New portfolios for MP
I’m honoured and delighted to have been appointed Minister of Customs, Associate Minister of Education and Associate Minister of Transport by the Prime Minister.
I’m looking forward to working with relevant sectors on the challenges of my portfolios.
In 2012 the Government set specific and measurable Better Public Service (BPS) targets to get results from the services that matter most, and I am proud of the results secured to date.
We have achieved a record improvement in the BPS result for the number of children participating in early childhood education (ECE) before starting school. The participation rate was 96.7 per cent last year – an increase of 2 per cent since March 2011.
There has also been a marked improvement in Ma¯ori and Pasifika achievement, in particular, since 2011.
An estimated 74.7 per cent of Ma¯ori achieved NCEA Level 2 or equivalent in 2016 – up from 57.1 per cent in 2011. More than 80 per cent of Pasifika 18 year olds achieved NCEA Level 2 in 2016 – up from 65.5 per cent in 2011.
We are building on these achievements with a new group of six ambitious targets. These include improved literacy and numeracy skills in primary schools and better health outcomes for new parents and their children.
We are also aiming to reduce our worrying incidence of child abuse, to have fewer victims of serious crimes, and ensure better access to social housing.
Teachers and Boards of Trustees have been working hard to improve literacy and numeracy skills.
The new target is for 80 per cent of Year 8 pupils to achieve at or above the National Standard in Writing, or at Manawa Ora or Manawa Toa in Nga¯ Whanaketanga Rumaki Ma¯ori tuhituhi. and Mathematics, or at Manawa Ora or Manawa Toa in Nga¯ Whanaketanga Rumaki Ma¯ori pa¯ngarau, by 2021.
Budget 2017 further recognises the importance of ECE by increasing funding to Family Start by $28.1 million.
This will increase the number of Family Start places by around 570 a year to ensure the programme is available throughout the country.
There is also $6 million over four years to support three and four year olds with oral language difficulties.
This investment will upskill up to 1920 teachers working in early childhood education in lower socio-economic areas, to help them better support young children showing difficulties with the building blocks of literacy, such as letter and word awareness and listening comprehension.
There will also be more specialised support for around 7600 children with the highest needs.
Overall we expect up to 50,000 children will have access to the enhanced language support available.
These are challenging but important targets and I thank those who will be guiding and nurturing our children to achieve them.
-Tim Macindoe is MP for Hamilton West.