10. Students with Special Needs—Funding and SupportCHRIS HIPKINS (Labour—Rimutaka) to the Minister of EducationStudents with Special Needs—Funding and Support10. CHRIS HIPKINS (Labour—Rimutaka) to the Minister of Education: Does she stand by her statement regarding the special education system that I want it to be child-centred simple to access and available promptly early and without interruption for as long as required"; if so will any of her proposals announced last week reduce existing services or provision?Hon HEKIA PARATA (Minister of Education): Whether it or I yes I do. Last week as part of the open and transparent way we work with the sector I released papers and gave a briefing to the quarterly national cross-sector forum updating it on the work under way in this area. There is no proposal to cut overall funding to special education. I am simply looking at the $590 million we already spend in the system and making sure that the right support is going to the right child at the right time. Every child and young person currently getting an appropriate service will continue to be supported for their assessed needs.Chris Hipkins: How many students who currently receive additional support with their learning will have to stop receiving that support or receive a reduced level of support in order to meet the indicative reduction in spending on school-aged students illustrated in Appendix 2 of her Cabinet paper?Hon HEKIA PARATA: We are at a midpoint in—Hon Annette King: Answer the question.Hon HEKIA PARATA: I have said about six words so far so I am into answering the question. What we are looking at based on a year's worth of consultation with the sector is how we can redesign the service going forward without compromising the service for those who are currently in it. So there will be a long transition.Chris Hipkins: Does this graph in Appendix 2 of her Cabinet paper indicate an increase in spending on students aged 0 to 6 and a reduction in spending on students aged 7 to 21; if so why?Hon HEKIA PARATA: It reflects modelling on a social investment approach which is that if we intervene early with impact—which parents throughout the year-long consultation said they wanted—we have the prospect of helping kids earlier and not expending more funding at the other end of the system.Chris Hipkins: Is she suggesting that if earlier intervention is in place students will stop being disabled later on in their schooling?Hon HEKIA PARATA: No. That is so ridiculous. No.Chris Hipkins: How does she propose to increase funding on the early years without reducing funding on the school years with no increase in overall funding? What is this miraculous new budget tool she seems to have accessed?Hon HEKIA PARATA: An intelligent strategic approach is how I have accessed it. Unlike the Opposition which is very keen to throw money at a problem—usually someone else's money—we are focused instead on how we get a better outcome for more kids using the funding we have already got but improving the underlying system and as a basis for the future on what we might ask for in addition. Chris Hipkins: Does her own Cabinet paper argue "There are also more children and young people with acute and complex needs" and "Demand for the Ongoing Resourcing Scheme (ORS) which provides support to those with the most complex needs has been rising consistently."; if so why is she proposing no overall increase in funding?Hon HEKIA PARATA: The member is making my argument for me. We are interested in whether we have got the right system in place under it and parents tell us we have not—it is too complicated there are too many hurdles it is difficult to access. We need to improve that and with earlier intervention we think that we can improve the service for those young people.Tracey Martin: Can she confirm that if she as Minister closes Salisbury School this will be a reduction to zero of provision for residential high-needs single-sex special education specifically for girls?Hon HEKIA PARATA: I am in the middle of a consultation process and it would be inappropriate to pre-empt the outcome of that. In other words no decision has yet been made.Tracey Martin: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. My question was "Can she confirm that if she closes"—I did not ask her to decide.Mr SPEAKER: No no. The question was definitely addressed by the Minister. Chris Hipkins: Why does she propose measuring the effectiveness of educational support provided to a child with an intellectual disability by the attainment of national standards in the National Certificate of Educational Achievement?Hon HEKIA PARATA: I think the paper speaks of the various options available in our system to measure impact and that is appropriate because we want to know that we can make progress for every child no matter their disability or disorder.Tracey Martin: How are gifted and talented students to be catered for in her special education proposal considering her Government disbanded the advisory group and removed the funding specifically tagged for these students in 2009?Hon HEKIA PARATA: We are in the process of developing the policy off the proposals we have made and they are driven completely on the basis of how we improve provision for every child no matter their learning challenge or opportunity.Chris Hipkins: Does she seriously believe that the effectiveness of the educational support provided to students with an intellectual disability can be assessed using the same measures applied to students who do not have an intellectual disability; if so why?Hon HEKIA PARATA: More seriously I can tell the member that the special education association tells me that they want to be able to measure progress and that these tools offer that opportunity in looking at progress as well as outcome."