Tolley Anne: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Tolley Anne: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:648;Page:17456] 
6.  
ANNE TOLLEY (National—East Coast) 
 to the  
Minister of Education 
: Did he sign off on the licensing criteria for early childhood education and care centres and the licensing criteria for kohanga reo on 14 July 2008; if so does he believe that all of the criteria are necessary and should be rigorously enforced? 
Hon CHRIS CARTER (Minister of Education) 
: 
 Yes. 
Anne Tolley 
: Why is the Minister insisting that centres go to the expense of building a separate sleeping room that they cannot afford and that many of the parents do not want when the Minister himself is saying to centres that it is all right if parents want their children not to sleep in the room but they need to have the rooms so that parents can have the choice not to use them—in other words centres have to build the rooms but they do not actually have to use them? 
Hon CHRIS CARTER 
: Because I believe in parent choice. I believe that parents should have the choice whether they want a secure safe quiet area for their children. I thought that that member and her party believed in parental choice. 
Hon Mark Burton 
: What reports has the Minister seen about changes to early childhood education licensing criteria? 
Hon CHRIS CARTER 
: I have seen many ill-informed comments from National’s spokesperson on early childhood education Paula Bennett including outrageous and silly comments that the new criteria would force Sunday schools to close. That was said by the same member who has railed against our very successful 20 hours free scheme. But in a now familiar National Party U-turn she says that National will adopt the policy but of course it will not include the word “free”; it just will not be free any more. 
Dail Jones 
: When can playcentres and kohanga reo expect that the criteria for the very successful 20 free hours’ early childhood education programme will change so that playcentres and kohanga reo can also expect to receive the 20 free hours’ early childhood education programmes? 
Hon CHRIS CARTER 
: Kohanga reo already qualify. About 280 already qualify because of the percentage of qualified teachers in them and about half have taken up the 20 hours free scheme. As far as playcentres are concerned 20 free hours is about lowering the cost. There is very little cost involved in playcentres so why on earth would we extend it to them? We already provide substantial support to playcentres for the great work they do but they are parent-led not teacher-led centres. 
Paula Bennett 
: With regard to separate sleep areas does the Minister understand that different cultures have different practices for how and where their babies sleep and did he consult his Associate Minister of Education or his Maori or Pacific Island colleagues to gain an understanding that isolating babies is seen as unsafe practice for many non-European cultures? 
Hon CHRIS CARTER 
: As I emphasised in my initial answer this is about parental choice. Where an unsafe situation occurs such as that which happened in Albany recently where a centre had a separate sleeping area—indeed as 90 percent of existing centres have already—and children were sleeping in a corridor parents complained and we sorted it out. It is about parental choice and it is about having a secure safe area for children to sleep in. I would have thought that the National Party would support such a move. 
Judy Turner 
: How can the Minister claim to support parental choice when as his answers to previous questions have showed he has still failed to extend the 20 hours free policy to parent-led centres rather than exclusively to teacher-led centres? 
Hon CHRIS CARTER 
: Because 20 free hours is about lowering the cost for parents. Indeed Statistics New Zealand say that in the year that the 20 hours free scheme has been in place—Labour’s scheme where free means free—costs have dropped for parents by about 30 percent. Where there is very little cost such as in playcentres why on earth would we introduce the scheme? 
Paula Bennett 
: How can the Minister say that he supports parental choice when we are getting reports that some centres will have to close down because they cannot and do not have the room to build sleep areas that they will not have to use and when they cannot afford $50000 to get separate rooms built but the Minister is insisting that they be built but do not have to be used; and how does that support parental choice? 
Hon CHRIS CARTER 
: I am surprised that that member has the cheek to rise in this House and raise the question of credibility. That is the member who went around New Zealand telling people that the Labour Government would close down Sunday schools which of course we had no intention of doing—it was absurd. This is about parental choice. That member was on television recently talking about her new grandchild. If she wants her new grandchild to sleep in a room that is secure safe and quiet—because all research shows that it is really important for children from the age of 0 to 2 to have quiet uninterrupted sleep for proper brain development—she should have a choice for sleeping arrangements in the centre that that grandchild is sent to. I would have thought she would have supported this. 
Anne Tolley 
: I seek leave to table a letter to one of the early childhood groups from the Minister where he outlines for them that they do actually have to build the sleeping room but there is no proposal to regulate the services practice in relation— 
Document by leave laid on the Table of the House. 
Hon CHRIS CARTER 
: I seek leave to table a document with extensive research about why it is really important for children from the age of zero to 2 to have uninterrupted quiet sleep. 
Document by leave laid on the Table of the House. 
Paula Bennett 
: I seek leave to table a document from Te Kohanga Reo National Trust amongst others which clearly states that separate sleep rooms are culturally inappropriate— 
Document by leave laid on the Table of the House.