Ogilvy Bernie: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Ogilvy Bernie: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:620;Page:15795] 
8.  
BERNIE OGILVY (United Future) 
 to the  
Minister of Education 
: Does he stand by his statement on 22 September 2004: “Let’s be clear about our Government’s goals—we want to provide accessible and affordable quality early childhood education to all young Kiwi kids.”; if so why? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY (Associate Minister of Education (Tertiary Education)) 
 on behalf of the 
 Minister of Education 
: Yes because research has clearly shown that children who participate in quality early childhood education are more likely to succeed at school than others. We need to invest more money in order to pay for more and better qualified teachers and for greater access to services. This year’s Budget invested $307 million over the next 4 years to improve the quality of early childhood education provision—one of the most significant investments made in education in New Zealand’s recent history. 
Bernie Ogilvy 
: Why has the Minister initiated a policy of free education for 3 and 4-year-olds at community centres when the scheme targets providers and not the children ignoring Treasury advice that clearly stated that only 60 percent of the children who attend early childhood education would receive the free entitlement and that there is no guarantee that the children most in need will access it? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: If I understand the question correctly I can advise that the $307 million does get delivered to both community and private providers. They are different from each other but they will share in that income which means that they do cover the wide range of young children. On this occasion the Minister of Education disagreed with the advice from Treasury. He believes that the policy will indeed advantage New Zealand children. 
H V Ross Robertson 
: Can the Minister inform the House what steps are currently being undertaken to ensure there is an adequate supply of trained early childhood teachers? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: The Government has invested in a wide range of initiatives to increase the number of qualified early childhood teachers including relocation grants returning to teaching allowances incentive grants and the provision of a relief teacher pool. A new $41.4 million scholarship scheme announced 2 weeks ago will give assistance to people from low-income backgrounds to train to be early childhood teachers. 
Hon Bill English 
: If the Minister is interested in participation for all children why does he not use the discretion available in the education legislation to allow the Kawhia childcare centre to stay open instead of threatening to close it because the teacher has primary qualifications rather than early childhood qualifications? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: I am advised that Kawhia has received considerable assistance from the Ministry of Education including solutions to the licensing issue and that they has been turned down. The matter is now before the courts and therefore that is the only advice I am able to give. 
Hon Brian Donnelly 
: Can the Minister confirm that the Education Review Office reported in June 2004 that 23.5 percent of early childhood providers faced either some risk or considerable risk of not meeting the level 7 requirements for persons responsible by January 2005 and does he plan to shut down those providers that do not meet his requirements as he has done at Kawhia? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: The last point about Kawhia is that the matter is before the courts. There has not been a decision made in relation to that agency which I understand has been helped quite considerably by the Ministry of Education. The answer to the first part of the question is no. The requirement is that one qualified person is present at all times and is the designated person responsible. By 2012 all early childhood education teachers will need to be registered but up to 30 percent may be in training. The member will know that at the present time we have 3 months’ discretion through the Secretary of Education to allow an extension of time to meet the licensing requirements and I should note that we are considering extending that timetable. 
Bernie Ogilvy 
: Why did the Minister ignore Treasury’s advice that limiting free early childhood education to community providers would encourage parents to move their kids to private providers after the 20 hours leaving community providers unable to recover their costs on the residual hours and therefore disrupting the education of those children? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: Because the Minister disagreed with the advice and for once decided to stand up to Treasury. 
Bernie Ogilvy 
: Does the Minister intend to extend free early childhood education for 3 and 4-year-olds to all providers in light of the facts that it would cost only an additional $62 million and that the childcare subsidy does not currently guarantee lower fees for parents? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: I can only say to the member that I know he may want to spend a lot more money but $307 million over the next 4 years is one of the most significant increases in education in recent years and in the area of early childhood education it is a massive increase in terms of what that area has been getting. 
Bernie Ogilvy 
: I seek leave to table the Treasury report on options for early childhood education. 
Document by leave laid on the Table of the House. 
Question time interrupted.