7. JONATHAN YOUNG (National—New Plymouth) Link to this
to the Minister for Social Development and Employment
What progress has been made to better streamline the way the Government contracts with social services?
Hon PAULA BENNETT (Minister for Social Development and Employment) Link to this
We began the contract mapping project in mid-2010 to provide greater transparency and access to the Government’s funding of social services providers. This was done by overlaying around 24,000 contracts and their information from Child, Youth and Family, Work and Income, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education, the family and community services group, Te Puni Kōkiri, the Ministry of Justice, and the Ministry of Youth Development. It includes who and what is funded and where on Google Maps, and it provides greater access to transparency for our communities.
Hon PAULA BENNETT Link to this
Coming into Government, we saw the need to support social services to streamline the way we contracted with them, in particular with our funding. Believing that it is local communities that can make the biggest difference for those families, high-trust contracts recognise those community providers. It actually delivers them their contracts all up front before they have done it, and all at the beginning of the year. It consolidates other contracts and makes a big difference to them, how they work, their speed and flexibility, and how they work with families.
What level of savings can the Government expect from the integration of Government contracts under the Whānau Ora model against the silo approach of years gone by?
Hon PAULA BENNETT Link to this
I cannot give the member an absolute on what the savings are under the integration of contracts under Whānau Ora, and in all respects I think that what it has actually done is provide more services to people and to whānau. There will be some savings because that is inevitable when one sees those contracts merged together and integrated. I think what it has done is more on the delivery side. What it will deliver to those whānau well exceeds any small savings that you might get from bringing those contracts together.