1. Better Public Services—Results and Impact on Public Sector SpendingNUK KORAKO (National) to the Minister of FinanceORAL QUESTIONSQUESTIONS TO MINISTERSBetter Public Services—Results and Impact on Public Sector Spending1. NUK KORAKO (National) to the Minister of Finance: What progress is the Government making in its programme to get better results from public services?Hon BILL ENGLISH (Minister of Finance): Earlier this week the Government released the latest results update for its Better Public Services programme. These targets were set in 2012 by the Prime Minister and are designed to be challenging targets that may be difficult to achieve. The latest update shows we are making progress in some areas that make a real difference and this is the last update we will issue before Cabinet refreshes the targets. Benefit dependency continues to fall and we have saved up to $3.6 billion of long-term liability over the past 2 years. The total crime rate for the June quarter was up 1.4 percent but overall it has fallen 15 percent since 2011.Nuk Korako: What progress is being made on targets specifically designed to improve outcomes for children and young people?Hon BILL ENGLISH: We know that well-focused early intervention can reduce remedial spending later in the lives of those children who have real risks. We chose some quite difficult targets. For instance Result 4 is about reducing the number of substantiated physical assaults on children where the headline numbers show that abuse is far too high but has stopped increasing at the same rate that it was several years ago. When you dig in behind that result it shows that we are starting to connect with the hardest-to-reach children and families—for instance those children who suffer the worst consequences of poverty such as preventable diseases like rheumatic fever. Other progress that has been made is on immunisation. Immunisation rates are up from 84 percent to 92 percent this year. The number of rheumatic fever cases has dropped from 177 cases in 2012 to 112 this year.Nuk Korako: What progress is being made on Result 1: Reducing Long-term Welfare Dependence?Hon BILL ENGLISH: The latest figures show that around 15000 fewer people are on a main benefit over the 2 years between 2014 and 2016. Those people coming off benefits are being supported by successful programmes to support them into work and in particular to make their exit from benefit sustainable. Historically getting someone off a benefit often meant that before too long they were back on the benefit. Fortunately in a stronger economy there are more opportunities for those who are able to work. But I must point out that as we make progress with those who are work-ready a greater proportion of those still on welfare are not work-ready and making further progress is going to be more challenging and will require more innovation and lateral thinking.Nuk Korako: How does the Government's priority of delivering Better Public Services contribute to its other priority of responsibly managing its finances?Hon BILL ENGLISH: In a couple of ways. One is that we have found that when you get the Public Service to focus on the results for which it is accountable it is much less likely to come asking for large amounts of money without a particular purpose and much more likely to be very thoughtful about how it uses the money it already has. Secondly as we develop the tool kit for social investment including the use of data and analytics we are finding that well-targeted early intervention can lead before too long to considerable savings simply because we can change lives. When we change lives particularly those of our children and young people we can help them avoid a lifetime of misery and the taxpayer a lifetime of cost.