Govt ditching social investment ‘toolkit’
The big-data, intricate-detail approach to lifting vulnerable families out of poverty is up for review, with the new Labour Government confirming it would be ‘‘repackaged’’.
That would likely include reducing the level of data collected, so vulnerable people could not be identified at an individual level and removing the reporting on welfare liability dependency, Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni has confirmed.
Social investment is based on an idea that government spending should be judged on its ability to avoid further government spending down the track.
By drilling down to the individual level, government departments applying the investment approach were able to identify those who were at risk of slipping deeper through the cracks and invest early.
Sepuloni said the former Government’s social investment strategy would undergo significant changes. Work to overhaul the toolkit that guided nearly every social spend the National Government made was already underway.
‘‘We don’t agree with New Zealanders being deemed potential liabilities for the state. With that negative stigma put on New Zealand citizens, with them being deemed potential risks and predictive risk modelling used to assess risk.’’
Her comments come after the new Government also announced ministerial responsibility for the newly set up Social Investment Agency would be rolled back into the social development portfolio.
The agency was set up under National to encourage greater use of data by social sector agencies when making decisions about what sort of support to provide.
In contrast, National has retained the social investment portfolio under deputy leader Paula Bennett, signalling it intends to apply pressure on the issue.
Sepuloni said she wanted to see a ‘‘repackaged social investment approach that looks at New Zealanders as people with potential’’.
Part of the investment approach toolkit was a predictive modelling tool that attempted to predict abuse, welfare dependency and the likelihood of a child’s downward spiral into crime on the path to adulthood so it can better target spending.
Massive actuarial reports on welfare liability could also measure the extent of welfare dependency in New Zealand, and whether inroads were being made. The approach had recently been rolled out to begin collecting data around the needs of those living in social housing.
Both were likely to be significantly paired back, with Sepuloni saying the emphasis and stigma that went along with that was wrong.
‘‘I’m really interested – rather than just looking at risk factors that the former Government was – what are the resilience factors, what are the protective factors and how do we put more of a concentrated focus on that to assist with people realising their potential and being successful,’’ she said.
‘‘It’s a different approach to social investment, but we’re really excited about being able to apply our principles to a redefined, repackaged social investment approach.’’
The investment approach was the brainchild of former Prime Minister Bill English who, now in Opposition, said it was a ‘‘powerful toolkit’’ and it would be a ‘‘shame’’ if the new Government did away with it.
‘‘And so I just hope they’re very thoughtful before they discard tools that are tested and worked, or are being tested and could work. I would hope they don’t go back to the traditional social policy model, which is just throw some money at a problem and hope that it works,’’ he said.
‘‘So it would be a real shame if they backed away from social investment and went back to a kind of 1980s-1990s model where you’re just throwing money and hoping that it sticks,’’ English said.
‘‘They need to focus on getting results. We’ll be holding them to account on getting actually results for actual people. The toolkit is there to help them do that, one by one if necessary and it’s another aspect of how the country’s running that we want to reinforce.’’