Sepuloni Carmel: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeSepuloni Carmel: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 10 March 2016. Volume:711;Page:9602. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]8.CARMEL SEPULONI (Labour—Kelston) to the Minister for Social Development: When was she first made aware of issues with the roll-out of the upgrade to the client management IT system?Hon ANNE TOLLEY (Minister for Social Development): The Ministry of Social Development interacts with 1 million people each year and is introducing a new client management system that provides a single client record. This enables case managers to spend time with their clients instead of entering information. The ministry has been developing this system since 2014. It went live at 7 a.m. on Monday and at 12.24 p.m. an email alerted my office to some capacity issues which meant some clients were experiencing delays. I understand that staff are working hard to resolve the issues and the system is continuing to improve with an expectation of being at full capacity in the next day or so and the backlog cleared next week.Carmel Sepuloni: Why did she not note earlier that there were issues with the IT system given that Work and Income staff have said that the IT upgrade roll-out was pushed back three times due to serious failures in the system?Hon ANNE TOLLEY: As I said this system has been developed since 2014 and part of that development was parallel testing and off-ramps if they were not satisfied that when they went live they would not experience system problems. So yes there were a number of occasions when they decided for various reasons including that there would be too much disruption for the Work and Income clients to delay the implementation of the system. But that went live as I said at 7 a.m. on Monday.Carmel Sepuloni: Did the ministry know there were going to be major issues before it rolled out the new IT system; and was she made aware of these issues?Hon ANNE TOLLEY: I repeat that there are no performance issues with the system. The difficulties have been around the capacity. Indeed the ministry did anticipate some of that capacity which is why it prepared for the go-live by delaying some of the scheduled appointments and some of the systems were taken down so that they would have the least impact on the transfer of the clients’ data into the new operating system. I repeat that the system is progressing well every day. I understand we are at 90 percent today and anticipate being at full capacity by tomorrow.Joanne Hayes: How will the new client management system improve Work and Income’s interaction with clients?Hon ANNE TOLLEY: As I said in the primary question the new system allows case managers to have a single client record from the first meeting instead of entering information into different systems. For instance currently someone applying for a benefit in a 1-hour appointment gives information that needs to be entered on to five or six different screens in two or three different parts of the operating system. They would be lucky to have 15 minutes of face-to-face interaction with that case manager and that is simply not good enough. The new system allows all that information to be entered into one screen at the same time and retrieved from that one screen which allows a much better time for interaction between the client and the case manager.Carmel Sepuloni: How many Work and Income benefit superannuation and emergency grant applications have not been processed as a result of the IT system not working?Hon ANNE TOLLEY: My understanding is that all payments—all regular payments—have been made.Carmel Sepuloni: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker.Mr SPEAKER: The question may well have been misheard. I invite the member to re-ask the question.Carmel Sepuloni: How many Work and Income benefit superannuation and emergency grant applications have not been processed as a result of the IT system not working?Hon ANNE TOLLEY: I do not have that figure available but what I can say is that the staff have put into place manual workarounds to make sure that everyone—everyone—gets the opportunity either to have their benefit paid or for the information entered into the system. As I say we are at 90 percent capacity today and it is anticipated that we will have everything caught up next week.Carmel Sepuloni: What time frame for fixing the system can the Minister give to the thousands of Work and Income clients and staff affected by the roll-out of another major Government department IT failure?Hon ANNE TOLLEY: I totally reject every assertion in that question; it is based on no fact whatsoever. I would have to say that throughout the country the Work and Income staff are delighted to have this new system because it means they now get more time to spend with clients and that is what the clients like too.Carmel Sepuloni: Why did she not front the serious IT failure by her ministry given that it affects thousands of New Zealanders—instead waiting to be exposed on this Government failure today?Hon ANNE TOLLEY: I do not know how I can put it more—Hon Gerry Brownlee: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I know it is not your job to judge the quality of questions but at what point does a question become completely absurd because the answer has been given that completely negates it?Mr SPEAKER: If I was—[Interruption] Order! If I was strictly adhering to the Standing Orders then a question like that may well have been ruled out of order. It is a question that I think gives plenty of licence to the Minister in answering it. I invite the Minister to answer it.Hon ANNE TOLLEY: Actually the system is working well. I totally reject everything that that member is saying and she would be far better off supporting what is going to be a better operating system for both the beneficiaries and the staff and helping people make sure that it gets working.