Hipkins Chris: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Hipkins Chris: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Sitting date: 29 November 2012. Volume:686;Page:6950. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
12. 
CHRIS HIPKINS (Labour—Rimutaka) 
 to the  
Minister of Education 
: Does her Associate Minister’s handling of his delegated responsibility for Novopay give her confidence in his ability to fulfil his other duties? 
Hon CRAIG FOSS (Associate Minister of Education) 
 on behalf of the Minister of Education: Yes the Minister has full confidence in the Associate Minister’s ability to fulfil his other duties. She thinks he has done a good job of a hard job. 
Chris Hipkins 
: Is she satisfied that Craig Foss carried out proper oversight of Novopay’s implementation and that he fully considered all of the risks when deciding that Novopay should go live on 20 August; if so why? 
Hon CRAIG FOSS 
: Yes. 
Chris Hipkins 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I did ask him “if so why?”. It is not an unreasonable question to expect an answer to. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Well it is a second part to the question. It is a supplementary question and the Minister is not obliged to answer both parts. 
Chris Hipkins 
: Why? 
Hon CRAIG FOSS 
: As the Associate Minister noted in the House yesterday he took advice and recommendations from the Ministry of Education and the Novopay board. 
Chris Hipkins 
: Has she seen the comment this morning from the Ministry of Education’s group manager who said: “There were functions of the system that simply weren’t working when we went live”; if so why does she have confidence in Craig Foss’ decision to sign off on the implementation? 
Hon CRAIG FOSS 
: I cannot say whether she is aware of that particular comment or not. 
Chris Hipkins 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. The question was on notice. I appreciate that the Associate Minister is answering on behalf of another Minister. But it is not unreasonable to expect that he would prepare and have that answer. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Well—[ 
Interruption 
] Order! A point of order has been raised. The dilemma is that in the absence of the Minister I guess the Associate Minister cannot if he has not been able to get hold of her tell the House whether or not she has heard that comment this morning that the member raised. That is why I think the House has to accept the Associate Minister’s answer in that regard. 
Chris Hipkins 
: Does she believe that the role of Ministers is to simply sign off whatever recommendations officials present to them or does the role extend to questioning that advice and making sure that officials have done their jobs properly; if so does she believe that this Government has executed that responsibility appropriately in signing off on the implementation of Novopay before the results of system testing were even known? 
Hon CRAIG FOSS 
: The Minister has full confidence in the Associate Minister’s ability to do and continue to do a good job of a hard job regarding Novopay. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! On this occasion I think I can assist the honourable member. I do not think that answer answered any part of the question. So I invite the member to repeat his question. 
Chris Hipkins 
: Does she believe that the role of Ministers is to simply sign off whatever recommendations officials present to them or does their role extend to questioning that advice and making sure that officials have done their jobs properly; if so does she believe that this Government has executed that responsibility appropriately in signing off the implementation of Novopay before the results of the system testing were even known? 
Hon CRAIG FOSS 
: No. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: If the member just said no I take it that it was the first part of the question to which the answer was no. So if the Minister is going to answer only one part of a question he has got to indicate which part he is saying no to. I invite the member to repeat his question and the Minister if he continues to give the answer no to indicate which part. 
Chris Hipkins 
: Does she believe that the role of Ministers is to simply sign off whatever recommendations officials present to them or does their role extend to questioning that advice and making sure that officials have done their jobs properly; if so does she believe that this Government has executed that responsibility appropriately in signing off on the implementation of Novopay before the results of system testing were even known? 
Hon CRAIG FOSS 
: No to the first part. 
Chris Hipkins 
: Did she sign off on the decision on 5 June to go live with Novopay; if so why has she tried to create the impression that it was all Craig Foss’ fault? 
Hon CRAIG FOSS 
: I reject the second part of that question. 
Chris Hipkins 
: Did she sign off on the decision on 5 June to go live with Novopay? 
Hon CRAIG FOSS 
: The Minister received recommendations from the Associate Minister of Education regarding his accepting of recommendations from Novopay and the ministry to go live with Novopay. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. It was a very straight question: did she sign off? We still have not had a yes or no; we heard that advice was taken but we did not get a yes or no on whether she signed it off. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I think the member makes a valid point. That last question was a very clear particular question: did the Minister sign off on Novopay going live? The point is well made that whether or not the Minister took advice does not answer whether or not she signed off on it. 
Hon Gerry Brownlee 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. That would depend entirely on what the delegation leader says— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: But the Minister is perfectly capable of answering that. [ 
Interruption 
] Order! Well it is just that members are meant to treat each other in this House with some courtesy. OK if I provoke the honourable member and he responds that way I guess that is my fault but I was actually assisting the honourable member and therefore a little courtesy might be a little more appropriate. 
Hon CRAIG FOSS 
: Yes the Minister received advice from the Associate Minister who followed advice as outlined earlier to go ahead and go live with Novopay. The answer is yes. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: No the Minister said the answer is yes. The Minister said the answer is yes and I believe that brings to a close questions for oral answer.