Delivering better public services within tight financial constraints (continued)
Mr Speaker,
Raising student achievement and improving the tracking of student performance is important for New Zealand and therefore a priority for this Government.
As we have confirmed, the Government is committed to the ambitious goal of 85 per cent of 18-year-olds with NCEA Level 2 or equivalent qualifications.
Reaching this goal means resources must be managed to get better results for all students.
Evidence shows the single most important thing we can do to raise achievement is to improve teaching quality. So Budget 2012 makes a significant investment in this area.
Over the next four years, the Government will commit $512 million towards new frontline education initiatives. This takes the Government's total investment in early childhood education and schooling to $9.6 billion in 2012/13.
This Government wants to create a flexible, skilled, and professional workforce through these initiatives to support principals and teachers.
We are committing an extra $60 million to lift the quality of teaching in our schools. This is in addition to the $304 million we are spending on professional learning and development for teachers in primary and secondary education over the next four years.
Budget 2012 also sets aside further funding to support priority learners. This includes:
$83 million in school operating grants.
$51 million to continue the roll-out of ultra-fast broadband in schools.
$48 million to increase participation by vulnerable groups in early childhood education.
$19 million to support Maori-medium early childhood education providers.
The Government will provide extra parenting programmes and relationship education in secondary schools at a cost of $4 million over four years.
We will also support a variety of youth mental health initiatives with an extra $17 million over four years.
To increase investment in raising student achievement, and to manage the costs of increased primary-school-age children over the next four years, we are making small changes to current school funding ratios.
Mr Speaker,
I have already mentioned some of the new initiatives in tertiary education.
In addition, Budget 2012 invests in providing more pathways into work and further training for young people leaving school.
It provides an additional free 3,000 tertiary-based Youth Guarantee places at the cost of $37.7 million over four years.
The Government will also continue to better target student assistance to where it is most needed and ensure better value for taxpayers.
From 1 January this year, we implemented tighter income rules to ensure the student allowance is fair.
Budget 2012 confirms a number of further student loan changes from 1 April 2013, including:
Increasing student loan repayments from 10 cents in every dollar earned over the income threshold to 12 cents.
Widening the definition of income for student loan repayment purposes.
For student allowances, continuing the freeze on parental income thresholds until 31 March 2016.
Targeting allowances to first degrees only, and removing exemptions for long programmes such as postgraduate training, taking effect from 1 January 2013.
These changes are consistent with the Government's intention to see better value for New Zealanders, ensure the longevity of the student loan scheme, and improve alignment with Working for Families and other social policy initiatives.
Mr Speaker,
It is concerning for our future that around one in eight New Zealanders aged 18 to 64 is on a benefit, and around half of them have spent at least five of the past 10 years on a benefit.
This Government has embarked on ambitious reforms focused on supporting New Zealanders out of welfare and into work.
The Budget invests $287.5 million over four years in the first phase of this programme.
This funding provides more education and training for young people. It will also focus on work availability and preparation for sole parents, widows, women alone, partners within the benefit system, and parents who have subsequent children while on a benefit.
The second phase of welfare reform will be implemented in July 2013. This will involve changes to benefit categories.
Both phases of the reforms are a shift towards a new investment approach to welfare.
The investment approach provides greater transparency over the long-term cost of welfare, and focuses government agencies on reducing this cost through employment support and training.
Mr Speaker,
Budget 2012 continues the Government's policy of staying strong on crime.
The justice sector, including the Ministry of Justice, and the departments of Police and Corrections, is developing new ways of working together and making better use of existing resources. This includes more flexible funding arrangements and shared use of staff and assets.
This will allow the sector to focus on results - reducing total crime, violent crime and youth crime, and reducing reoffending. For example, the Policing Excellence programme helped reduce total crime by 5.6 per cent between 2010 and 2011.
As I've confirmed today, the Department of Corrections aims to reduce reoffending by 25 per cent by 2017.
To help achieve this, it will invest $145 million of reprioritised money from prison closures and cost reductions out to 2019/20 in rehabilitation programmes.
Modernising court services will ensure that people can access services faster and more conveniently.
Mr Speaker,
Working with non-government providers, the Government is committed to improving housing affordability and providing assistance to households in need.
Budget 2012 provides funding of $104 million for this over three years. This will be used to trial greater innovation, diversity, and scale in the social housing sector.
The Government's housing policies will work alongside welfare reform to assist people towards independence.
We are working with the housing sector to use our $15 billion investment in state houses and almost $2 billion of annual subsidies more effectively to house people in need.
The Government will also work with councils to improve housing affordability for all New Zealanders.
