Wagner NickyHon NICKY WAGNER (National): Thank you Mr Chair. My special focus on health is around disability issues and so in discussing the performance of district health boards (DHBs) over the last year my questions have been around how they have managed their interaction with the disability sector. With one in four New Zealanders identifying with a disability and with disability conditions being very variable and complex it's important that DHBs provide appropriate and tailored services to people with disabilities. I'm also really interested in the employment of people with disabilities within the health sector. As a past Minister for Disability Issues I've been working with DHBs as very large employers in the community about how accessible their premises are and how proactive they are about employing disabled people.The Health Committee learnt from our questioning of DHBs that most have an active disability strategy or at least are in the process of developing one which I think is good progress. Most have a consumer advisory body which can reflect the voice of the disability community. There also seems to be a growing interest in and an awareness of delivering services well to disabled people. However there is less progress in terms of employing people with disabilities. Despite international and local evidence that shows that disabled people give an important and valuable contribution to the organisations that employ them—they increase the diversity of the workplace and they provide a much more representative workforce—most DHBs haven't taken much interest in this issue or taken up that opportunity and I really do encourage DHBs to actively support and encourage the employment of disabled people. The Health Committee has developed a series of questions for DHBs to provide some baseline data on disability services and also on the employment of disabled people which we can use in future to monitor progress and to benchmark DHBs' performance. I really look forward to seeing improvements in strategies and employment. I was particularly interested in the review of the MidCentral District Health Board in terms of their disability provision because they were part of the planned roll-out of Enabling Good Lives. Now Enabling Good Lives was National's disability transformation programme and it allows disabled people to have more choice more control and more opportunities in their lives. National had planned for that to be rolled out in Palmerston North this July. However when we spoke to MidCentral District Health Board in February they hadn't received their funding envelope or detailed instructions about the Government's priorities. They told me that they hoped they would be able to begin delivering Enabling Good Lives but in the meantime they were just carrying on with business as usual. I really urge the Government to continue the work that National and the disability sector had done on Enabling Good Lives—their vision their ideas and the roll-out across New Zealand. The programme is really important to the sector. It will make a huge difference to the lives of individuals who have a disability and disabled people have told us time and time again that they do want more choice they do want more control and they do want opportunities in their lives. So this delivery of Enabling Good Lives beginning in Palmerston North is the beginning of a transformation of disability services that we want to see right through the country.In conclusion I was pleased with what I heard from the DHBs. They are aware of the work that needs to be done in the disability sector. Many of them have got an active disability strategy. Mostly they have a consumer group that gives the voice to the disabled people and overall I think they're trying to do their very best. I can assure them that the select committee has questions now to keep them on their toes and make sure that they are delivering for the disabled people of New Zealand. Kia ora.