Sio William: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeSio William: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 18 April 2013. Volume:689;Page:9543. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]4.Su’a WILLIAM SIO (Labour—Māngere) to theMinister for Social Development: Does she agree with the CEO of Mangere Budgeting and Family Support Services that “Increased private rental charges higher power and energy prices higher costs for food and dairy higher road user charges and increased petrol costs etc…without putting up wages…means that we are effectively making our people poorer and ultimately it is costing the nation millions in welfare dollars”; if not why not?Hon PAULA BENNETT (Minister for Social Development): I have got huge respect for the work that Darryl Evans and his team do on the front line and I have no doubt that the impact of the recession is ongoing and still having an effect for many. But I also agree with this statement in theOtago Daily Timeseditorial from Tuesday: “New Zealand has grasped the seriousness of a growing welfare class and is mostly composed about changes being made to encourage a hand-up not a hand-out”.Su’a William Sio: Why does she believe that Work and Income grants to pay for electricity and for gas tripled in a 2-year period and what plans does her Government have to address this significant increase?Hon PAULA BENNETT: We have seen hardship grants actually come down over the last 2 years and quite considerably—by about 33 percent. What is interesting though is that what we have is that in 2009 8 percent of all hardship applications weredeclined and in October 2012 this proportion fluctuated between 8 or 9 percent. So it is not that more are being declined it is that we are not taking as many. We do as you can see actually accept more than we decline certainly.Jacinda Ardern: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. My colleague clearly asked the Minister why she believed that electricity and gas grants had tripled in a 2-year period. The Minister did not address that question.Mr SPEAKER: That is absolutely a fair comment. If the Minister would like I can have the question restated.Hon PAULA BENNETT: Sorry Mr Speaker I can be more specific if you like. They obviously are paid out via hardship grants. What I have said is that overall they have come down. What we are seeing though is that people need assistance. That 2-year period was through the recession and through the effects of that and I am proud that this Government has stood up and made sure that people can get the level of assistance that they need.Su’a William Sio: Is she aware that some families according to budget advice services are forgoing food in order to be able to pay for power bills and are relying on food parcels as a consequence; if so what is her Government doing to address this?Hon PAULA BENNETT: What I can say is that in 2008 under the previous Government these budgeting services and organisations were receiving just $4.3 million. Under this Government they are receiving a total of $13 million so we are very committed about giving them that level of support and recognising how they can budget. They do have access to hardship grants and we are providing them with services and support wherever we can.Jacinda Ardern: Can she assure the House that no budget advisers will be lost as a result of the Community Response Fund coming to an end given that budget advice is now a prerequisite to accessing some Work and Income grants?Hon PAULA BENNETT: What we can see is that this Government has more than doubled the funding going to budgeting services over the last few years. This financial year these budgeting services will receive $13 million. That is an increase on what they received last year. We are very cognisant of the fact that they have pressure on them and as a consequence we are working closely with them to see how we can work our way through it.Jacinda Ardern: Can she guarantee to this House that budget advice services will continue to be funded at the same level they have been in past years including the Community Response Fund?Hon PAULA BENNETT: What I can guarantee them is they are getting significantly more than they did under Labour.Carol Beaumont: What impacts have the Responsible Lending Guidelines a joint venture between the Ministry of Social Development and the Financial Services Federation had on protecting vulnerable consumers?Hon PAULA BENNETT: What it has done is set up a way forward for working with those who are lending inappropriately and like others we have huge concerns about that. The Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment is working on some pretty serious work around what we can do to alleviate some of the concerns we have about loan sharks who are really inappropriately lending to our most vulnerable.Carol Beaumont: What efforts has the Minister made to stop harm caused by loan sharks preying on the poor given the significant delay in introducing legislation supposedly getting tough on loan sharks which was announced by the Prime Minister before the last election?Hon PAULA BENNETT: What we have done is make sure that they have access to hardship assistance through Work and Income. For that they do not actually have to payany interest on either the advances they can get on benefit or the extra funding they can get through hardship. That is also available for those who are not just on benefit but outside of it. What you have also seen is a more than doubling of funding going to budgeting services to wrap that kind of support around and to make sure that they are getting the support that they need amongst many other initiatives.