Questions to Ministers

1. JOHN KEY to the Prime Minister: Does she have confidence in the Minister of Finance?

2. MOANA MACKEY to the Minister of Education: What reports has he received on the numeracy of New Zealand students?

3. Hon BILL ENGLISH to the Minister of Finance: Does he stand by his reported statement that there is “nothing the Government could do about the exchange rate in the short term”; if not, why not?

4. JEANETTE FITZSIMONS to the Associate Minister of Energy: What is the proposed Government take, including rentals, royalties and taxes, expressed as a percentage of revenue taken from production, that the Government will demand from ExxonMobil and the OMV consortium, in return for granting rights to pursue their proposed exploration and extraction activities in the Southern Ocean?

5. Hon TONY RYALL to the Minister of Health: Does he still think, of the Ministry of Health inquiry into conflicts of interest at Hawke’s Bay District Health Board, “I must say I don’t expect to find anything”; if so, why?

6. Hon BRIAN DONNELLY to the Minister of Justice: Is the Government concerned at the findings of the recent report of the National Drug Intelligence Bureau which shows that almost a third of clan labs discovered by police were found at dwellings which had children resident, and would it consider legislation making criminal offending in the presence of a minor an aggravating factor at sentencing as an option to rectify this problem?

7. PHIL HEATLEY to the Minister of Housing: Can he confirm his statement yesterday that “Already in the last year we have moved 303 tenants into smaller houses, thus saving the taxpayer $300 million” later corrected to a saving of $280 million; if so, how exactly does the taxpayer save $924,000 on average by shifting a tenant into a smaller State home?

8. Hon Dr NICK SMITH to the Minister responsible for Climate Change Issues: What cost is there to the New Zealand taxpayer from increased levels of deforestation and New Zealand’s obligation under the Kyoto Protocol?

9. H V ROSS ROBERTSON to the Minister of Transport: What recent announcements has she made to assist local government, that provide greater flexibility for land transport funding?

10. CHESTER BORROWS to the Minister of Police: Does she stand by her statement that “Over the past 18 months, since I became Police Minister, I have regularly received verbal assurances and updates from the police administration that the standard of police graduating from the college is being maintained”; if so, why?

11. SUE MORONEY to the Minister of Women's Affairs: Has she received any reports on the future of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs?

12. PANSY WONG to the Minister for Tertiary Education: Does he stand by his statement in respect of 13 providers currently being re-investigated for allegedly offering cash kick-backs to senior students through the student loan system that, “None of the 13 providers have qualifications programmes that are currently eligible for funding. New students commencing unfunded qualifications from January 2007 are not eligible for access to student loans and allowances.”; if so, why?

ENDS

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