6. Question No. 6—ChildrenHon NIKKI KAYE (National—Auckland Central) to the Minister for ChildrenQuestion No. 6—Children6. Hon NIKKI KAYE (National—Auckland Central) to the Minister for Children: Does she stand by her statements and actions regarding the Child and Youth Wellbeing Strategy?Hon TRACEY MARTIN (Minister for Children): Yes in the context in which they were given.Hon Nikki Kaye: Can she confirm that schools have not opted into the free school lunches programme as part of their strategy because they are concerned about losing KidsCan and KickStart support?Hon TRACEY MARTIN: I think it would be helpful to refer to page 67 of the strategy to help the House to understand my ministerial responsibilities: There are legal and operational arrangements in place to ensure collective Ministerial and agency-level governance and accountability for developing and implementing the strategy ... The Minister Responsible for Child Poverty Reduction and the Minister for Children have shared overall responsibility for developing the Strategy with specific policy areas and actions co-led by other Ministers and their agencies." As Minister for Children I am responsible for the policy areas related to the work being progressed by Oranga Tamariki. The school lunches programme is being progressed by the Minister of Education.Hon Nikki Kaye: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Well actually I have got information which indicates not only that the briefings are jointly in the name of the Prime Minister and the Minister for Children but that development of the strategy is certainly the responsibility of this Minister.SPEAKER: Well that's exactly what the Minister just said.Hon Nikki Kaye: Can she confirm that in the development of the strategy she considered that Ministry for Primary Industries officials were consulted only several days before the announcement and that a lack of funding for kitchen infrastructure was included as part of that development?Hon TRACEY MARTIN: That is correct. As part of the development of the lunches in schools programme there needed to be consideration and advice received around the capacity of schools to deliver the lunches in schools programme and also we like to do rural-proofing on all of the policies that this Government does to make sure that we acknowledge rural communities need different solutions than urban communities.Hon Nikki Kaye: Can she confirm that her child and wellbeing strategy is not on track to be delivered given that a number of schools have said they will not opt into the programme because of poor planning and they will not take part until term 2 of next year?SPEAKER: Any one of the three.Hon TRACEY MARTIN: The strategy is on track to being delivered. The strategy is a large series of actions. The questioner has asked me about whether a specific action is on track to be delivered and that specific action—the lunches in schools—is the responsibility of the Minister of Education.Hon Nikki Kaye: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. This is a ridiculous scenario if the Minister responsible for the strategy has absolutely no relationship as to whether it's actually going to be delivered because she's taking no responsibility—SPEAKER: Well the Minister read out the responsibilities very clearly in the way that they're organised. And if the member does have something which relates to Speakers' Rulings and the Standing Orders which differs or the member can point to to require the Minister to answer something which she has indicated is not part of her responsibility then the member should show it to me.Hon Nikki Kaye: When she was planning her child youth and wellbeing strategy did she consider that there would be a whole lot of kids that would be cut off from support as part of one of her initiatives at the age of 12 years old as they are complaining in parts of New Zealand?Hon TRACEY MARTIN: When we were considering the Child and Youth Wellbeing Strategy when we were discussing it with the 10000 New Zealanders that participated—6000 of those being children and young people—we considered all avenues of how best we could support children all children as many children as possible through the actions of the strategy. I'm happy to table the current programme of action for the member. But as she will know as a previous Minister there are limitations on budget. There are limitations on many other areas including the capacity to have kitchens that can provide lunches in schools. So we work within the boundaries that we have to do the best for the children of New Zealand—all of them.Hon Nikki Kaye: Can she confirm that she cannot deliver on her strategy because one of the core initiatives that was announced by the Prime Minister is behind schedule plagued with multiple problems and has a whole lot of people that don't want to be part of it?SPEAKER: Order! Order! The member is allowed to have two legs to a question. That one had four.Hon TRACEY MARTIN: I cannot confirm that. I think what the member is alluding to is that the lunches in schools programme is supposed to be rolled out at the beginning of the 2020 school year. We are not yet at the beginning of the 2020 school year. For any further detail on that particular action she will need to direct her questions to the Minister of Education.Hon Nikki Kaye: Will she take responsibility for one of the flagship initiatives in her strategy not being delivered if it does not line up with 30 schools being part of the programme as part of term 1 next year?Hon TRACEY MARTIN: I think that the difficulty that the member is having is the collective responsibility of Ministers in the Child and Youth Wellbeing Strategy. I do understand that this is a different way for a Government to work; that this Government is the first Government who is breaking down the silos of delivery and we've all purchased into the actions. And so the Minister of Education the Minister for Children the Minister for Child Poverty Reduction we all carry responsibility for the individual actions of our individual ministries to deliver on the overall strategy for New Zealand."