Written responses to questions by Minister Tariana Turia
Forum – 15th October 2009 with Hon Tariana Turia, Minister for Disability Issues
The following questions were sent to the Minister prior to the forum. Here are her written responses.
1.How does the Minister see the roles of the proposed Local Area Coordination Service and the current NASC service intersecting?
Local Area Coordination focuses on what constitutes a good life for the disabled person and their family and supports them by helping them to identify their goals, building support networks, and assistance to access mainstream government services and government funded disability supports.
The Ministerial Committee on Disability Issues has directed officials to investigate how Local Area Coordination-type processes might be implemented in New Zealand, and the desirability and feasibility of doing so.
The Ministry of Health will report to me once that investigation is complete. At that time I will be able to consider the future roles of Local Area Coordinators and the current Needs Assessment and Service Coordination organisations.
2.The MSD sponsored ‘cost of disability’ report was tabled in June 2008 and has still not been released.
What can the Minister tell us about the key themes and issues identified within the report?
When will the report be released?
The research was a collaborative project between disabled people, the Disability Resource Centre Auckland, Inc and the University of Auckland’s Centre for Health Services Research and Policy.
At this stage the summary of results from this project is still being finalised for public release. Officials have informed me that the key draft headline results state:
Disabled people with physical, sensory, intellectual or mental health impairments have needs which require additional resources to live an ordinary life similar to non-disabled people. The amount of these additional resources needed varies by the disabled people’s unique circumstances, their impairment needs (especially limitations of personal energy), environmental or communication barriers, as well as the impacts of discrimination and society’s attitudes to disability.
3.The Minister has been informed about the disquiet of staff working in the disability support area and the low level of pay they receive relative to people with the same levels of experience and qualifications working in the health sector. This results in high turnover in the disability sector and a sense of being undervalued by disability sector staff. Many staff are from Maori and Pacific Island cultures and the workforce is predominantly female.
How does the Minister intend to address this pay inequity issue within her term of office?
Over the past 4-5 years prices paid for services have increased, on average, by margins of 45-50% for home-based services and over 50% for residential services. The Ministry of Health has strongly encouraged providers to pass on these increases to the workforce but is unable to intervene in matters between employers and employees.
The Ministry and I intend to continue working with the sector to make the best possible use of available funding so that wages in the disability sector reflect the value of the work done.
4.This government has indicated strongly in a number of forums that the current number of NGO’s (particularly small NGO’s) will be expected to diminish.
Given the significant number of small NGOs providing service in the disability sector how will these changes be managed and what will be the criteria used to reduce the number?
What impact does the Minister see in terms of choice and service diversity resulting from these likely changes?
Neither the Ministry of Health nor the Ministry of Social Development (vocational services) have a policy to manage down the number of NGOs that they contract with for services.
5.What progress has been made by the new Ministerial Committee on Disability Issues?
What will be the criteria for success for this committee?
Given the above can the Minister provide a view about the future role of the Office of Disability Issues (if any) in the unfolding changes identified in the Government response to the Social Services Select Committee?
Does the Minister consider that the ODI would be more appropriately replaced by a Disability Commission to act as a watchdog and advocate for disability sector/ community, much like the MH Commission has done (effectively) for mental health?
The Ministerial Committee was a first action in response to the Social Services Select Committee Inquiry. The Ministerial Committee is to develop priorities for government departments. Ministers will hold agencies to account for progress in achieving these priorities. These priorities will be guided by the Select Committee Inquiry, the NZ Disability Strategy, the United Nations Convention, and the Government’s party manifesto commitments.
The Ministerial Committee have agreed on three themes to progress the New Zealand Disability Strategy:
• Modern Disability Supports
• Accessible New Zealand
• Contributing citizens
As mentioned previously the Committee has asked the Ministry of Health to investigate a new model of supporting disabled people that incorporates the key elements of Local Area Coordination, but also includes other features such as an emphasis on supported living and individualised funding. The Government has made a commitment that there will be a formal process for government agencies to engage with disabled people (such as suggested by the Convention).
6.The Minister will be aware of the recent sleepover legal challenge and the significant financial impact on the sector. It has been indicated by the Minister of Health that there is no money set aside to meet the significant costs to the sector arising from this action. This poses a significant risk for the ongoing viability for services.
What role does the Minister envisage for herself in assisting with the development of solution to this apparent impasse?
