Ngaro Alfred: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeNgaro Alfred: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 17 April 2014. Volume:698;Page:17441. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]6.ALFRED NGARO (National) to theMinister for Social Development: What recent reports has she received about the number of people on a benefit?Hon PAULA BENNETT (Minister for Social Development): I am very pleased to announce that quarterly benefit figures released today show that the number of people on benefit is at a 5-year low back to where it was prior to the global recession. At the end of the March quarter there were 295320 people on a benefit. This is 15000 fewer people than at the same time last year. During the recession the number of people on a benefit peaked at 352707 in December 2010. There are nearly 60000 fewer people on the benefit today. When this Government took office the global recession was beginning to bite but we did the right thing in maintaining vital financial support for the most vulnerable. Now our welfare reforms and the strengthening economy are both contributing to significant numbers of people coming off benefit.Alfred Ngaro: What does the drop in the number of people on a benefit mean for children?Hon PAULA BENNETT: We all know that one of the best things that we can do for children is to ensure their parents are in work and not on a benefit. The Children’s Commissioner’s Expert Advisory Group on Solutions to Child Poverty report said that “having a parent in paid employment is the most important way to move a child out of poverty”. That is why I am so pleased to see that there are 8600 fewer sole parents on a benefit and there are also 17700 fewer children now living in beneficiary households compared with March last year and a whopping 29500 children fewer than 2 years ago. This Government’s investment in supporting sole parents is paying off.Alfred Ngaro: What else do the figures show about how welfare reforms are helping children?Hon PAULA BENNETT: Fewer teenagers are having babies and going on the benefit. There are fewer of those beneficiaries. That means that the fewer whom we have going on now the fewer we will have in the longer term because they are the group that is most likely to stay there the longest. Teen pregnancy is falling with 3303 babies being born to mothers under 20 in 2013. That figure is down by 36 percent from 2008.Hon Anne Tolley: That’s excellent.Hon PAULA BENNETT: Yes it is. It is really amazing. The benefit figures also show a 13.4 percent decrease in young parents aged 18 and under getting the young parent payment. This is a significant policy development in this area and one that is great for teenagers and those babies.Sue Moroney: What proportion of people coming off benefits are going into paid work?Hon PAULA BENNETT: I do not have the proportion but it is the highest proportion out of anyone. What we are seeing on average is 1500 people a week going into work and so those people are going into paid jobs. Those sole parents whom we talk about are going into work predominantly and not just going off benefit.Sue Moroney: I seek leave to table answers from the Minister to questions that I have asked—Mr SPEAKER: Order! [Interruption] Order! If you are seeking leave to table answers to written questions they are freely available.