English Bill: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
English Bill: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:623;Page:18235] 
4.  
Hon BILL ENGLISH (National—Clutha-Southland) 
 to the  
Associate Minister of Education 
: What action if any does he intend to take as a result of a  
New Zealand Herald 
 survey that found almost all State secondary schools in and around Auckland are charging parents fees to pay for their child’s “free” education? 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE (Associate Minister of Education) 
: 
 If the member is referring to the survey published on 31 January in the  
New Zealand Herald 
 he would also have noted the headline on page 1 of the same edition that clearly states I intend to investigate the level of school donations being asked of parents. 
Hon Bill English 
: Given the Minister’s public statement that “… free education was enshrined in law” and Labour’s official policy that State education is free does he believe that his colleagues might regard his promise to “investigate” as somewhat pathetic? 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE 
: No and I believe that even the questioner knows that his suggestion is patently untrue in terms of the State compulsory education system. Our State compulsory education system is one of the best-funded in the world. It provides for free enrolment and free education as far as the teaching needs of the curriculum are concerned. Where schools choose to provide more than the curriculum then clearly schools must pay for that out of discretionary spending. 
H V Ross Robertson 
: Can the Minister inform the House whether he has received any reports at all about the adequacy of State school funding? 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE 
: Yes. I can refer the member to the OECD publication  
Education at a Glance: OECD Indicators 2004 
 which shows that New Zealand is ranked third in the OECD in terms of the proportion of GDP spent on primary secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary education. 
Hon Bill English 
: Is the Minister aware that in his own ministry in the last 5 years spending on policy advice has doubled spending on ownership advice has doubled spending on administration of regulation has trebled and spending on capacity development has gone from nought to $16 million and that those items now add up to over $100 million a year; and why should parents have to sell raffle tickets to employ teachers while he wastes money on bureaucrats? 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE 
: I am aware of that member’s fixation with the bureaucracy but I make no apologies for being part of a Government that has put in place the mechanisms to provide the initiatives that this Government is doing. Those initiatives include the increase in the schools vote by $1 billion in the period from 1999 to 2005—$1 billion of new education spending on schools. 
Hon Bill English 
: Is the Minister aware of the comparison between the spending on the items I have outlined and the increase in the operations grant whereby the spending on policy advice ownership advice administration of regulation and capacity development—whatever that is—by the Ministry of Education now exceeds $100 million per year and the increase in the operations grant for schools this year is only about $30 million? 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE 
: I am aware that the contribution level made by parents by whichever assessment has remained static at around 6 percent in comparison with the Government contributions. 
Hon Bill English 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: No the Minister will come to the direct question asked. 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE 
: I am not aware of the detail the questioner raises but in terms of the amount contributed by other than State sources that impost has not changed percentage-wise over that period.