ADVISORY COUNCIL FOR SENIOR CITIZENS

Key points

Introduction

The Advisory Council for Senior Citizens was established in July 1992 under the direction of the Minister for Senior Citizens, who was also the Associate Minister of Social Welfare at the time. The legislative authority under which the Advisory Council was set up is contained in Section 30 of the Social Welfare (Transitional Provisions) Act 1990. The purpose of the Advisory Council is to provide the Minister with expert, independent and confidential advice on issues concerning the well-being of older people. The Advisory Council provides advice from a community perspective which complements the advice provided by the Senior Citizens Unit.

Advisory Council members are appointed for a minimum term of two years. They are chosen for their knowledge of older people's issues and their community involvement. The terms of reference for the Advisory Council provide for the appointment of up to seven members. Members are appointed as individuals rather than as representatives of particular interest groups.

Current Membership

The Advisory Council is in its second term and consists of six members. Three members were re-appointed for a second term on 1 November 1994 to maintain continuity on the Advisory Council. The terms of appointment for all current members were due to expire on 31 October 1996, but the Minister agreed that they be extended until after the 1996 election. It is anticipated that new appointments will be made by 1 July 1997.

The current membership of the Advisory Council is as follows:

a) The Chairperson is Dr Margaret Guthrie who was appointed to the Advisory Council on 1 January 1993. Dr Guthrie is a Wellington gerontologist and a former manager in the Department of Health with responsibilities for older people’s services. She is the Chairperson of Age Concern Wellington and Vice-Chairperson of Age Concern New Zealand. She is also the National President of the New Zealand Association of Gerontology, a member of the Porirua Community Health Group and a Board member of the Nurse Maude Association in Christchurch.

b) Mr Ronald Francis was appointed to the Advisory Council on 1 November 1994. He is a chartered accountant and is the manager of a religious and welfare residential care facility for older people, in the Hutt Valley. Mr Francis has a long association in a voluntary capacity with church social services.

c) Mr Pihopa (Bishop) Kingi was appointed to the Advisory Council on 1 November 1994. He is of Te Arawa descent and lives in Rotorua. He is a former Chairman of the Te Arawa Kaumatua Council and has provided extensive service to the community and his iwi.

d) Mrs Lysbeth Noble was first appointed to the Advisory Council on 10 August 1992. She was the Advisory Council’s first Chairperson. Mrs Noble is a past Deputy Mayor of Wanganui and Wanganui District Councillor. She has been actively involved in community activities in Wanganui for many years. Mrs Noble is the President of Age Concern Wanganui, and is a Past President of Age Concern New Zealand.

e) Dr Anne Opie was appointed to the Advisory Council on 10 August 1992. Dr Opie is a Senior Research Fellow at the Health Services Research Centre of Victoria University of Wellington. She is the Secretary of the New Zealand Association of Gerontology. Dr Opie’s research on ageing has focused on caregiving with particular reference to caring for people with dementia. At her request, Dr Opie’s term of appointment will not be extended beyond 31 October 1996.

f) Mr Te Pehi Tahau was appointed to the Advisory Council on 1 November 1994. He is a former Cultural Advisory Officer with the Department of Justice in Christchurch. Mr Tahau is from Ngati Tuwharetoa, in the central North Island, although he has lived in the South Island for a number of years. He has extensive experience in working with South Island iwi.

Comment

Because the allocation for travel costs is limited, new members appointed to the Advisory Council will need to be based in the Wellington area. However, if the majority of Advisory Council members are to be from the Wellington area, it is questionable whether the Advisory Council would be representative of the varying views of older New Zealanders. Other issues that need to be considered in appointing new members are gender balance and ethnic composition. The size of the Advisory Council means that it can never accurately reflect the demographic composition of the older population.

Servicing the Advisory Council

Advisory Council meetings are held for a full day every two months at the offices of the Social Policy Agency. The Senior Citizens Unit provides policy advice and secretariat services to the Advisory Council. One policy analyst is specifically designated to work with the Advisory Council, and significant support from other analysts is provided by the Unit to ensure that the Advisory Council receives appropriate information and advice. The overall staff resource allocated to service the Advisory Council is one half-time staff equivalent.

Cost of Administering the Advisory Council

The cost of the Advisory Council is met from Vote:Senior Citizens. When the Advisory Council was established in 1992, no additional funding was allocated for the costs of administering the Advisory Council. The staff complement of the Senior Citizens Unit was reduced to meet this cost. This reduction and the demands of servicing the Council reduce the time available to provide other policy advice services to the Minister.

