Enhancing Parents' and other carers' choices about work and family arrangements

A 10-year plan to improve the caring and employment choices available to parents and carers was announced by the Prime Minister at the EEO Trust Awards in August 2006 (Choices for Living, Caring and Working). This is a cross-government piece of work, led by the Department of Labour, and includes contributions from the Ministry of Social Development (MSD), Ministry of Education, Ministry of Women's Affairs, Te Puni Kokiri, the Treasury, Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs, and the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.

The key achievements in six areas of work have included the following:

• Workplaces - The Department of Labour undertook consultation on quality flexible work, to report to the Minister in February 2007.
• The first year of life - The parental leave scheme was evaluated in 2006, and the report was published in early 2007. The results of the evaluation will inform further policy work and provide a basis for developing proposals for improving the parental leave scheme further.
• Children under five - Free early childhood education (ECE) of up to 20 hours per week for three and four-year-olds in teacher-led services was introduced in July 2007. This involves ongoing work on the quality of ECE services, such as improving qualifications for staff.
• School-aged children - MSD and the Families Commission have met with parents, children and stakeholders to consult with them on out-of-school services. A draft five-year action plan for out-of-school services was presented to Cabinet that will improve the quality, availability, affordability and accessibility of out-of-school services. The action plan went out for consultation during June and July 2007.
• Caring for adults - MSD and the Carers' Alliance, with other Choices agencies, are developing a Carers' Strategy. The consultation period for the strategy was launched in July 2007.
• Research - Several key pieces of work have been completed during 2006/07, which helped inform Choices policy:
  • Decisions about Caring and Working: A Qualitative Study was commissioned in conjunction with the National Advisory Council on the Employment of Women to identify factors that influence people's decisions surrounding paid work, and the decision-making process.
  • A suite of reports called 45 Plus: Choices in the Labour Market helped identify barriers to paid work for those aged 45 and over, and understanding around the awareness of career information, advice and guidance to enter paid employment. The Department also published a discussion paper on ageing workforces and ageing occupations (Ageing Workforces and Ageing Occupations: A Discussion Paper).
  • A monitoring and evaluation framework for the Choices work programme was developed to help monitor the effects of existing and future initiatives and provide information to support parents, carers and employers.
  • In partnership with Statistics New Zealand, a childcare survey module is being developed to monitor key Choices indicators around the use, accessibility and affordability of childcare and out-of-school services and monitor progress against these Choices goals.

Assisting transitions for youth into employment

The Government and the Mayors' Taskforce for Jobs are continuing to work towards their shared goal that, by 2007, all 15 to 19-year-olds will be engaged in appropriate education, training, work, or other options that will lead to long-term economic independence and wellbeing. 

Joint commitment to meeting the goal has generated positive results. There has been a dramatic reduction in the number of young people receiving the unemployment benefit and in the length of time the benefit is paid to young people.

An updated memorandum of understanding between the Government and the Mayors' Taskforce for Jobs was signed on 5 December 2006. The signing was held at an event that also launched the Our Youth, Our Future toolkit.

Enhancing employment for groups under-represented in the labour force