Tēnā koutou,

I have seen that the Ministry of Health has recently asked many people making requests for official information through the FYI website to provide proof of eligibility under section 12(1) of the Official Information Act. For example: https://fyi.org.nz/request/13631-corresp...

The Ministry of Health also told these requesters:

“Please note that if we do not receive a response from you by this date, your request will be withdrawn.”

The Ministry of Health does not seem to request proof of eligibility in all cases, or even just for all requests made through FYI. In 2015 and in 2018, the Ministry of Health responded to two requests for official information that I made through FYI, and in neither case was I told I must provide proof of eligibility. There are also recent examples on FYI of requests that were processed without any request for proof of eligibility.

Please release the following information for the past two years, broken down by month:

1a. How many requests for official information were received by the Ministry of Health?
1b. For how many of these requests did the Ministry of Health request proof of the requester’s eligibility under section 12(a) of the OIA?
1c. For how many of these requests was proof provided?
1d. How many requests for official information received in this month were considered withdrawn because proof was not provided?

Please also release the following information:

2a. What criteria are used by the Ministry of Health in determining whether or not a request for official information should require proof of the requester’s eligibility?
2b. When were these criteria adopted?
2c. What advice did the Ministry of Health receive on the creation and adoption of these criteria?

If any of the information I have requested in part 2 of my request is not written down, I would like to remind the Ministry that the definition of “official information” includes information which is known to an agency, but which has not yet been written down.

Please provide this information in an accessible, searchable format.

If any part of my request is unclear, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Given the Ministry of Health has answered my requests for official information in the past, I trust that there is no question regarding my eligibility under section 12(1) to make requests of the Official Information Act.

Ngā mihi,
Mark Hanna

Tēnā koe,

It has now been 17 working days since the Ministry of Health received my request. I would like to remind you that the OIA requires that decisions be communicated as soon as reasonably practicable, and that the 20 working day deadline is not a target.

Though the OIA does not require that notifications of an extension to this deadline must be communicated as soon as reasonably practicable, if you anticipate that you will not be able to communicate your decision on my request no later than Wednesday 30 September then I would appreciate it if you would indicate this sooner rather than later.

Ngā mihi,
Mark Hanna

Tēnā koe,

Today, 30 September, is 20 working days since my request for official information was received on 2 September, and I have not yet been informed of a decision on this request. I would appreciate it if you would ensure that your decision is sent today.

Ngā mihi,
Mark Hanna

Tēnā koe,

Thank you for your response. You will see that my request included the following:

"Please provide this information in an accessible, searchable format."

Section 16(2) of the Official Information Act requires that an organisation must make information available "in the way preferred by the person requesting it" except in three specific cases. Section 16(3) requires that, when the information is not provided in this way, the requester will be told the reasons for not providing the information in that way.

I have been advised by the Ombudsman that this section can be used in this way to request that information be provided in an accessible format, where possible.

Unfortunately, your response letter has been sent as an image-based PDF, presumably created by printing and subsequently scanning a document. This process renders the information inaccessible, as it cannot be accessed by assistive technology such as a screen reader.

Please provide the information in an accessible format, as I have requested, or otherwise specify the reasons under s16(2) of the OIA why the information has not been provided in this way.

I would also like to remind you that the OIA requires that decisions on a request must be communicated as soon as reasonably practicable. Given this response arrived at 5:48pm on the last allowable day, it seems unlikely to me that it was sent as soon as reasonably practicable. I hope there will not be any lengthy delay before you provide me with this information in an accessible format.

Ngā mihi,
Mark Hanna

Kia ora,

Thank you for sending the updated response letter through so quickly, I appreciate that. I'm also happy to see that it is largely accessible now, though unfortunately it seems whatever software it appears was used to convert the image-based PDF into a text-based one has not correctly hooked up all of the links.

When I spoke with Minister for Disability Issues Carmel Sepuloni about the issue of OIA accessibility in 2018, she told me that "Providing OIA responses in accessible formats should be standard practice as part of an open and transparent government."

Might I recommend that the Ministry of Health look into creating internal guidelines for providing OIA responses in accessible formats? Many other agencies have been making positive steps in this area recently, and I'm sure you will agree that it's important for official information provided in a way that is accessible to any requester, including disabled requesters.

The easiest way to provide information in an accessible format is generally to simply provide the original documents wherever possible. In this case, that would likely be the response letter as it was originally prepared, before it was printed and scanned. I understand some transformation may be necessary at times to remove metadata, but the common process of printing and scanning is generally the cause of information being released in inaccessible formats. In this case, it looks like software was subsequently used to try to convert the scanned document into an accessible one, but as I mentioned this process has its flaws.

Ngā mihi,
Mark Hanna