Meeting fees and expenses

Advisory Council members receive payment for attending meetings and for work undertaken between meetings at the following daily rates:

• Chairperson: $230

• Members: $180

Members can claim for Advisory Council work undertaken between meetings, up to the following maximums:

• Chairperson: 6 days

• Members: 3 days

Travel expenses and direct costs, such as toll calls and postage, are reimbursed.

1996/97 budget

The Senior Citizens Unit has allocated $28,746 for the Advisory Council for 1996/97. This is based on the cost of six meetings and an estimation of the work members will undertake. Advisory Council expenditure for 1994/95 was $23,675 and for 1995/96 was $21,773.

The itemised budget for 1996/97 is:

Advisory Council budget for Fiscal 1996/97

Meeting attendance fees	$6,780
Work between meetings	$12,300
Airfares	$3,600
Mileage and car parking	$3,296
Information and research	$300
Conference attendance fees	$600
Other expenses	$1,870
Budget total	$28,746

The biggest and most variable expenditure item is work between meetings. If members were to undertake the maximum allowable work between meetings, this item would increase from the estimated $12,300 to $24,480 and the total cost of running the Advisory Council would increase from the estimated $28,746 to $40,926. This difference would be $12,180 above the budget total allocated for 1996/97. If the costs for the Advisory Council exceed the amount budgeted, consideration may have to be given to reducing the number of meetings for Fiscal 1996/97 from six to five. The budget also needs to be taken into account when new appointments are made to the Advisory Council. The small allocation for travel costs means that most members need to be based close to Wellington.

Work Programme

In its first year of operation, the Advisory Council concentrated on requests for advice which it received from the Minister for Senior Citizens. More recently, the Advisory Council has developed a draft work programme at the beginning of each year which is sent to the Minister for consideration. Throughout the year, additional work is undertaken at the Minister’s request or at the instigation of Advisory Council members. The amount of work undertaken by the Advisory Council has increased significantly from its initial years of operation.

The Advisory Council's work over the past four years has covered a wide range of issues related to the well-being of older people and is summarised as follows.

Health

Advice on health services and policies has been a major component as a result of: • the concerns of Advisory Council members about the effects of the recent health reforms on older people; • the importance that older people place on health; and
• the areas of knowledge and interest of the members.
The Advisory Council has prepared reports on the following health issues:
• income and asset testing for residential care (February 1993, February 1994, September 1994 and October 1995);
• community care policies and home support services (April 1993 and April 1996);
• assessment of older people and the Support Needs Assessment Protocol (August 1994);
• the process of monitoring rest homes (December 1994);
• voluntary euthanasia (July 1995);
• waiting lists for people with cataracts (August 1995);
• mental health of older people (April 1996); and
• purchase of services by regional health authorities (June 1996).

In addition, the Advisory Council prepared submissions on the following public discussion documents:

• “Quality Standards for Home Based Services”, Ministry of Health, April 1995;
• “Care for Older People in New Zealand”, Core Services Committee, August 1995, where the Advisory Council worked closely with the Core Services Committee in the development of this report and reviewed the initial draft as well as preparing a submission on the published document;
• “Taking Care: Safeguarding the Health of New Zealanders”, Ministry of Health, December 1996; and
• “Mental Health Promotion and Mental Well-Being of Adults including Older People”, Public Health Group, Ministry of Health, June 1996.

Health education and promotion

The Advisory Council has been concerned about the lack of health education and promotion programmes targeting older people. These concerns have been discussed with the former Public Health Commission, regional health authorities and the Public Health Group in the Ministry of Health.

Housing

Reports have been prepared on:

• the effects of the housing reforms on vulnerable older people, in particular those older people on fixed incomes living in rental housing (January 1994);

• pensioner housing provision by local authorities (December 1994 and June 1996); and

• home equity conversion (February 1995).

In addition, the Advisory Council prepared a submission in March 1994 to the Securities Commission on the discussion paper “Resident Funded Retirement Villages”.

Positive ageing

Since its establishment, the Advisory Council has been strongly supportive of positive ageing initiatives. In 1994, a report to the Minister was prepared on the contributions that older people make to the community and to their families. Members provided input into plans for national celebrations of International Day of Older Persons in 1995 and were involved in celebrations in their local communities. In September 1996, the Advisory Council prepared a submission to the Prime Ministerial Task Force on Positive Ageing and Task Force members will be attending the November 1996 meeting of the Advisory Council.

