Barclay Todd: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBarclay Todd: General Debate[Sitting date: 18 March 2015. Volume:704;Page:2363. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]TODD BARCLAY (National—Clutha-Southland): Whether or not the by-election in Northland is a referendum on the Government’s performance it will certainly not be an endorsement of Labour’s because its members cannot even support their own candidate let alone ask the people of Northland to support their candidate.I want to talk about how this Government is supporting families and how we are doing that through an integrated client-focused investment approach with regard to families and vulnerable New Zealanders. This is a way of thinking that has been led by this Government. It has been implemented over the last 6 years and there is a lot more work to do. It is something about which the former Labour Government had nothing to say. When we came in we set new targets. We are working towards those targets and we have seen results.The net present cost of total benefits for the population of this country is $76 billion. There are two key groups I want to focus on today. The first is teen sole parents. We know that there are 2600 teen sole parents and as Minister Tolley outlined today that figure has dropped by 50 percent since 2009 under this Government. We know that it will be a 20-year average that those people will spend on a benefit at a cost of $250000 each if they do not have a qualification. There are a number of steps that are being taken by this Government to address that. One we are putting a responsible adult with each and every one of these people to provide them with budgetary support to get them back into education and to get them a qualification which will enable them to get back into the workforce. We know that a teen solo parent who is under the age of 20 with no qualification will spend an average of 20 years on a benefit. If they can get a post-school qualification that average reduces from 20 years on a benefit down to 7 years. That is a considerable contribution towards these people’s lives and to the taxpayer.There is another group of children I want to talk about and these are children in care. These are hugely disproportionate cost drivers for the Government. We know that there are 2000 males currently in care. Based on 30 years’ worth of records from Treasury the Ministry of Education the Ministry of Social Development the Ministry of Justice and the Department of Corrections all working together we know that these kids are destined for a life of involvement in the justice sector and correctional facilities if they do not get back on track. These are kids who are currently misbehaving in school and going through foster home after foster home. There is one 10-year-old foster kid in my electorate who has been through 93 foster homes and that is just unacceptable. I could not imagine putting myself in the position of that kid mentally when he is getting chucked from family to family day on day week on week and then having to go to school and try to get a qualification.This Government has taken considerable steps to try to get these kids back on track so they can have the life they deserve and the life their coming families will deserve. And what are we doing about that? We are implementing an individualised policy approach led by Minister Tolley formerly Minister Bennett and Minister English. Just going back to these 2000 kids we know that during their lifetime—if they do not get back on track now—combined they will have a collective cost to the taxpayer of $750 million in corrections system costs alone. So what do we do about that to try to get them back on track to try to improve their life chances? We are individualising the policy around them getting the Government departments to think of them as individuals and as people instead of thinking about how departments best operate and work. That is what we are doing.Unlike Labour our Government cares about individuals and we care about families. I can tell you how many young people receive sole parent benefits in my electorate. In Gore there are 185 in Clutha District there are 168 and in Queenstown there are 98. In Ōwaka of the 228 people nine of them are unemployed three of them are on a sickness benefit six are on the domestic purposes benefit and nine are on the invalid’s benefit. We know individual people and where they are. We know their names and Government departments are now working with them to get them back into a better position.Tracey Martin: How many in Northland?TODD BARCLAY: Talking about Northland we know who our candidate is and we fully get behind him and back him—Mark Osborne. Coming back though the most compelling statistic I found was regarding the number of people who are currently in correctional facilities. We have reduced youth crime and we have reduced recidivism under this Government and under the integrated approach we are taking.In conclusion I want to fully support the steps this Government is taking under the leadership of some very strong Ministers who put families first who put individuals at the centre. We are improving public services we are raising achievement standards we are reducing crime and recidivism and we are improving the lives of families and individual New Zealanders. Thank you.