03 July 2020
45 Pipitea Street, Wellington 6011
Phone +64 4 495 7200
John Luke
Em
ail [email address]
fyi-request-13041-
W
ebsite www.dia.govt.nz
[email address]
Dear John
Official Information Act 1982 request 1920-0787
I refer to your request received by the Department of Internal Affairs (Department) on
5 June 2020. This response is provided to you under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA).
You requested—
I noted on the news - https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/406541/marriage-
celebrant-process-review-aims-to-reduce-number-of-celebrants.
The results of the review will be announced in May. May I ask if the result been
announced yet and if not, how far are we? Any updates on the review since the news
was published?
Response
Thank you for your interest in the review, which is close to completion. While originally
scheduled to finish by May 2020, the review has taken longer than originally expected. This
was due to COVID-19 operational constraints and the fact that one element of the work (a
survey of celebrants) took longer than anticipated to analyse due to the high response rate
and detailed responses provided by 1706 independent celebrants, who provided 12,000
individual comments.
The Registrar-General intends to release a report which includes analysis of the survey and
outcomes of the review. This will be available in the coming weeks and will be shared in an
upcoming issue of th
e Ngātahi newsletters which is sent to celebrants. You can access the
newsletter, and view issues going back to March 2016 on the
‘Get celebrant training,
support and information’ webpage
at govt.nz.
If you would like more information about the survey findings, or have any concerns or
suggestions about celebrant licensing you would like the Registrar-General to consider,
please contact Jonathan Goode, v
ia [email address]
You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of this decision.
Information about how to make a complaint is available
at www.ombudsman.parliament.nz
or freephone 0800 802 602.
Yours sincerely
Tiffany Scott
Manager Branch Development and Support
Service Delivery and Operations
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