A sleepover case, Dickson v IDEA Services Ltd, is currently before the Employment Court. At this stage the matter relates to one person only and is still before the Courts. The Employment Court has yet to make a decision that ‘employees who undertake sleepovers are entitled to the minimum wage for all hours spent on sleepovers’. A decision is expected from the Employment Court in the next few weeks. IDEA Services Limited has applied to the Court of Appeal for leave to appeal the Employment Court’s decision that sleepover is work. The Court of Appeal is yet to make a decision on whether it will grant IDEA Services Limited the appeal.
7.The government has indicated intention to create a new national health board responsible for health funding and planning.
Does the Minister have a view on whether disability services should be planned / funded from MoH, DHB’s or a NHB?
The government is currently considering the report from the Ministerial Review Group that was set up by the Minister of Health to recommend how New Zealand might improve the quality and performance of the public health system.
One of its key recommendations was the establishment of a National Health Board and another recommendation was that over the next 12 months the Ministry be asked to work through the various policy and machinery of government issues associated with devolving all of the $2.5 billion of Non-Departmental Expenditure currently administered by the Ministry to either the National Health Board (national level) or District Health Boards (regional and local level).
8.Why do people, who have sacrificed their career so they can care for their disabled spouses, not qualify for the carer support benefit where as parents looking after disabled children can apply for this benefit?
While Domestic Purposes Benefit for Care at Home of the Sick or Infirm is not available to people providing care for their spouse or partner, those individuals may be eligible for financial assistance if their spouse or partner receives a benefit. I would invite people to test their eligibility by contacting Work and Income.
9.We are concerned about the financial implications for students with disabilities now that the Training Incentive Allowance has been proposed to be removed.
Under the revised TIA students are only being encouraged to study up to a level 4, we view this as not supporting students with disabilities to better or improve themselves and this would ultimately keep these students within a poverty cycle.
Does the government support increasing the educational levels of people with disabilities and how is the government going to financially support people with disabilities to improve themselves and their earning ability?
The Government has made a commitment to preserve core benefits at current levels and in such a tough economic climate that hasn’t been easy. Resources have had to be focused to where there is the most impact for taxpayers’ money. As part of Budget 2009, the Government has refocused the Training Incentive Allowance to target students studying at levels one to three, to focus on people who do not have the basic skills needed to get a job or further education – like being able to read, write and deal with basic mathematics.
Student loans are available for people to study on a level 4 or above course. The Government believes it is fair that all tertiary students, including people on benefits, are expected to invest in their own education, usually by way of a loan and sometimes with part-time work.
10.Students with disabilities cannot all study fulltime and therefore cannot always claim or access other funding. Students with disabilities have higher transport costs, living costs and can’t always get a part time job to supplement their studies (like their non disabled peers).
How does the government intend to show its ongoing support to students with disabilities and their pursuit of educational goals?
The Government is committed to ensuring that all New Zealanders can participate and achieve in tertiary education. In recognition of the higher costs that can be associated with supporting students with disabilities, the Government provides Equity Funding as a top-up to Student Achievement Component funding. This is not intended to be the sole or primary source of funding used by Tertiary Education Institutions to respond to the needs of students with disabilities. The funding is only provided to Tertiary Education Institutions, not to Private Training Establishments.
Assistance for additional costs faced by students with disabilities is available through individualised support services provided through the Ministry of Health, as well as through the training support funds provided through Workbridge. While study costs may be covered by student loans or student allowances, there is other support such as Disability Allowance to assist with disability-related costs, including travel and an approach can be made to the Ministry of Social Development to check on individual entitlements?
11.Matea Trust is a small charitable trust that has a residential home and a vocational service. Our home is certified for seven clients. We have had a vacancy in our home, since the beginning of the year and we have two men who work with our vocational services, who both want to move in full time to our residential service.
Both these men work on site and have spent many days using our respite service; they fit in beautifully with the rest of our residents and despite both the clients and their families wanting to move into our service, funding has not been made available to them.
Funding was only available for “Supported Living”.
One client had previously gone into a flat under “supported living” and it was an absolute disaster. Complaints have been made about this. But families are not prepared to risk this again.
They want a full time residential service.
In all the documentation on “an ordinary life”, clients and families are supposed to be able to choose what they want, yet this is certainly not happening.
To collate a question from all this would be “what about the clients and their families choices for funding?”
It is always a goal of the Ministry of Health for people to have their choice of funded services within available financial resources and in general, the Ministry is managing a capped budget and funding has been allocated for this financial year. In order to manage within the budget constraints, it may be necessary for the Needs Assessment Service to prioritise and waitlist people assessed as requiring residential services.
While I cannot comment on individual situations or circumstances, to receive funding for a residential placement the individual would need to have been assessed as requiring this level of support. Queries about individual cases should be made to the Disability Support Services Team at the Ministry of Health or the Needs Assessment Service Coordinator.
