. Some of this money has been spent where it was able to be used to materially progress delivery. For projects in later stages such as detailed design or reaching the point of contractor procurement there is limited scope for acceleration.Matt Doocey: Which of the following from the report has contributed most to delays: the mental health project with incorrect costs due to the wrong number of beds the project with the wrong site or the one with a business case with no plan or time line?Hon Dr AYESHA VERRALL: If the member is referring to seismic issues that have been discovered in one of the sites I think that is a very legitimate reason to readjust a project. There are a number of reasons for those delays some of which were outlined in my primary answer.Matt Doocey: What is her response to the report's findings that "A light touch approach by consultants resulted in unrealistic costings budget escalation and over-optimistic schedules."?Hon Dr AYESHA VERRALL: I would characterise one of the themes of the report as identifying in our disseminated health system a lack of capacity for infrastructure projects which has been addressed through the centralisation of oversight of infrastructure in Te Whatu Ora. The visibility of projects their risks and the capability for leading them has been substantially improved.Matt Doocey: Point of order Mr Speaker. The question I asked was about the consultant's work. That wasn't answered.SPEAKER: The question was definitely addressed.Matt Doocey: Why has the implementation unit nearly two years since being tasked with reviewing mental health projects admitted they don't have the appropriate expertise by calling in the Infrastructure Commission?Hon Dr AYESHA VERRALL: We have substantially improved the expertise dedicated to supervising these projects and as I said in my primary answer a number of them are being built now.Matt Doocey: Supplementary?SPEAKER: Sorry no more supplementaries."