Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I indicated, no, not that I am aware of in respect to nurses who are employees by boards. What I have said is, in some circumstances, boards go to contract agencies to provide services. They negotiate what the charge will be for those nurses they provide. I do not know what benefit packages the nurses within those employment agencies receive because of the fact they do not work for the board and they do not work for us. It is between the employers and the nurses who operate there. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral questions. Final supplementary, Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, maybe we should clarify this. Is the Minister then saying, outside agencies place staff at our nursing stations or medical facilities? When this staff is working with staff who has made a commitment to the north, as an example, working for our government, two people would be working side-to-side and because the boards have decided to use an outside agency, nurse number one would be paid according to the GNWT's standard and nurse number two, would be paid because of some negotiation of an outside agency? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that possibility certainly exists and it does happen. It is not an ideal situation, but because of the fact there is a recruitment and retention problem of our nursing profession, they have to fill in the vacancies and the boards sometimes choose to do that on a short-term basis with these nursing agencies, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Oral questions. Mr. Henry.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is to the Minister of Health and Social Services, the Honourable Kelvin Ng. Mr. Speaker, there are a number of children within the care of the department, whether they are in facilities owned by the department or foster homes. It has been brought to my attention that some of these children are not attending school. What is the policy of the department to ensure these children do, in fact, attend school? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Ng.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, obviously, there would be a requirement for children under our care, wards of the state, to attend school unless there are specific reasons why they would not be able to do that. The honourable Member raised this issue with me late last week and I have asked Yellowknife Social Services to try to provide a report if that is the situation or not. Thank you.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Henry.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister and if he would at that time have the department look into the Education Act, under the academic year and school attendance regulations. It does state the school boards are responsible for putting procedures in place to ensure children do attend school. What I would like the Minister to have his department look at and assure that there are no holes between what the school boards are required to do and what the department's regulations are. If the Minister could commit to doing that, I would appreciate it, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Mr. Ng.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have no problem with doing that, but I would like to say, if they are under our care, we have a responsibility as a department and as a government to ensure those children do go to school. If it is not happening, then certainly, it is a serious situation and we will deal with it right away. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral questions. Mr. Miltenberger.

The Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation, Mr. Arlooktoo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member raises an important issue. One that I am also concerned about. I would like to be able to bring as much detailed information as possible, therefore, I will take the question as notice.

Question taken as notice. Oral questions. Mr. Ootes.

Thank you. The Member for Yellowknife Centre cannot ask a question about a decision made by a former Minister. He can only direct it to Mr. Antoine, the current Minister of Public Works and Services. Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I understand the draft document the honourable Member was making reference to, was signed by the Minister of the day on July 31st. Thank you.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Ootes.

Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the office plan that was originally signed at the end of July outlined, in general terms, the different options that were laid out by the work that the deputy ministers put out. There is information on how we would approach looking at rationalizing the office space in Yellowknife. Thank you.