10. Question No. 10—Social DevelopmentHon LOUISE UPSTON (National—Taupō) to the Minister for Social DevelopmentQuestion No. 10—Social Development10. Hon LOUISE UPSTON (National—Taupō) to the Minister for Social Development: What are the 15 recommendations from the Welfare Expert Advisory Group's report that the Government are progressing and the five recommendations she has commissioned extra advice on as stated in her answers to oral questions Nos. 6 and 10 yesterday?Hon PEENI HENARE (Associate Minister for Social Development): on behalf of the Minister for Social Development: She stated yesterday that work was already under way to address around 15 of the report's recommendations. Based on our initial analysis these are Nos 3 5 8 9 10 11 12 14 17 20 27 32 35 39 and 42. Examples of this include expanded reporting on outcomes establishing a Pacific steering group and a Pacific reference group developing a kaupapa Māori strategy at the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) rolling out Mana in Mahi and the three pre-Budget announcements we made on Friday. The additional five areas where further work is under way are recommendations number 15 16 23 36 and 38. I encourage the member to look at the Cabinet paper titled Welfare Overhaul – Advice from the Welfare Expert Advisory Group and Next Steps which is available online for more information. However work hasn't stopped there—this is an ongoing and active work programme. We are continuing to commission work and consider all of the other recommendations as we develop our three- to five-year plan that will sensibly address recommendations in the report through a systematic overhaul of the welfare system that is effective and enduring and that ensures those who need to access MSD support are actually better off.Hon Louise Upston: Of the $5 billion to $6 billion cost stated in the Welfare Expert Advisory Group report which of the recommendations she is progressing carries the greatest cost? Hon PEENI HENARE: The work is currently being done on those recommendations. That level of detail—can I ask the member to put that down in writing and we'll get her the answer. Hon Louise Upston: What is the time frame for implementing recommendation No. 14 on sustainable repayments?Hon PEENI HENARE: Work as recommended in recommendation No. 14 is already under way at MSD and we will continue this. MSD is focused on using the approach to prevent clients incurring debt in the first place and supporting clients to make sustainable payments when a debt has occurred. Hon Louise Upston: What does the Minister say to the Welfare Expert Advisory Group member Ganesh Nana who said this morning My response back to the Minister is we've done a fair amount of the work … we've done the business plan. We've got to tackle this. The quicker we tackle this the quicker it will be."? Hon PEENI HENARE: We have a significant challenge in front of us—we make no apologies about that. We have a work plan to address the many issues that were raised by the Welfare Expert Advisory Group and many others who have presented themselves to this Parliament. I encourage that member and that side of the House to support the great work we're doing in the space to make sure that those who do access support through MSD get full and correct entitlement.Marama Davidson: Does the Minister agree that successive Governments have focused too much on reducing the costs of our welfare system rather than increasing the value provided by our welfare system and that this approach has failed?Hon PEENI HENARE: There are significant challenges and the overhaul of the system once again can't be considered in isolation through the work of the Welfare Expert Advisory Group. There is a host of work that's being done across Ministers and administrations to make sure that we do address the inequities and that we are able to provide the public with a system that is strong and gives them the full and correct entitlement that they're entitled to."