Hipkins Chris: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeHipkins Chris: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 12 March 2015. Volume:703;Page:2211. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]9.CHRIS HIPKINS (Labour—Rimutaka) to the Minister of Education: Does she stand by her statement that in the event a charter school closes before the end of its contract “we will use the usual commercial instruments available to us to recover costs invested by the Government”; if so which specific provisions of the contract with Whangaruru School allow for the recovery of funds in the event the school closes?Hon HEKIA PARATA (Minister of Education): Yes to the first part of the question; in respect of the second part it would be inappropriate for me to predetermine the outcome of the process that the school in Whangaruru is currently in.Chris Hipkins: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I was not speculating that the school was about to close and it is a question on notice. It is not unreasonable to ask that the Minister actually give a fulsome answer to a question that has been lodged on notice.Mr SPEAKER: I think that the way forward is I will allow the member an additional supplementary question.Chris Hipkins: Who owns the 100 hectares of farmland that have been purchased for Whangaruru School and which provisions if any of the contract with that school allow for the Crown to make any claim to that land in the event that the school closes?Hon HEKIA PARATA: The sponsoring trust owns the assets of the school. If I were to predetermine the outcome of that I would be anticipating the kind of legal action we might need to take in the hypothetical situation that that particular school might arrive at a particular end to the process it is currently in.Chris Hipkins: Do charter school contracts allow the Government to reclaim any of the set-up costs or unspent operating costs in the event that any charter school closes before its contract has been completed; if so which clauses in the standard contract allow for that?Mr SPEAKER: Hon Hekia Parata—either of those two supplementary questions.Hon HEKIA PARATA: Helpfully the contract is online and has been publicly available for some considerable period of time so I could direct the member to it. It would depend on the nature of the breach of the termination were it to occur as to the remedies available.Chris Hipkins: Do charter school contracts allow the Government to recoup any assets at the end of the contract if it is not renewed?Hon HEKIA PARATA: We have no contracts with charter schools. We have contracts with partnership schools.Hon Members: Ha ha!Hon HEKIA PARATA: Well I want to answer truthfully. So no I do not have any charter school contracts.Chris Hipkins: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. This is a question on notice. The words “charter school” are used in the primary question. The words “charter school” are used in the Government’s confidence and supply agreement with the ACT Party which resulted in these schools being established. If the Minister had a problem with the terminology there was plenty of opportunity for her to address that prior to now. To simply not answer a question based on the fact that she does not like the terminology that is being used is unacceptable. It is an offence to the House.Mr SPEAKER: Order! No I—Hon HEKIA PARATA: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker.Mr SPEAKER: I will allow the Minister to respond.Hon HEKIA PARATA: The legislation that was passed establishing these legal entities called partnership schools and that member was a member of the select committee makes it clear at law that what exists is a partnership school. Because the member is now verging into technicalities relating to the contract I have said I do not have a contract with a charter school.Chris Hipkins: Point of order Mr Speaker.Mr SPEAKER: No I do not need further assistance. The difficulty I have with the Minister’s argument is that when I look at the primary question which has been accepted as a question on notice it does utilise the words “charter schools”. It probably should not have at the time. It has been there now. I am going to invite the member to ask that question again.Chris Hipkins: Do partnership school contracts allow the Government to recoup any assets in the event that a contract is not renewed?Hon HEKIA PARATA: As I have said already the contract provides for remedies dependent on the breach were a school’s contract to be terminated. So I cannot anticipate which path we might go down in the hypothetical situation of a school having its contract terminated.Chris Hipkins: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I think the Minister might have misheard the end part of the question. I was not asking about termination; I was asking about a contract not being renewed. Those two things are actually quite separate.Mr SPEAKER: I think on this occasion the Minister adequately addressed the question that was asked.Chris Hipkins: Do partnership school contracts allow the school operators to claim additional “committed costs” from the Government in the event of early termination of their contracts; if so what is the nature of those conditions?Mr SPEAKER: The Hon Hekia Parata—either of those two questions.Hon HEKIA PARATA: I am going to have to ask the member to repeat his question because I am not clear which particular—Mr SPEAKER: Order! That is easy for me to manage. Would the member please repeat the question and hopefully it is just one question.Chris Hipkins: Do partnership school contracts allow the school operators to claim additional “committed costs” from the Government in the event of early termination of their contracts?Hon HEKIA PARATA: I would have to take advice on that because I do not want to mislead the House and that is a particular technical question in the contracts. I am happy to come back.Hon Trevor Mallard: Didn’t she sign the contracts?Hon HEKIA PARATA: I am not a lawyer.Chris Hipkins: How many students are currently on the roll at Whangaruru School and how many students is it being funded for?Hon HEKIA PARATA: I am advised that there are 37 on the roll and it is being funded for 40.