9. Question No. 9—Social DevelopmentHon LOUISE UPSTON (National—Taupō) to the Minister for Social DevelopmentQuestion No. 9—Social Development9. Hon LOUISE UPSTON (National—Taupō) to the Minister for Social Development: Does she stand by all of her statements and actions?Hon CARMEL SEPULONI (Minister for Social Development): Yes in the context in which they were given or done.Hon Louise Upston: Does she stand by her statement in relation to the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) housing vulnerable families at motels used to accommodate child sex offenders that Clearly had the Ministry of Social Development been informed that this offender had moved into the same environment as the children it would have intervened."?Hon CARMEL SEPULONI: I am going to interpret the member's question as referring to a case where a sex offender had been placed into a motel that was used for emergency accommodation on 30 April something that I found out about on 30 July. That particular person did make contact with MSD on 3 May when he sought support for a housing assessment. The person undertaking the housing assessment was not the person who had placed that particular person into the motel and did not have access to emergency motel accommodation information so did not make the connection that this person was staying in a motel where families could be placed through MSD.Hon Louise Upston: Why did MSD not intervene and move vulnerable families from motels despite being given a list from the Department of Corrections of motels where offenders were being housed; and why were there still vulnerable families housed with offenders in the same motels more than two weeks later despite the Prime Minister saying this was a huge oversight and she expects better? Hon CARMEL SEPULONI: Just reflecting on this question I need to point out that under the previous Government there was a serious offence that occurred by a sex offender and no follow-up was undertaken by the Department of Corrections or MSD with regards to a serious memorandum of understanding (MOU) to address it. The only time an MOU was introduced was in October this year under this Government when MSD and corrections got together to seriously address this. MSD does not have responsibility for placing serious sexual offenders. Corrections has the responsibility for that; MSD has responsibility for placing families. The good thing is that now under us there is an MOU which means that on a daily basis MSD and corrections are sharing information so that this should not happen again and reflecting again it continued to happen despite what happened under the previous Government.Hon Louise Upston: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. That was a long and interesting answer but didn't actually address the question that I asked.SPEAKER: Yes it did.Hon Louise Upston: Why was the MOU signed by MSD and corrections in May 2017 not implemented until October 2018; and how many children were put at risk in the intervening 17 months?Hon CARMEL SEPULONI: If I heard that member right she referred to an MOU that was written in May 2017 and signed in 2017. They were in Government then; she needs to ask her colleagues why that was not implemented.Hon Louise Upston: What has the Minister said to the woman and her children who were housed by MSD at the same motel as sex offenders not once but twice?Hon CARMEL SEPULONI: The assertion that there was a woman with children that was placed in a motel with sex offenders twice is information I did not know about. But I can say with the case that was brought to my attention there was a thorough investigation. Fortunately there was no harm caused to those children. The same cannot be said under the previous Government when they did nothing about this during their time."