Communication strategies

The Advisory Council has kept a watching brief on the development of the Age Wise project, a proposal to develop a one-stop information service for older people. Members also provided comment on the Income Support Super Centre proposal.

Issues affecting kaumatua and kuia

The contributions and input of the Maori members have assisted the Advisory Council to include Maori perspectives in its advice to the Minister for Senior Citizens.

In August 1995, the Advisory Council held a hui with Maori and Pacific Islands women, including representatives from the Maori Women’s Welfare League and the Maori Women’s Health League. A wide range of issues was discussed which assisted the Advisory Council to include Maori and Pacific Islands perspectives in its advice.

The Advisory Council met with the Chief Executive and staff of Te Puni Kokiri in April 1996 to discuss issues of concern for kaumatua and kuia and to look at opportunities for working together.

Funding for community services

Officials from the Lottery Grants Division of the Department of Internal Affairs and the Chairperson of the Lottery Aged Distribution Committee have met with the Advisory Council to discuss concerns about funding for community groups working with older people.

Transport

The Advisory Council has undertaken a significant amount of work on transport issues and has prepared submissions on the following discussion documents: • “The Older Road User”, Land Transport Safety Authority, May 1994;
• “Driver Testing Criteria and Driver Education”, Land Transport Safety Authority, September 1995; and
• “Licensing Requirements for Older Drivers”; “Driver Licence Revocations and Limitations on Medical Grounds”; and “Driver Licence Format”, as part of the Land Transport Safety Authority’s review of driver licensing requirements in May 1996.

The Advisory Council has also commented on several policies and draft rules prepared by the Land Transport Safety Authority which have been relevant to older drivers, passengers and pedestrians.

Legal and crime

In 1994, the Advisory Council prepared a submission on mandatory reporting for elder abuse and neglect and appeared before the Social Services Select Committee on the Children, Young Persons and their Families Amendment Bill 1994. The Advisory Council’s Chairperson is a member of the National Advisory Group on elder abuse and neglect and has reported regularly to the Advisory Council on the Age Concern elder abuse and neglect pilots.

The Advisory Council has also provided advice on:


• the Human Rights Act 1993;
• the United Nations Resolution 46/91;
• the Births, Deaths and Marriages Act 1995; and
• access to grandchildren when parents are separated.

Future Directions

The Advisory Council for Senior Citizens provides advice to the Minister for Senior Citizens on a wide range of policy issues. As noted, this is a particularly valuable stream of policy advice and is complementary to the advice delivered by the Senior Citizens Unit. The Advisory Council members have close community involvement and so they can keep the Minister in touch with the range of views that older people have about current policies and issues. This makes their advice especially relevant in assisting the Minister’s advocacy role.

The Advisory Council reports in confidence to the Minister and at times members have been frustrated by this confidentiality obligation. This factor, coupled with the fact that the Council has not had a high profile, has resulted in some public criticism that the Advisory Council has not been effective. The confidentiality requirement is, however, an important means of ensuring that the advice members give can be free and frank and cannot be used by members as a political tool. The non-political status of the Advisory Council is important in maintaining its credibility.

The Advisory Council is also a forum in which Senior Citizens Unit analysts can test their assumptions and ideas on older people’s issues. A strong working relationship has been developed between the two parties allowing for productive exchanges of information.

The Advisory Council is a reasonably cost-efficient body. The fees paid to members are moderate and travel costs are kept to a minimum by ensuring that the majority of members reside either in, or close to, the greater Wellington region. The servicing of the Advisory Council does, however, significantly increase its overall cost. As noted earlier, the allocated overall staff resource required to service the Advisory Council is one half-time staff equivalent. In reality, closer to one full-time equivalent is spent on servicing the Advisory Council, with analysts assisting with information provision and report preparation.

Time spent in servicing the Advisory Council is not only costly in a monetary sense, but it also has an opportunity cost in terms of other project work that could be undertaken by analysts. As a result, the Senior Citizens Unit is limited in the extent of work in which it can engage. The cost of the Advisory Council needs to be balanced with the value of the advice it provides to the Minister. It is the Senior Citizens Unit’s view that it is important for the Minister to have advice provided from a community perspective and that the Advisory Council performs this function well. However, if the Minister wants an Advisory Council and a policy advice function which can keep up with the increasing emphasis on older people’s policy, then an increase in Vote will be essential.

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