11 November 2020
S. Rowe
By email: [FYI request #13968 email]
Dear Requestor,
Request for information
We refer to your Official Information Act 1982 (
OIA) email request received on 13 October
2020 requesting the following information:
1) Did any representative of Southern Response communicate with either the IFSO
Scheme or ICNZ relating to getting ICNZ not to hear the complaint in November
2018?
2) Were there any other deadlines or requests for the submission that Southern
Response did not meet?
3) What reason did Southern Response give to the IFSO Scheme for not making the
submission on 2 February 2019?
4) Who initiated contact between Southern Response and the IFSO Scheme’s
Ombudsman?
5) When was contact first made between Southern Response and the IFSO
Scheme’s Ombudsman about the complaint or complainants?
6) What reasons does Southern Response have for directly communicating with the
IFSO Scheme’s Ombudsman instead of addressing all communication through the
IFSO Scheme staff assigned to the complaint?
7) Did Southern Response’s stated desire to not address the complaint impact on the
timeliness of Southern Response providing its submission to the IFSO Scheme?
8) Did Southern Response inform the IFSO Scheme’s Ombudsman that the
secondary complainant should not be contacted because it knew she was in
extremely poor health and had not been engaged on the claim in years?
9) What facts did Southern Response use to conclude that involving the primary
contact would be difficult despite having been involved with the primary contact for
years prior?
10) Did Southern Response address the complaint in previous correspondence with
the IFSO Scheme?
11) When did the previous correspondence start?
12) Please confirm that Southern Response staff were communicating with the IFSO
Scheme’s Ombudsman about not addressing the complaint, while missing deadlines
in dealing with the IFSO Scheme staff responsible for the complaint.
13) Please confirm that the Southern Response CEO communicated by email about
this complaint with the ICNZ Chief Executive in December 2018, and by phone in
June 2019, and that these dates are prior to Southern Response giving notice to
ICNZ about the IFSO Scheme’s finding of a Significant Breach of the Fair Insurance
Code.
14) Southern Response stated to the IFSO Scheme that it did not do anything that
would bring the industry into disrepute. (A requirement for a finding of a Significant
Breach) Does this include actions taken like assigning a short deadline, regarding a
repair methodology known to be invalid, while aware the complainant was in hospital
and requested respite?
15) What information did Southern Response supply to the ICNZ Code Compliance
Committee that led them to conclude that the complaint was resolved?
16) Was Southern Response aware that the ICNZ Code Compliance Committee
processes would mean that it would not contact the complainant to verify any details
supplied by Southern Response?
Response to your request
We have responded informally to your request on four occasions (14 October, 20 October,
29 October and 4 November) to request that you contact us directly to discuss whether you
meet the eligibility requirements in section 12 of the Official Information Act and the
supporting evidence you may be able to provide.
As you have not contacted us to provide proof of your eligibility to request information we are
not able to accept this as a valid OIA request.
Your rights
Please feel free to contact us if you have any concerns about this response. You also have
the right to contact the Ombudsman about this response. To do so, you can visit their
website -
http://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/
Yours sincerely
Casey Hurren
General Manager
