Hipkins Chris: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeHipkins Chris: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 11 November 2015. Volume:710;Page:7889. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]10.CHRIS HIPKINS (Labour—Rimutaka) to the Minister of Education: Is she confident that her Government is fully resourcing the Ministry of Education to provide quality support for schools and students?Hon HEKIA PARATA (Minister of Education): Yes. My focus is not just on how much money is being spent but also where it is being spent and how effective it is being. We should be using taxpayers’ money efficiently to provide support and assistance for those students who need it most.Chris Hipkins: Did the Ministry of Education fail to meet three out of four special education services performance targets; if so how is that an indication that they are being sufficiently resourced in order to ensure there is equality of support for schools and students?Hon HEKIA PARATA: There was indeed a $3.6 million underspend in special education. Mostly it was outside the direct control of the ministry as two-thirds of it—$2.4 million—was in expenditure by schools. The remaining fund of $1.2 million was an accumulation of amounts underspent in the network contingency the intensive wraparound service and the Incredible Years teaching programme. Despite these underspends the ministry has in fact helped an additional 2818 children with early intervention services over the target set for that year.Chris Hipkins: Why has the Ministry of Education cut 41 front-line special education staff since 2011?Hon HEKIA PARATA: I am not aware that the Ministry of Education has cut front-line staff of that description. I am not aware that the ministry has cut those—Chris Hipkins: They’re her answers. She gave us that material in written answers. Don’t you read your own answers?Hon HEKIA PARATA: I am not sure whether you want to hear me answer or you just want to shout over the top of me. So the employment decisions are made by the Secretary for Education. We have increased funding for special education by 26 percent. We are currently undertaking an update of special education because there does need to be improvement in the way that services are provided to kids who need it most and that is why the ministry has been conducting this year over 157 workshops with parents and school communities to understand how that service can improve.Chris Hipkins: Is she satisfied that at the same time as the Ministry of Education has cut the number of special education advisers speech and language therapists and early intervention teachers the amount of spending on public relations staff at the ministry has increased by almost 200 percent; if so why?Hon HEKIA PARATA: Although that is true the order of expenditure on both those items is significantly different. Special education is $530 million and has gone up 26 percent. The communications budget is $2 million and has gone up by the amount the member speaks about. That has largely gone into improving and integrating the websites of which there was a proliferation in order to ensure that parents and educators had quick and easy access to the information they require. It has resulted in a 2-weekly newsletter with principals which they greatly appreciate and in being far more responsive to the concerns that schools have raised.Chris Hipkins: By how much has the Ministry of Education spending on press secretaries and communications advisers increased during that period of time?Hon HEKIA PARATA: I cannot give that specific—Chris Hipkins: Oh so she doesn’t have that information.Hon HEKIA PARATA: Ha ha! Are you feeling happy as a result of that? I cannot give the specific figure for that but what I can tell the member is this: the employment decisions are made by the Secretary for Education not by me.