Questions for Oral Answer As At Tuesday, 10 May 2005

Questions to Ministers

1. Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS to the Prime Minister: Did she say the following, "If Winston Peters had the interests of New Zealand at heart rather than just grandstanding he would be providing information to Immigration so things could be checked out. That's what all our electorate offices do week in week out, where we see a problem we report it so it can be dealt with"; if so, on what basis did she make this statement?

2. JUDY TURNER to the Minister for Social Development and Employment: Is he satisfied that grandparents who provide care for their grandchildren receive adequate financial support; if so, why?

3. Dr DON BRASH to the Prime Minister: Does she stand by her statement to the House, regarding claims that Commissioner Doone had said "that won't be necessary" that "I can only imagine that the reporter put those words to me and I would not have been in a position to confirm them, because they were not in the reports."; if so, how does she reconcile this with her signed brief of evidence that states "I am informed that Mr Alley states he put those propositions to me and I said words to the effect of 'you're not wrong'. I accept that this is correct."?

4. STEVE CHADWICK to the Minister of Research, Science and Technology: What is the Government doing to increase investment in health research and strengthen the health research workforce?

5. Hon BILL ENGLISH to the Minister of Education: Did he make the following statement about New Zealand Scholarship in April 2003: "There will be no fixed numbers or proportions of students receiving the qualification. It depends on how many students meet the standard set in each subject."; if so, why did the lack of cross-subject comparability in Scholarship allegedly come as a surprise to him?

6. SUE BRADFORD to the Associate Minister of Health: Why, nearly six years after the Government took office, has the Report of the Working Party on Support Services for Older People and People with Disabilities found these services to be chronically under-funded and suffering huge workforce turnover, with many providing inadequate care?

7. H V ROSS ROBERTSON to the Minister of Education: What steps is he taking to encourage greater saving towards the cost of tertiary education?

8. Dr DON BRASH to the Prime Minister: Did she receive a phone call from the editor of the Sunday Star-Times, subsequent to the publication of its 16 January 2000 story regarding Mr Doone and following a statement from Mr Doone describing the article as defamatory, seeking an assurance as to the accuracy of information contained in the story; if so, what assurance did she give the editor?

9. LYNNE PILLAY to the Associate Minister of Education: What steps has the Government taken to reduce student absenteeism in New Zealand schools?

10. METIRIA TUREI to the Associate Minister of Education: Does he believe that isolated rural children are just as entitled to a quality public education as any other New Zealand child; if so, why?

11. Hon KEN SHIRLEY to the Minister of Education: Does he concede that the fall in enrolments at Te Wananga o Aotearoa from 34,000 equivalent full time students in 2003 to 22,000 equivalent full time students this year is in part a result of the elimination of alleged fraudulent enrolments following closer public scrutiny, and what reports, if any, has he received of questionable enrolment practices?

12. MOANA MACKEY to the Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage: What is the Government doing to support New Zealand music?

ENDS

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