Collins Judith: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Collins Judith: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:623;Page:18244] 
12.  
JUDITH COLLINS (National—Clevedon) 
 to the  
Minister for Social Development and Employment 
: Is he satisfied that the number of people on the sickness and invalids benefits claiming stress and depression has increased so markedly under this Labour Government; if so why? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY (Minister for Social Development and Employment) 
: 
 No I am not happy with the historical growth in these benefits. They increased for example by 84 percent during the time of the last National Government. However the issues of identifying and addressing stress and depression are important. In 1995 the National Government introduced the categories of stress and depression—categories that are now taken as part of the system. The member herself emphasised the need to deal with the issue of stress in an employment context in a case in 2002 when she was a lawyer. Given her interest—and her caucus’s interest no doubt over the last week—in these issues I look forward to some positive input from her. 
Judith Collins 
: Why is the Minister attempting to make light of such a serious situation when the number of invalids beneficiaries claiming stress and depression since 2000 has increased by 91 percent in Auckland by 112 percent in Northland by 117 percent in Manawatu-Wanganui and by 106 percent in Christchurch? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: I stress that I am not underselling this issue. I have watched a lot of stress over the last week and I certainly take it seriously. I note that the number on the sickness benefit grew by 84 percent during National’s time. We inherited those figures and we are the first Government to actually begin to address them. 
Moana Mackey 
: What success has the Government had from its measures to get people on sickness and invalids benefits with stress and depression back into the workforce? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: We have put together a wide range of changes to service delivery to people receiving the sickness and invalids benefits including more intensive case management specialist work brokers services to support people with mental health conditions improved support to general practitioners through the sickness benefit and the Providing Access to Health Solutions programme offering specialised tailored health services which is a new vocational assessment process. We are already receiving results of these pilots and they show a 17 percent increase in the number of people moving into full-time employment and a 14 percent increase in those going into part-time employment. 
Judy Turner 
: Can the Minister confirm that by the end of September last year a total of only 18 sickness and invalids beneficiaries had participated in the pilot programme in Manukau operated by ProCare that was specifically targeted at those with stress and depression when the original target was 120 clients; if so why have there been so few participants when 1309 other beneficiaries in the Manukau area suffer from the same condition? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: I cannot remember the precise figure for ProCare but it was around that number. But the pilot was so successful in Manukau that we have just now extended it to the 4700 people in the Wellington region and I announced recently the five other regions about to come into this programme. 
Judith Collins 
: Why has it taken over 5 years for this Government to try to do anything when the number of sickness beneficiaries claiming stress and depression has increased by 65 percent in Auckland by 57 percent in Waikato by 91 percent in Nelson-Marlborough and by 95 percent in Southland since 2000? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: The member will know from looking at the Government’s very active programme in the beneficiary area that we began major pilots last year which have just been rolled out nationally—and $27 million was announced just recently. In my view one of the most difficult debates we have got is what to do in the sickness and invalids benefits areas. That is because we are often faced with for example employers who would much rather employ an able-bodied person than a person on a sickness or an invalids benefit. In a climate of 3.8 percent unemployment we are now able to approach those employers with a lot more confidence.