English Bill: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
English Bill: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:618;Page:13852] 
9.  
Hon BILL ENGLISH (National—Clutha-Southland) 
 to the  
Associate Minister of Education (Tertiary Education) 
: Does he stand by his statement to the House on 6 May 2004 that in relation to spending on enrolment incentives by Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology “I am informed by officials that the Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology spent $80000 in total on book vouchers. That was largely $20 plus GST for each person who was involved.”; if not why not? 
Hon MARGARET WILSON (Acting Minister of Education (Tertiary Education)) 
: 
 I stand by the Hon Steve Maharey’s statement. The Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology advised officials that the figure for book vouchers for students enrolling in the Cool IT course was approximately $80000 excluding GST. The exact figure I understand was $83284 excluding GST. More recently a figure has been quoted in the media of $311693 including GST. That figure is different because it also includes separate but related initiatives whereby schools and other community groups earned $20 per student for promoting the Cool IT programme. The Hon Steve Maharey has already indicated that changes to the funding rules will mean that in future it is not possible to offer inducements to students for publicly funded courses regardless of how these are paid for. 
Hon Bill English 
: Can the Minister confirm that she is now aware that a further almost $200000 was spent on inducements and why did the Minister not advise the Parliament that that was the case when at the time he had a report from the Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology outlining those figures? 
Hon MARGARET WILSON 
: I assume that the honourable member does not mean $200000 in addition to the $311693? 
Hon Bill English 
: No. 
Hon MARGARET WILSON 
: OK. I am sorry I cannot confirm that the Hon Steve Maharey did have a report on that at the time but I am happy to find that out and let the member know. 
Lynne Pillay 
: Has the Tertiary Education Commission undertaken a review of the Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology’s Cool IT course? 
Hon MARGARET WILSON 
: Yes. The purpose of that review was to establish the extent of the Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology compliance with funding regulations and broader elements of Government policy. That review was commenced on 25 May. I have now had an opportunity to consult with officials and confirm that this report will be made public when finalised. Deloitte’s draft was delivered to the Tertiary Education Commission on Friday 18 June. The commission is consulting for factual accuracy with those persons mentioned in the report and once that has taken place then the report will be available. 
Hon Brian Donnelly 
: Was the reason that officials from the Tertiary Advisory Monitoring Unit took no action when information was received about the relationship in this case between a Christchurch Polytechnic staff member and Brylton Software that firstly they did not believe the relationship to be inappropriate or secondly they believed the relationship to be inappropriate but it was not their job to do anything about it? 
Hon MARGARET WILSON 
: The Tertiary Advisory Monitoring Unit has no audit powers or functions—that is correct. That is why it did not take formal action at the time. But I understand that it did in fact convey to the polytech that it had to abide by the proper processes and procedures. 
Hon Bill English 
: Now that the Minister has established that the Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology spent almost $300000 on inducements and broke the Government rules against providing inducements for enrolment when will she take up the offer that the polytech has made to repay the money to the Government? 
Hon MARGARET WILSON 
: I think it would be wise to wait for the reports to come in before one makes the assumption that there has in fact been a breach of the rules.