23 April 2009

DHBs need to be accountable

District Health Boards complaining about the amount of time it took to answer the Health Select Committee's questions, particularly on environmental issues need to pull their heads in and consider the financial benefits, Green Party Health and Wellbeing spokesperson Kevin Hague said today.

"The Select Committee review process is a fundamental part of public accountability. Answering a large number of questions can be onerous, and we can work with other parties on the Select Committee to see if there are ways to reduce the workload, but I'm disturbed to hear DHBs complaining about this."

Mr. Hague said that all of the questions related to areas of DHB responsibility, and DHBs doing their jobs well should find them easy and quick to answer. For example, one of DHBs' statutory responsibilities is environmental responsibility, so any DHB that struggled to answer the Committee's questions about greenhouse gas emissions should expect to receive scrutiny from the Select Committee.

"Under Govt3 DHB's had an obligation to use environmentally responsible procurement so the select committee questions about this uptake are perfectly reasonable."

As the Green Party recently revealed Inland Revenue Department saved over $1,000,000 from Govt3 initiatives in addition to reducing their carbon < http://www.greens.org.nz/node/20854> footprint, "Any DHB that hasn't been working in this area has been negligent in the efficient use of its funding," said Mr Hague.

The New Zealand Sustainable Business Council for Sustainable Development has identified that DHB's could save millions by introducing environmental efficiency measures. < http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/GE0904/S00061.htm >

"Unfortunately the Government has now scrapped the Govt3 programme which shows they still don't understand that environmental programmes benefit the economy - despite the wave of Green New Deals across the world." See Green Party release on IRD Govt3 savings see - www.greens.org.nz/node/20854

See New Zealand Sustainable Business Council for Sustainable Development release at www.scoop.co.nz/stories/GE0904/S00061.htm

ENDS

© Scoop Media