Simmonds Penny; Doocey Matt; Little AndrewPENNY SIMMONDS (National—Invercargill): Thank you Mr Chair. And thank you Minister. The use of audiovisual link as my colleague Matt Doocey has spoken about was also quite a significant part of the submissions in that family and friends particularly were very concerned that the justification must not be just that it is the fall-back default easiest position for officials. We heard in the submissions that they felt there needed to be very stringent reporting arrangements. I wonder if the Minister could just give us a little bit more information about those reporting requirements—whether it is just going to be the guidance through regulations or more stringent requirements than that. Thank you.MATT DOOCEY (National—Waimakariri): And just while the Minister is taking some advice on that I think it's a very important question from my colleague Penny Simmonds to ensure that we do have the regime in place to identify when audiovisual link (AVL) is being used—also the recording of that and also the reporting of that. I think if the Minister could respond to that but also maybe take a step further in how we are going to have some trust in the Ministry of Health reporting. We know the Minister was severely let down recently by some of the reporting about the mental health annual report. So it'd be nice to think that some of the changes in this bill that we are debating at the moment will appear in some reports that will be public facing and the public can have some confidence in what my colleague Penny Simmonds alluded to—that what we don't want to see is mental health patients just sidelined basically and that they will just be sidelined by the use of AVL. I think it's important especially in a mental health context that they are meeting their mental health professionals face to face they are included in their care planning and assessment and that they know that we are there for them and caring for them.Hon ANDREW LITTLE (Minister of Health): I thank both those members Penny Simmonds and Matt Doocey for their questions. I think the simple answer is that part of the director-general's guidelines have to encompass the basis on which a decision to use audiovisual link (AVL) is made. And so that is why practitioners who are assessing a patient would need to apply the guidelines issued by the Director-General of Health including when the physical presence of a patient isn't practicable and the use of AVL technology is appropriate. So the director-general will develop the guidelines for that. But the second part of it is too there will be an obligation to report to the relevant director of area mental health services on that.I think as I understand it the committee was keen to develop a comprehensive reporting requirement. Members of this House should expect that to be part of the legislation that is the permanent replacement to the current Mental Health Act. I agree with both of those members: there does need for the purposes of assurance to both patients and their families for there to be some clear basis on which involvement of a patient in a way that is other than face to face is recorded and that we also build up a reporting track—a record—of the way in which a power like that is used. So members can be reassured that notwithstanding the provisions in this particular bill it goes some way to address that question. The permanent replacement will properly address and provide a proper framework for just that particular question.