English Bill: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
English Bill: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
[Volume:622;Page:17674] 
5.  
Hon BILL ENGLISH (National—Clutha-Southland) 
 to the  
Associate Minister of Education (Tertiary Education) 
: Does he stand by his statements that: “The TEC will bring clear strategic direction to the system as a whole.” and “It is very important to ensure our research efforts and our student enrolments are concentrated in areas of high performance and high strategic relevance.”; if so is he satisfied with the quality of spending in tertiary education? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY (Associate Minister of Education (Tertiary Education)) 
: 
 Yes I do stand by those statements made just last year when the Tertiary Education Commission was launched. I have been very pleased with measures that have been put in place to achieve that goal such as the Performance-based Research Fund; the Modern Apprenticeships scheme; the centres of research excellence; the programme of industry training; strategic funding for private training establishments; restrictions on aviation community education and growth rates; and a new performance measure that will focus on retention and completion; and I look forward to being further satisfied as the Tertiary Education Commission moves into its third calendar year of operation. 
Hon Bill English 
: Is the Minister aware that since 2000 he has spent $2.2 billion on diploma and certificate courses in tertiary education and that 70 percent of the students who enrolled in those diploma and certificate courses did not complete them? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: I am aware we have inherited a number of programmes from the National Government where we have had to move to a more strategic approach to funding in order to prevent a continuation of the very problem he now complains about after 9 years of doing not a single thing. 
Nandor Tanczos 
: What does the Minister think the strategic implications are for the sector—in particular for the smaller players within it—when institutions are having realistically to open for enrolment from August but are not being informed about Tertiary Education Commission funding decisions until mid-December? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: The member is referring to the profiles that all institutions have to put in which are fundamentally a funding agreement with the Tertiary Education Commission. All those institutions many of which I have spoken to personally understand that this is the first year of their profile and that they are being communicated with verbally by the Tertiary Education Commission and they are confident they will get their funding. 
Helen Duncan 
: As an example of the good work the Tertiary Education Commission is doing can the Minister tell us about its efforts to satisfy itself in relation to the quality of spending in Christchurch Polytechnic’s computing online course? 
Simon Power 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. On a number of occasions when members on the Opposition side of the House have not commenced a supplementary question with a question word you have pulled them up for that. On this occasion that matter was pointed out to you at the start of the member starting her supplementary question and I ask you to bring her to order. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: All I will say to the member is that it was Mr Brownlee who originally raised the point. I agreed with him and I thought he made a very sensible point. I now ask the member to re-ask her question starting with a question word. 
Helen Duncan 
: What progress has been made in the Tertiary Education Commission’s efforts to satisfy itself in relation to the quality of spending in Christchurch Polytechnic’s computing online course? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: I am pleased to tell the House today that Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology chair Hector Matthews has issued a media release announcing that the Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology council has confirmed that the polytechnic will cooperate fully to complete an evaluation by 22 December. It resolved that if the report identified that there are students who have not engaged in the COOL IT course the polytechnic will work with the Tertiary Education Commission to reach an acceptable solution. It has instructed the management of the polytechnic to continue to work with the commission in a cooperative and supportive manner to bring about an accord on the issue. I thank Mr Matthews for his comments and I look forward to progress on the matter. 
Hon Bill English 
: Is the Minister aware that parents of schoolchildren are selling raffle tickets so they can employ teachers at the same time as he has spent during his 4-year reign as Associate Minister of Education (Tertiary Education) $2.2 billion on formal diploma and certificate courses that 30 percent only of those who enrolled in those courses have finished which equates to $1.5 billion spent on courses that were never completed? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: Of course I would have to check those figures as I check everything from the member because he is so unreliable. I also point out to the member that without this Government we would not have a Performance-based Research Fund a Modern Apprenticeships scheme and industry training that is going through the roof. We would not have a Private Training Establishments Strategic Priorities Fund we would not have controlled the growth of organisations so that we know what we are getting and we would not have a performance measure. I could go on but the 4 years of work make the list far too long.