Kia ora

Thank you for your request for official information.

The Ministry's reference number for your request is: H202002349.

As required under the Act we will endeavour to respond to your request no
later than 15 May 2020, being 20 working days after the day your request
was received.  

If we are unable to respond to your request within this time frame, we
will notify you of an extension of that time frame.

If you have any queries related to this request, please do not hesitate to
get in touch.

Please note, due to the emergence of Covid-19 the Ministry has diverted
significant resources to responding to the pandemic. This may impact on
our ability to respond to your request. If you would like to reconsider or
refine your current request, this may enable us to respond more quickly.
You can notify us of any changes to your request by responding to this
email.

Ngā mihi

OIA Services
Government Services
Office of the Director-General
Ministry of Health
E: [email address]

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Dear Mr Ryan

Thank you for your request under the Official Information Act 1982 (the
Act) to the Ministry of Health (the Ministry) for:

"I would like all correspondence, meeting notes and documents related to
the decision why chiropractors have been given
permission to start operating again as an essential service during the
Covid-19 level 4 lockdown."

You have requested a substantial and extensive amount of information
regarding COVID-19. At this time, the Ministry, along with many other
agencies, have diverted significant resources to support the Government's
response to COVID-19. This is a fast-evolving situation and the Ministry
must continue to respond at pace to this global pandemic.

The Government is committed to the COVID-19 response, including keeping
the New Zealand public well informed.

This is a fast-evolving global situation and the Ministry, along with many
other agencies, have diverted significant resources to support the
response to COVID-19.

The Ministry knows there is significant public interest in COVID-19 and is
responding to the substantial increase in demand for information from
interested or concerned members of the public.

We are working hard to ensure the New Zealand public is fully informed
about the work being done to respond to COVID-19. The Ministry is
committed to transparency and intends to make official information
publicly available as soon as possible. This includes key advice papers to
Ministers, situational reports and will cover your request. As such your
request for the documents related to the decision is refused in accordance
with section 18(d) of the Act, as the information will soon be publicly
available.
 
You may be interested to know the information will be published as soon as
possible on the Ministry’s ‘Information Releases’ page found here:
[1]https://www.health.govt.nz/about-ministr....

Where your request covers all communications (including meeting notes)
relating to COVID-19, to provide this would require an extensive and
substantial amount of manual research and collation, at a time the
Ministry is responding to a global pandemic. Unfortunately, your request
for this information is refused under section 18(f) of the Act at this
time.

You may be interested to know that the Ministry routinely publishes the
latest on the Government’s response on the COVID-19 section of the
Ministry’s website:
[2]https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/dise....

The Government also provides regular updates on the COVID-19 website:
[3]https://covid19.govt.nz/.

The Epidemic Response Committee meetings are also publicly available on
the NZ Parliament website:
[4]https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/sc/scl/e....

Under section 28 of the Act, you have the right to ask the Ombudsman to
review any decisions made under this request.

Thank you for taking the time to write to the Ministry.

Nga mihi

OIA Services
Government Services
Office of the Director-General
Ministry of Health
E: [email address]

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References

Visible links
1. https://www.health.govt.nz/about-ministr...
2. https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/dise...
3. https://covid19.govt.nz/
4. https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/sc/scl/e...