Questions for Oral Answer
As At Wednesday, 7 December 2005

Questions to Ministers
1. Dr DON BRASH to the Prime Minister: Why has she referred the actions of Hon David Benson-Pope's press secretary to Ministerial Services yet taken no action against Hon David Benson-Pope himself in relation to the selective leaking of police documents?

2. BARBARA STEWART to the Minister of Health: Is he concerned at the growing disparity in Government expenditure on pharmaceuticals between New Zealand and Australia, which now spends more than twice the amount per capita on pharmaceuticals than New Zealand does; if not, why not?

3. Hon BILL ENGLISH to the Minister for Tertiary Education: Can he confirm that an April 2002 briefing to the Associate Minister of Education and the Minister of Education contained this statement regarding Te Wananga o Aotearoa, "Ministry officials have stressed the need for increased governance involvement, oversight and financial management and planning."; if so, which Ministers and officials were responsible for ensuring those concerns were acted on?

4. MOANA MACKEY to the Minister of Education: What recent reports has he received on progress with the NCEA exam season?

5. JUDITH COLLINS to the Minister for Social Development and Employment: Does he stand by his statement in the House yesterday when he said, "Can I stress that I believe I have acted in a perfectly upfront way in all matters, and have not been deceitful."; if so, why?

6. RODNEY HIDE to the Minister for Social Development and Employment: Has his office received the transcript of the police interview he had on 21 September, where he said "the sort of activity that I'm being accused of, of forcing a tennis ball into someone's mouth would be as unacceptable then as it is now and I was not, I have never committed such an offence.", and does he stand by his statement in the House yesterday that "I am one of the 19 people who either do not recall the alleged events, or do not believe they happened."?

7. Hon TONY RYALL to the Minister of Health: How many calls were made to PlunketLine (excluding calls transferred from Healthline) in the month of October 2005, and how many of these were answered?

8. SHANE JONES to the Minister of Finance: What recent reports has he received on the KiwiSaver scheme?

9. Dr the Hon LOCKWOOD SMITH to the Minister of Immigration: Are immigration representations made by members of Parliament given priority over other immigration applications?

10. DARIEN FENTON to the Minister of Health: In what ways is the Government supporting a greater role for nurses in health care?

11. Hon MURRAY McCULLY to the Minister of Foreign Affairs: Why did he tell the New Zealand Press Association at the APEC meeting that he would raise our "$2 billion" trade deficit with China in his meeting with the Chinese Foreign Minister, and what proposals, if any, did he advance at the meeting to address the issue?

12. SUE MORONEY to the Minister of Labour: What changes have recently been made to the paid parental leave scheme?

ENDS

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