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: How many of the 42 recommendations in the Welfare Expert Advisory Group's report will be implemented by the end of this parliamentary term?Hon CARMEL SEPULONI (Minister for Social Development): We have already made three pre-Budget announcements to make our welfare system fairer and more accessible. Those announcements align with three of the recommendations in the report. Work was already under way to address around 15 of the report's recommendations prior to receiving the report. After receiving it I immediately commissioned further advice on another five. However we know there is much more to do and much of what needs to be done will be rolled out in a phase two plan that is yet to be developed. We want to make sure the changes we make to the welfare system are effective and enduring. As is noted by the Welfare Expert Advisory Group in their report more work is needed to be done on the interactions with other government systems in wider areas and this is important work that we will be doing before we commit to a long-term welfare overhaul work programme.Hon Louise Upston: Will the Government remove the obligation to be drug-free and to have children registered with education providers as listed in recommendation 11 of the report?Hon CARMEL SEPULONI: This Government is committed to removing excessive sanctions. We take the advice that is in the report and we'll be considering all the recommendations that embody that advice but that member will need to wait until we roll out phase two of our overhaul programme.Hon Louise Upston: What advice has she received on the additional number of mothers who won't name the father when the Government removes the obligation to name both parents?Hon CARMEL SEPULONI: With regards to repealing section 192—that was formerly section 70A—the advice that this side of the House received was that there was no evidence to support that that sanction actually did anything to get child support out of the absent parent. Instead the evidence that we were presented with—which is the same evidence that the previous Government was presented with in 2016—was that the sanction was in fact throwing the sole mothers into further hardship and causing further poverty for the 24000 children that live in those households. So we make no apologies for the announcement that we will be repealing that sanction.Hon Louise Upston: What advice has she received on the additional number of fathers who will avoid being financially responsible for their children?Hon CARMEL SEPULONI: As has already been noted there was no evidence to support that that sanction was actually doing anything to ensure that the absent parent was paying child support so the premise on which that member asked the question is incredibly flawed. On this side of the House our concern is for the 24000 children that are living in those households and we're proud of the fact that they will not be punished because of the fact that they have an absent parent.Hon Louise Upston: When the Labour Minister Steve Maharey introduced the sanction initially it was about ensuring fathers are held financially responsible for their children. What will the Government do to ensure that fathers are held financially responsible for their children?Hon CARMEL SEPULONI: Given that the evidence that we have been presented with shows that there is no evidence to support that that sanction has in any way contributed to holding the absent parent to account then we make no apologies for repealing that sanction.Marama Davidson: Does she endorse the vision of the Welfare Expert Advisory Group that the social support system should move beyond a safety net to enabling whakamana tangata by restoring dignity to people so they can participate meaningfully with their families and communities?Hon CARMEL SEPULONI: Absolutely and can I just say that on this side of the House we are very interested in the international evidence that shows that excessive sanctions aren't necessarily the way to move people forward. In fact we've been presented with evidence and seen international evidence that shows things like excessive sanctions can actually dissuade people from getting into employment. So on this side of the House we want to make sure that all of the over 1 million people that access the support of the Ministry of Social Development every year which includes our superannuitants disabled people unemployed people—that all of them are treated with dignity and respect and that we have the resourcing and the mechanisms in place to support those that are able to get into employment but not just any employment: employment that is sustainable and meaningful to them so that we don't experience the churn on and off benefit that that side of the House had when they were in Government.