Wagner NickyHon NICKY WAGNER (Minister of Customs): Kia ora. The National Government is absolutely committed to delivering better public services for all New Zealanders. Getting the best possible outcomes for spending taxpayers' money is a challenge for any Government and it is a real responsibility. Spending taxpayers' dollars as intelligently as possible and investing in the right places in the Government system delivers better and more services and provides better opportunities for New Zealanders. In 2012 the National Government set 10 challenging targets for Better Public Services—to produce better outcomes and to focus on getting the best use of our taxpayers' dollars. It is not something that many Governments are up for but we are absolutely committed to using that money as effectively as possible and to making a real social investment. Four years later I would just like to highlight some of the successes of the Better Public Services targets starting with early childhood education. We all know how important it is to get our young people learning-ready. We have increased from 94.7 percent of young children getting into early childhood education in 2011 to 96.6 percent in 2016. Those children are really getting a step up into schooling which will open doors for them in their future. What about early childhood health? Infant immunisation rates and reducing rheumatic fever have been a huge focus of these Better Public Services targets. Immunisation is one of the best and most cost-effective public service initiatives that we can have. We are increasing the numbers of children being immunised and we have increased them from 84 percent in 2012 to 92.8 percent in 2016. That makes a significant difference to children's health and well-being and with that it supports families and gives them a better quality of life. In the cases of rheumatic fever—that is a dreadful childhood disease and they have dropped by 40 percent. That is extremely good for families right throughout New Zealand. As an ex-teacher I am delighted always to see improvements in education. When we look at the number of 18-year-olds with NCEA level 2 or equivalent that has increased significantly from 74.3 percent in 2011 to 83.3 percent in 2015. This means that these young people can open doors can go to further education can go to trade training and can actually contribute and build a life for their future. On the same theme looking at trade training we have increased the proportion of 25- to 34-year-olds with advanced trade qualifications diplomas or degrees. The number of those who have New Zealand qualifications at level 4 and above has increased from 51 percent to 56 percent in 2016. Many of those young people are working in Christchurch. The rebuild has made young people see the opportunities of getting a trade knowing that if they go through that programme then they can see a job and they can build a future. The number of young people who are not in education or trades is very low in Christchurch. You would have seen recently that New Zealand has been seen as the easiest place in the world to do business and part of that is to do with Better Public Services No. 9 which is all about an online shop for Government service advice and support to help small businesses grow their businesses. The fact is that New Zealanders can complete their transactions with the Government easily in a digital environment and we have made a huge increase in that area. Originally in 2012 only 29 percent of our transactions were done online and these days it is almost 50 percent. So you can see that these Better Public Services targets have made a real difference. They have targeted how we have spent our money and they are making sure that we get the very best value for money and deliver the best services for New Zealanders. Kia ora.