Logie Jan: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeLogie Jan: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 27 August 2015. Volume:708;Page:6246. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]5.JAN LOGIE (Green) to the Minister for Social Development: Will she make an emergency one-off injection of funding into Child Youth and Family to address concerns about the safety of children in State care raised by the Children’s Commissioner today?Hon ANNE TOLLEY (Minister for Social Development): No. Budget 2015 allocated $8 million extra to help Child Youth and Family meet current demand and $5.8 million to develop and test a new operating model. Since 2008 the baseline for Child Youth and Family has increased by $90 million with no apparent substantial change in the outcome for children in State care. Throwing money at a system that is not working is just plain ridiculous. That is why in April I appointed an expert panel to design a complete overhaul of New Zealand’s child protection system to ensure that we get better results for children in care and to ensure that money is invested in the areas that will make the biggest difference for our kids.Jan Logie: Given that the Children’s Commissioner has said that these 5000 children cannot wait for these initiatives what will the Minister do today to action any of the report’s 53 recommendations?Hon ANNE TOLLEY: I think the member completely misrepresents the comments from the Children’s Commissioner. He is entirely supportive—he makes that very clear in his report—of the work that we are doing here with an expert panel to completely overhaul the system. The member should make sure that she accurately quotes the Children’s Commissioner.Jan Logie: Given that the Children’s Commissioner is doubtful that children are currently better off in State care after being removed from their family what is the Minister doing today to ensure that placements that are made tomorrow will be safe?Hon ANNE TOLLEY: Again the member is misrepresenting the Children’s Commissioner in his report. His comments around not knowing relate to the lack of data. If she looks at page 61 I think it is of the report he makes that very clear. I am also concerned at the lack of data following the progress of children after they come into State care and that is one of the issues that the expert panel is looking at. In fact all the recommendations of the Children’s Commissioner are incorporated in the review that the panel is doing.Jan Logie: Given that National has been in power for the majority of these kids’ lives will the Minister accept responsibility for her Government’s systematic under-investment in Child Youth and Family and these children?Hon ANNE TOLLEY: Well there has not been under-investment. As I said an extra $90 million has been put by this Government into Child Youth and Family alone. The previous Minister led a large piece of work that had a green paper a white paper a Vulnerable Children Act a Children’s Action Plan—all designed around maintaining children in their families and helping those children so that they do not need State care. So there has been a huge amount of work that has gone in. What we are going to do now though is get to the very heart of the matter as the Children’s Commissioner talks about—the system that is needed to put children and their needs at the centre of the State’s care.Jan Logie: Has the Minister seen last year’s report from the Chief Social Worker that the most common request from case workers within Child Youth and Family is for more staff?Hon ANNE TOLLEY: Yes I have. I have also heard the voices of children who say that the most important thing for them is a safe stable and loving home. Their first placement needs to be the best placement for themso that is what I talk about. This is a very complex issue. We are not going to have a knee-jerk reaction. The Children’s Commissioner is very supportive of the work that this Government is doing with the expert panel in designing a complete overhaul of the Child Youth and Family system.Jan Logie: Is one of the recommendations that she is taking to Cabinet next month to outsource any responsibility for child protection to private businesses?Hon ANNE TOLLEY: Cabinet papers are of course for Cabinet. What I am taking to Cabinet next month is a very high-level report from the expert panel. I do intend to make that public following Cabinet’s consideration of it.Jan Logie: Will the Minister commit to keeping Child Youth and Family services within the Government’s direct control and our collective care?Hon ANNE TOLLEY: Where the Government takes children into its care it has an absolute responsibility to make sure that those children have better outcomes in their lives and I am determined to make sure that that happens.Jan Logie: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I did not hear my—Mr SPEAKER: Order! The question was definitely addressed.Marama Fox: Given the response to your first question were you impressed by the finding in the Youth Services Strategy case study that young people on placements who are connected with a Whānau Ora provider that could connect the person through to their marae had “much better experiences and reported better outcomes as a result of”—Mr SPEAKER: Order! Can I have the question please.Marama Fox: Yes and here is the question: that being the case will she make an emergency one-off injection of funding into Whānau Ora to ensure much better outcomes for tamariki and rangatahi Māori?Hon ANNE TOLLEY: Yes I was impressed and yes I am committed to continue to work closely with the Minister for Whānau Ora to look at ways that the Ministry of Social Development and Whānau Ora can better deliver results to at-risk New Zealanders. I note that Budget 2015 provided a $49.8 million boost for Whānau Ora navigators and they are making a valuable contribution to other Government initiatives including the four children’s teams that we have already rolled out.