Tolley AnneSOCIAL SECURITY (EXTENSION OF YOUNG PERSONS SERVICES AND REMEDIAL MATTERS) AMENDMENT BILLThird ReadingHon ANNE TOLLEY (Minister for Social Development): E Te Mana Whakawā tēnā koe. I move That the Social Security (Extension of Young Persons Services and Remedial Matters) Amendment Bill be now read a third time. This bill fulfils our commitment to extend the Youth Service to a broader group of young beneficiaries to give them access to the support they need to build their life skills to engage in education and training or to prepare them for employment. The Government is investing $61.2 million to support changes in this bill through Budget 2016. The bill extends the Youth Service to all 19-year-old parents and to 18 and 19-year-old beneficiaries who are at significant risk of long-term welfare dependency. This initiative represents the social investment approach in action—making an upfront investment in vulnerable New Zealanders so that they can go on to lead fulfilling and strong lives. We know that when teenagers have low education levels poor financial skills and a lack of support to engage in education or training and prepare themselves for employment it can lead to adverse outcomes and long-term benefit dependence. The future prospects for these young people and for their children are not bright. We want them to have a better chance of success and we also want to reduce the long-term costs to the taxpayer. The Youth Service is already making a significant difference in the lives of young New Zealanders every day by helping them overcome barriers in order to reach their life goals. By having access to this extended Youth Service these at-risk 18 and 19-year-old young people get wraparound support from a youth coach budgeting help and then support to engage in education in particular and in training or employment. Young parents are also referred to a parenting programme to help them develop good parenting skills. This is a significant step towards supporting these young people to move off the benefit and gain the skills and intuition they need to make good decisions for themselves and to get on to a better life pathway. The bill also clarifies three matters in the Social Security Act and ensures that there is alignment between policy intent and practice. The Social Services Committee examined the bill and it recommended a number of improvements. I do want to highlight a couple of those. The first was to add a requirement to consult with at-risk 18 and 19-year-old beneficiaries on their referral to the Youth Service so that they have an opportunity to comment first of all on the indicators that have given rise to that risk assessment and also to provide information about themselves that indicates what level of support they might need. I thought that was a very sensible suggestion put forward by the committee and the bill before the House reflects that. Young people should have a say in the support that they get and we also want to make sure that the young people who are receiving this support are in genuine need of it and also that the support is effective for them as individuals. Another amendment to the bill that I considered of value is to use ministerial direction to set those risk factors that may be used in the risk model to determine which young beneficiaries are referred to the Youth Service. This will enable us to be quite transparent so that people know what information is considered in that risk modelling but it also provides some flexibility so that the risk model can be kept up to date and fit for purpose and is also informed then by the voice of the young people themselves. The bill passed through the Committee of the whole House and I am pleased to speak to it today at its third reading. I want to reiterate that this Government has high aspirations for young people particularly those young people who have talent and potential but are at risk of poor outcomes without support. So we want to invest in them early in their lives at that critical time when they are making their transition into adulthood so that they do have the right supports they need to make that transition successfully. This is a $61.2 million initiative—an investment that we know based on results to date will help prevent young people from becoming embedded in a lifetime of poor outcomes both for themselves and for their families. As a Government we are confident that extending the Youth Service to more at-risk young beneficiaries is an important investment that will support them to get better educated and have a much better chance then of being employed themselves and going on to live a full life. For teen parents in particular the evidence suggests that it is important to engage them in education as soon as possible with the right supports put around them both for themselves and for their children. It means of course that those children get better outcomes too if we are able to assist their parents to get on to that better sustainable life pathway. I want to conclude today by acknowledging the hard work and compassion of the 44 Youth Service providers we currently contract and the around 300 youth coaches across New Zealand who every day are working to change the lives of thousands of these vulnerable young people. I have absolute confidence in the capability and the expertise of these providers and also in the passion that they bring to the relationships they have to form with these young people in order to be effective. These youth coaches take on these at-risk 18 and 19-year-olds and they will motivate them and inspire them in a caring and professional way and they will walk with them side by side towards a much more prosperous future. These are some of the most vulnerable young people in our communities and they deserve the very best support that we can wrap around them. I commend the Social Security (Extension of Young Persons Services and Remedial Matters) Amendment Bill to the House.