Budget 2006 commits a further $85 million in 2005/06 and $1,845 million over the next four years to support New Zealand families through the extension of the Working for Families package. Around 85,000 more families benefited from 1 April this year as a result of the combined family tax relief package - this means that 350,000 families will be receiving family tax relief in 2006.
The extension to Working for Families raises the threshold at which family income assistance begins to abate from $27,500 to $35,000 and reduces the abatement rate from 30% to 20%.
Health
Budget 2006 commits $3 billion of new operating funding to the Health sector over the next four years.
A significant proportion of the new funding ($1.6 billion over four years) is devoted to maintaining the real purchasing power of Health spending over time. This adjustment manages the cost pressures the health sector faces, including an increasing and ageing population, inflation, and the advance of medical technologies (these often increase costs).
Other key initiatives to be funded include: (edited for child related issues)
- the implementation of the Healthy Eating Healthy Action Implementation Plan with a particular focus on prevention of obesity in children by improving nutrition and increasing physical activity ($76 million)
- an initial contribution to a strengthened child and adolescent oral health service to create a seamless service for all under 18 year olds ($41 million)
- "School Ready" checks and expanded Well Child checks for pre-school children to support their development and enable improvements in their health status ($24 million)
- a universal hearing screening programme to identify congenital hearing loss and enable earlier intervention ($16 million)
- the continuation for a further three years of the group B meningococcal vaccine immunisation programme to ensure that children will remain protected while the epidemic strain bacterium is still in circulation ($22 million over the next three years). Budget 2006 also provides $146 million in new capital funding over four years. This will support the implementation of the strengthened child and adolescent oral health service, enable improvements to the health information technology infrastructure, and provide for some further public hospital building projects.
Early Childhood Education and Schooling
Budget 2006 provides additional funding in early childhood education and schooling. Significant initiatives include:Â
- Â $128.2 million to extend the 20 hours per week of free early childhood education policy to three and four year olds in all teacher-led services from 1 July 2007
- $9.5 million to more effectively address disruptive behaviour in schools
- $89.3 million to provide an extra 455 full-time teachers in primary and special schools from the start of the 2007 school year
- $95.6 million to increase schools' operational funding by 3% from the beginning of 2007.
Justice Sector
Key funding in the Justice Sector in Budget 2006 includes:
- $35.3 million in operating funding to the Ministry of Social Development to reduce violence within families and to continue to provide best practice information to parents and caregivers on raising children
- $10.8 million in operating funding to Victim Support to, for example, implement improvements in the quality and consistency of services to victims
Child, Youth and Family Services
Additional funding to Child, Youth and Family Services to maintain the 2005/06 care and protection baseline into outyears and provide a small increase in 2006/07 to cover the forecast increase in notifications while work is undertaken on demand management strategies ($88.6 million).
