29505 (2026). Shanan Halbert to the Minister for Tertiary Education

29505 (2026). Shanan Halbert to the Minister for Tertiary Education: How much, if any, was spent on ākonga/student hardship support at New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology in 2025, listed by target group?

Hon Penny Simmonds: I am advised that while New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology (NZIST) had a specific hardship fund to allocate funds to learners that faced hardship (Manaaki Fund), this was disestablished at the end of 2024 following the Government’s announcement to disestablish NZIST. During the operation of the Manaaki Fund and after its closure, divisions operated their own student hardship funds. Support from individual student hardship funds run by divisions include petrol and supermarket vouchers, a range of other food initiatives e.g. food parcels, lunch packs, breakfast clubs, community pantries, as well as an array of mental and physical health and wellbeing supports. The amount spent, and the groups targeted, by the different NZIST business divisions to support and address learner hardship was not centrally captured by NZIST from 2025. I am also advised that New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology received $4.6 million in funding from Te Whatu Ora which was distributed across all business divisions to support mental health services. A total of 16,078 individual learners accessed mental health services throughout 2025, a 27.9% increase from 2024. A total of 35,765 sessions were delivered in 2025; these were group-based, individual focused, or family/whānau inclusive. Sessions were delivered virtually and/or face-to face. Of note is that 45.6% of all sessions in 2025 supported learners who fall within the 18 to 25 age band.