3. Question No. 3—HealthWILLOW-JEAN PRIME (Labour—Northland) to the Minister of HealthQuestion No. 3—Health3. WILLOW-JEAN PRIME (Labour—Northland) to the Minister of Health: What recent announcements has he made on expanding mental health and addiction services?Hon ANDREW LITTLE (Minister of Health): Yesterday I announced $190 million of investments over four years to allow the expansion of Mana Ake into five new areas and to improve specialist mental health and addiction services for those New Zealanders who have the highest mental health and addiction needs; $100 million of this funding will go towards easing some of the immediate pressures on specialist services over time by increasing the capacity of these services to see more people and by trialling new models of support to better meet people's needs. Mana Ake is a school-based programme that gives children the skills and support to deal with issues that include grief loss parental separation and bullying. In April 2021 the Prime Minister and I announced $12 million for the co-design of locally relevant Mana Ake services in Northland Counties Manukau Bay of Plenty and Lakes and West Coast regions. The co-design has taken place and we now know what services are practically required in those areas and how they might be delivered. The $90 million I announced yesterday will allow the service delivery of Mana Ake in those new areas.Willow-Jean Prime: Why is this funding needed for specialist mental health and addiction services?Hon ANDREW LITTLE: Specialist mental health and addiction services have been under considerable pressure for a long time. This means there are often waiting times for people to access the help that they need. People with severe mental health and addiction issues and their families have been patient in the face of inaction by previous Governments. For many people with severe mental health and addiction needs treatment is most appropriately provided outside a traditional hospital setting. That's why the funding I announced yesterday will include $27 million for community-based crisis services that will deliver a variety of intensive supports such as residential and home-based crisis respite community crisis teams co-response teams and peer-led services in the community and as part of care teams and $18.7 million to enhance existing specialist child and adolescent mental health and addiction services so that around 1300 young people can be supported by more clinical peer-support and cultural-support staff. This is a critical next step in rebuilding our mental health and addiction system.Willow-Jean Prime: How many children will now have access to the Mana Ake programme and what kind of services will they now have access to?Hon ANDREW LITTLE: One hundred and ninety five thousand primary- and intermediate-aged children will benefit from the continuation and expansion of Mana Ake services. Mana Ake empowers children with resilience and support when and where they need it to confidently cope with whatever life throws at them. The mental wellbeing supports provided by this initiative will vary by area reflecting the needs of each community in their local context. The Mana Ake programme has a range of supports which include whole-of-classroom approaches to promote mental wellbeing and increased resilience across the whole school population targeted initiatives delivered face to face for children experiencing mild to moderate levels of distress and group-based supports and support for whānau.