12. Question No. 12—EducationANGELA ROBERTS (Labour) to the Associate Minister of EducationQuestion No. 12—Education12. ANGELA ROBERTS (Labour) to the Associate Minister of Education: What recent announcements has the Government made on expanding the in-school mental health and wellbeing programme?Hon JAN TINETTI (Associate Minister of Education): Recently the Government announced that the Mana Ake mental health and wellbeing programme will be rolled out in schools across five new DHB areas in Northland Counties Manukau Bay of Plenty Lakes and West Coast. This is an established and proven in-school programme that has supported more than 7000 children across Canterbury and Kaikōura since it began in 2018.Angela Roberts: What benefits does the Mana Ake programme offer schools and young people?Hon JAN TINETTI: Mana Ake provides early intervention for mild to moderate mental health and wellbeing needs for children in primary school years 1 to 8. It's designed to work with young people and families who are experiencing anxiety grief bullying or other mental health challenges before their situation worsens. The Mana Ake programme involves professionals with a range of skills such as psychologists and counsellors. It's a collaborative whole-school approach involving teachers whānau and young people to build mental health understanding and resilience. We know from the success of the programme in the Canterbury region that equipping our young people as early as we can will improve their overall learning outcomes.Angela Roberts: What other in-school mental health and wellbeing services have been made available under this Government?Hon JAN TINETTI: In addition to the thousands of young people supported through Mana Ake the Government has funded more guidance counsellors in secondary schools; begun work on refreshing the New Zealand curriculum to include tools to develop children's social and emotional learning; funded 40 new curriculum leads to help guide schools to deliver a high-quality local curriculum supportive of the wellbeing of learners and teachers; funded $3.2 million to expand mental wellbeing services for young Rainbow New Zealanders; and provided free healthy lunches and period products in schools. All of these initiatives will go a long way in supporting schools and young people to improve mental health and wellbeing. Nothing is a silver bullet but we know that when we create inclusive and supportive environments that are adjusted to suit communities in different areas we get better educational and health outcomes for New Zealanders.Matt Doocey: How can New Zealanders have confidence in the Government's mental health announcements when in July last year they announced $25 million for mental health and education settings and 10 months later not one dollar's been spent not one new service—SPEAKER: Order!Matt Doocey: —and not one student's been seen?SPEAKER: Order! Order! Any of those five questions.Hon JAN TINETTI: I'm not sure exactly what that member is referring to. Maybe the member is referring to the funding of the $8.94 million over three years for initiatives to support the wellbeing of the education workforce in response to COVID-19. The point of the funding was to ensure that we had the initiatives available to teachers should they need it. I'm aware there have been some delays in allocating the funding which are for a variety of reasons but predominantly and ultimately the uptake was voluntary and demand was less than expected. Again I say that the point of the funding was to ensure that we had the initiatives available to the teachers should they need it.Matt Doocey: Point of order Mr Speaker. I wasn't actually asking about the $8.9 million programme that they've failed to roll out. It was the—SPEAKER: Order! The member will resume his seat.