7 September 2020
Shane Gibson
[FYI request #13289 email]
Kia ora Shane
Thank you for your email of 13 July 2020 to the Ministry of Education requesting the following
information under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act):
Please provide an extract of data from the system you currently use to track information
requests submitted under the Official Information Act 1982.
The extract should be in a machine readable form. This means either via a publicly accessible
API or file in csv or JSON format.
The extract should have the following details in a single row for each request that was
submitted:
- The title of the request.
- The date your organisation received the request
- The date of the final response from your organisation to that request, or the date you closed
the request
To reduce the effort required by your organisation I am requesting records for the date range
that the data is available in your OIA tracking system. For example if your OIA tracking system
only holds two years of records then I am requesting data for those two years.
Your request has been considered under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act).
We are releasing the attached spreadsheet, as
Appendix A to this letter, which details the title of
each request, the date received, where applicable the date we made a decision on the request under
the Act and the date of our final response.
We have provided you with details of requests received since 1 July 2018, being the period that our
current tracking system has been in operation, until the date of your request.
The titles of the requests are as recorded in the tracking sheet in short form for administrative
purposes and in most cases are not the full wording of the request received.
Section 15 of the Act requires that agencies make a decision on requests as soon as reasonably
practicable and, in any event, within 20 working days of the request being received. You wil note
OIA: 1235072
National Of ice, Mātauranga House, 33 Bowen Street, Wellington 6011
PO Box 1666, Wel ington 6140. Phone: +64 4 463 8000 Fax: +64 4 463 8001
that a number of the decision dates recorded in this spreadsheet are more than 20 working days
from the date the request was received. This is because the Act provides that the timeframe for
responding may be extended in certain circumstances and also that information may be released
subsequent to the decision to grant the request (for example, where the request is for a large volume
of information that needs to be released in tranches).
We are withholding some information under section 9(2)(a) of the Act
to protect the privacy of certain
individuals and section 9(2)(ba)(i) of the Act
to protect information which is subject to an obligation
of confidence where the making available of the information would be likely to prejudice the supply
of similar information, or information from the same source, and it is in the public interest that such
information should continue to be supplied.
We have considered the public interest in releasing the information withheld under sections 9(2)(a)
and 9(2)(ba)(i) of the Act and do not believe the public interest outweighs the rights to privacy of the
individuals concerned and the need for information to continue to be supplied in confidence.
The table includes the total number of requests received by the Ministry as well as those that have
been responded to. Where a response is stil in progress that has been noted in the column on the
date the Ministry made a decision. Note that the Public Service Commission reporting of the
Ministry’s requests under the Act only covers those that have been responded to within the relevant
period and would not include those that are stil in progress. For the reasons detailed above, the
spreadsheet should not be used as a proxy for the Ministry’s timeliness in responding to requests
under the Act.
As part of the public sector’s commitment to openness and transparency, the Ministry regularly
reports to both the Office of the Ombudsman and the Public Service Commission on different aspects
of our compliance with the Act. You can find this information at the following links:
The Public Service Commission’s website is here:
https:/ www.publicservice.govt.nz/resources/official-information-statistics/
The Office of the Ombudsman’s website is here:
https:/ www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/resources/oia-complaints-received-resolutions-july-2016-
december-2019
We also proactively release information and publish our responses under the Act at the following
link:
https:/ www.education.govt.nz/our-work/information-releases/responses-to-official-information-act-
requests/
You have the right to ask an Ombudsman to review this decision. You can do this by writing to
[email address] or Office of the Ombudsman, PO Box 10152, Wellington 6143.
Ngā mihi
Emily Fabling
Deputy Secretary
Strategy, Planning and Governance
OIA: 1235072
National Of ice, Mātauranga House, 33 Bowen Street, Wellington 6011
PO Box 1666, Wel ington 6140. Phone: +64 4 463 8000 Fax: +64 4 463 8001
Document Outline
- The request and due date
- Background
- Proposed response
- Public interest considerations
- Consultation