42124 (2024). Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall to the Minister for Tertiary Education and Skills

42124 (2024). Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall to the Minister for Tertiary Education and Skills: In the Minister’s departments, ministries and agencies, if any, how many employees, if any, are set to lose their roles have a focus on working with Māori, between 27 November 2023 and 10 July 2024?

Hon Penny Simmonds: For the Ministry of Education, I refer the Member to written parliamentary question 42802 (2024). In relation to the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC), I am advised TEC is committed to achieving equity of education outcomes for all learners, including Māori learners. While two roles from within the Ōritetanga Learner Success team have been disestablished, neither of these roles were solely focused on Māori learners. Alongside the Ōritetanga Learner Success team, the TEC has several other roles across the organisation that support achieving better outcomes for Māori learners. None of these roles have been impacted by the fiscal savings. The work undertaken by the Ōritetanga Learner Success team has ensured that the foundations needed to prioritise outcomes for Māori learners now exist within the TEC. It has always been their intention to maintain and further embed this work across the TEC so that achieving better outcomes for Māori learners is the responsibility of the whole organisation.