REVEALED: MSD's $350 Per Response Survey Comes Sweetened With $7,500 of Brownies

The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union can reveal through Official Information Act request that the Ministry of Social Development is spending $2.8 million on a youth wellbeing survey that included sending brownie boxes worth $7,544 to schools to encourage participation.

The Ministry confirmed that research firm Ipsos, which is contracted to deliver the Youth Health and Wellbeing Survey, sent brownie boxes to 170 schools and 14 kura at $41 each including postage - bringing the total cost of the survey to more than $350 per response.

Taxpayers’ Union Investigations Coordinator Rhys Hurley said:

“Taxpayers are footing a $2.8 million bill for a survey that somehow needed a nationwide brownie drop to get schools interested.”

“It’s the kind of sugary spending that shows how detached the Wellington Blob has become from reality. Families are having to cut back, while bureaucrats are spending millions with treats to make people fill in surveys.”

"With up to 8,000 participants, it must be asked if $350 per response is really what taxpayers would feel comfortable with."

"Nobody is questioning finding out the state of our youth's wellbeing, but this should be done at a far smaller price.”