Hipkins Chris: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeHipkins Chris: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 19 February 2015. Volume:703;Page:1767. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]6.CHRIS HIPKINS (Labour—Rimutaka)to the Minister of Education: Does she have confidence in the Partnership School’s Authorisation Board; if so why?Hon HEKIA PARATA (Minister of Education):Tēnā anō koe. Yes; because the board comprises high-calibre successful practitioners educationalists and well-respected individuals.Chris Hipkins: How can she have confidence in the authorisation board given that it advised her to open the trouble-prone Whangaruru School—which she did against the advice provided by the Ministry of Education—a school that has subsequently been beset with bullying drug use absenteeism management infighting staff turnover and poor educational outcomes?Hon HEKIA PARATA: I have full confidence in the board. It has taken into account all of the issues when it made its recommendation. When we observed that that particular school was having difficulties I asked the board to provide some mentoring and it has done that. I would just like to correct the member’s characterisation. I did in fact take into account the ministry’s advice and I made my decision having taken it into account. The advice actually related to the readiness of the school property.Chris Hipkins: Did the Ministry of Education advise her that Whangaruru’s application “did not adequately communicate the need for the school in this area” that their “approach to behaviour for learning and creating a safe learning environment for their students was not well articulated” and that the proposal “did not create a compelling argument for the establishment of the school”; if so why did she go ahead and approve it anyway?Hon HEKIA PARATA: I am glad to see that the member has taken advantage of the papers freely available. Yes I did have that discussion with the ministry and we did go through the fact that in this area there have been longstanding issues of underachievement and that we needed to look at what some other options might be for these groups of children and that is what we have done. But yes there are problems with this school.Chris Hipkins: Did the Ministry of Education provide her with advice that indicated that its analysis had highlighted reservations with 58 percent of Whangaruru’s application with 32 percent of those categorised as serious or unacceptable; if so did she accept that advice or did she simply pay it as much attention as the time she took to pay attention to the red flags on Novopay when she approved that as well against advice?Hon HEKIA PARATA: I take all of the advice that is provided by the Ministry of Education seriously. We have full discussion—Hon Trevor Mallard: You just don’t take it.Hon HEKIA PARATA: Taking advice does not mean accepting it and it does not mean ignoring it. I took its advice considered it and made a decision.Chris Hipkins: Is she refusing to release the Education Review Office report into Whangaruru School which was due to be released imminently 6 months ago because it has shown just how seriously that school experiment has gone off the rails; if not why will she not release the report?Hon HEKIA PARATA: I understand that that report will be ready for release next month.Chris Hipkins: Has she received any advice from the Ministry of Education suggesting that any member of the partnership schools authorisation board has any conflicts of interest; if so what was the nature of that advice?Hon HEKIA PARATA: I am not aware I have had any such advice.