Bennett Paula: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Bennett Paula: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:642;Page:11997] 
7.  
PAULA BENNETT (National) 
 to the  
Minister of Education 
: What minimum standards do licensed early childhood services such as creches at pools and gyms have to comply with? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY (Minister of Education) 
: 
 Like all early childhood facilities creches in pools and gyms have to keep children safe. They need to have safe facilities and they need to have adequately qualified police-checked staff to supervise children. They need to comply with the fact that no parent would want to place his or her child in an unsafe environment. The regulations are designed to ensure that creches meet these standards. 
Paula Bennett 
: Should a free child-minding service in a safe cordoned-off area in a gym which has adult supervision for up to six children for no more than an hour at a time with parents just metres away have to be licensed? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: It is worth just rehashing very very briefly the history of the regulations. The regulations that are in place came in in 1989. That means that they were in place for 9 years of a National Government. Labour has just begun to review those regulations and there will be an opportunity for a question such as that to be raised as people discuss the regulations. The regulations are currently on the website. If the member would like to look at them and discuss them with the people who are writing to her she is welcome to do so. Unlike the National Government which for 9 years administered the regulations exactly as she is complaining about them we are having a look at them. 
Dr Ashraf Choudhary 
: What steps is the Government taking to lift the quality of early childhood education in New Zealand? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: As part of the Government’s push to continue to improve the quality of early childhood services in 2002 we announced a review of the entire regulation framework for early childhood education services. Since 2003 the ministry has been reviewing that system. Last year some of the changes to the Education Act 1989 were made. In October this year all services will have a further opportunity to contribute to the draft criteria of the requirements that services will need to meet in order to be licensed. We have received over 1800 submissions and have had positive feedback about the first draft. The new system is designed to be more flexible and transparent for services and to provide quality standards. I repeat to the member—because she may not be aware of this—that the rules that the National Government operated under are the rules currently in place. We are currently reviewing those rules and this is a chance for the member to make her views known. 
Paula Bennett 
: If the Minister is currently reviewing that legislation then why is his ministry writing to centres within gyms and telling them they are running illegally; and does the Minister accept that it is ridiculous to make a gym such as Devine Fitness license its child-minding service which is a special adult-supervised area right next to the parents when if the gym did not supervise the children and let them run around the gym equipment it would not need a licence? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: The Ministry of Education responds to formal complaints. The issue that seems to have kicked off this current round of media inspection of centres concerns the centre in Nelson. Someone made a formal complaint about the gym not supervising children correctly and therefore representatives from the Ministry of Education went around—as they are required to do—and discussed the issue with the gym. In the end I think that the gym has decided to close the centre. The basic principle is that all children should be safe. Although it may be a bit of a myth that people stay for a short time at gyms in fact it does seem that people put their children in gym creches for up to 3 hours at a time. Therefore the children ought to be properly supervised. 
Paula Bennett 
: Will the Minister close down the child-minding service at the community-run Motueka Recreation Fitness Centre which provides a supervised play-pen three mornings a week for 1 hour for up to five children with the parents exercising just 15 metres away from it because it does not provide a sleep area? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: I know it amuses the member to get up and raise one case after another like this. The basic principle that the National Government operated under—as does this Government—is that these children should be safe. Unlike National we are allowing a discussion around the regulations at the present time. Perhaps instead of going on about individual cases that would have happened under a National Government she should get stuck into the regulatory review. 
Paula Bennett 
: What response does the Minister have to those mothers in Nelson who have had their creche at the cityfitness gym closed because the Minister insists that it be licensed even though they are happy with the facility and its level of care and safety or does the Minister know better than those parents? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: As I pointed out to the member before the centre she is talking about was the recipient of a formal complaint. The Ministry of Education has to respond to formal complaints. The parent who complained was unhappy about the system that was operating in that particular facility. That is what the ministry responded to. 
Paula Bennett 
: What choices do parents who want to exercise have when the Minister is closing down unlicensed premises and when according to a Fitness New Zealand national survey the number of licensed childcare centres in gyms has decreased from 28 in 2004 to just 16 in 2007 due to excessive bureaucracy and licensing legislation? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: I remind people that the National Government operated under exactly these rules for 9 years. I would say to people that the central principle is the safety of their children. I would also say I really approve of parents getting fit. 
Paula Bennett 
: I seek leave to table the letter from the Ministry of Education on 11 September to the Motueka Recreation Fitness Centre. 
Document by leave laid on the Table of the House. 
Hon Brian Donnelly 
: I seek leave to table the updated statement of Early Childhood Desirable Objectives and Practices which regulates the early childhood services that have been referred to that was given Cabinet approval in 1998. 
Document not tabled.