8. Hon MARYAN STREET (Labour) Link to this
to the Minister for Tertiary Education
How does she expect cuts in adult and community education to “… ensure that New Zealand is positioned to take advantage of the economic recovery as it happens” as she has stated previously about the Government’s aim in Vote Education?
Hon BILL ENGLISH (Acting Minister for Tertiary Education) Link to this
The Government remains committed to adult and community education, and will spend $124 million over the next 4 years on this sector. This investment will be focused on literacy, numeracy, and foundation skills that create job opportunities and pathways to further training and study, as a response to the growing number of unemployed in the current recession.
Hon Maryan Street Link to this
What has the Minister for Tertiary Education to say—given the cuts to adult and community education—to the over 400,000 people acquiring additional skills through various forms of adult and community education on an annual basis, and how does she expect them to participate in the economic recovery?
A good proportion of those people will be able to continue to get adult and community education, because the Government will be spending $124 million on these courses over the next 4 years.
Hon Maryan Street Link to this
What has the Minister to say to the, potentially, 15,000 adult and community education tutors who are likely to lose their jobs because of the adult and community education funding cuts, and how do those job losses fit with the Government’s commitment to job creation in order to stimulate the economic recovery?
The Minister has made it clear that the intention of the policy changes has been to be able to fund higher priorities. Adult and community education has positive value, but in the current environment, with sharply growing numbers of unemployed, we need to focus on the skills that will keep people connected to the workplace and enable them to pick up work once the economy recovers.
Catherine Delahunty Link to this
How many people will lose access to a reintroduction to learning—other than literacy and numeracy courses—that could possibly lead to jobs, as a result of the cuts to adult and community education?
The Government will maintain a wide range of opportunities for people to access introductory learning. But we have made it quite clear that our priority over the next few years will be the large number of people who have lost their jobs or will lose them. We will focus on providing them with the tools to stay connected to the world of work and obtain the skills that will enable them to get a job when the economy recovers.
Catherine Delahunty Link to this
I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. My question was quite specific. It asked how many people would lose access to learning. He has not answered that question.
Mr SPEAKERI think that if the honourable member were to reflect on the question she just asked, she would see that it was not possible to provide an answer to it. It was on a matter in the future, and no one can give a precise answer on that. I do not see how she can insist on the Minister giving the answer that she might want to hear, because that is not the way that the Standing Orders are written.
Hon Trevor Mallard Link to this
I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. As part of the Budget process, both the Minister for Tertiary Education and the Minister of Finance have received reports that would indicate the effect of these changes. I think it is pretty unreasonable for you to say that they cannot answer the question, when they have reports that would indicate exactly the answer to the question that has been asked.
If the honourable member had phrased her question in the way that the member has just suggested, it might have been easier to get the answer she was seeking.
Hon Maryan Street Link to this
What has the Minister to say to the possible 230—to be a little more precise—adult and community education tutors in the Hamilton region alone who are likely to lose their jobs, and how do these job losses fit with the Government’s commitment to job creation in order to stimulate the economic recovery?
The Government is continuing to spend $124 million on adult and community education. But we have made it clear that in these times, when there is large growth in unemployment and the Government faces constraint on its spending, our top priority will be people who have lost their jobs or who will lose them, to ensure that they have the skills to become participants in the economy again.
Hon Maryan Street: I seek leave to table the PricewaterhouseCoopers adult and community education report entitled Adult and Community Education: Economic Evaluation of Adult and Community Education Outcomes, dated June 2008.