5433 (2026). Francisco Hernandez to the Minister for Social Development and Employment

5433 (2026). Francisco Hernandez to the Minister for Social Development and Employment: Was a selection panel set up to consider applicants for the role of Chair of the Social Workers Registration Board and if so, who was on the selection panel?

Hon Louise Upston: The Ministry of Social Development (the Ministry) has advised me that in 2024, an appointment process was undertaken for three registered social worker member roles on the Social Workers Registration Board (SWRB). As one of the expiring members also held the role of Chair, the Chair role was part of the appointment round. The process followed the Crown Entities Act 2004 and the Social Workers Registration Act 2003 requirements. The Public Service Commission’s Board Appointments and Governance guidelines were applied throughout the process. In summary, the overall process comprised targeted advertising, a review of applications by a selection panel, interviews, due diligence checks, consultation, and consideration by the Cabinet Appointments and Honours Committee. The roles were advertised in the newsletters of the SWRB and the Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers. The advertisements noted a new Chair was required and would be appointed from the SWRB’s membership. A total of 47 eligible applications were considered for the three member roles. Six candidates were interviewed for the three member roles. The interviewed candidates and the existing board members were all considered for the role of Chair. A selection panel was set up to consider applications for the SWRB roles. The panel consisted of the outgoing SWRB Chair, SWRB Chief Executive, and Ministry of Social Development (MSD) Senior Advisor Crown Entities. For interviews, the Ministry’s General Manager, Organisational Planning, Performance and Governance replaced the Senior Advisor Crown Entities. This is also my response to WPQ’s 5437, 5434, 5432 & 5431