Justice Centre | 19 Aitken Street
DX SX10088 | Wel ington
T 04 918 8800 |
F 04 918 8820
[email address] | www.justice.govt.nz
30 March 2023
I Brown
[email address]
Our ref: OIA 102999
Tēnā koe I Brown
Official Information Act request: Follow up to OIA 100591
Thank you for request of 1 March 2023 requesting, under the Of icial Information Act 1982
(the Act), information relating to your previous OIA request (Our ref: 100591) regarding
criminal legal aid providers. Specifically, you requested:
1. Pursuant to the information received in OIA request OIA100591, I note that the
response to question 5 appears to be incomplete. Table 1 of Appendix B only gives
the number of PDS lawyers rostered for PDS courts. My question asked for "How
many providers are on each individual roster", which means that for a PDS
supervised court, the count should include both PDS and non-PDS duty lawyers on
that court roster. Please provide that information.
2. The duty lawyer question may just be that PDS lawyers don't need to have been
approved as duty lawyers to act as duty lawyers at court. I say this because for
courts where the PDS has a presence, the total number of PDS lawyers given is 334,
but the reply earlier says that just 125 PDS lawyers have approval as duty
lawyers. Unless, as noted for private duty lawyers, some PDS lawyers in fact cover
more than one court as duty lawyers?
3. I am also curious how the numbers at Table 2 of Appendix B in OIA100591 were
arrived at. I have compared the answers with duty lawyer rosters as displayed on the
MOJ website. Just working alphabetically and taking the first few, I note that, by way
of example:
Ashburton is said to have eight duty lawyers on the roster but the roster that is shown
for that court online has only three.
Blenheim is said to seven duty lawyers but the roster only has six.
Dannevirke is said to have three duty lawyers but the roster for that court has
four. Dargavil e is said to have seven duty lawyers but the roster for that court only
has five. Gore is said to have seven duty lawyers but the roster only has five.
Westport is said to have four duty lawyers but the roster only has two.
Masterton is said to have ten duty lawyers but the roster only has six.
Please provide clarification in relation to the above, not limited to each court
mentioned above, but in relation to all non-PDS courts where there is a difference in
numbers between those on the published roster as at 17 November 2022 and the
numbers provided by you.
Justice Centre | 19 Aitken Street
DX SX10088 | Wel ington
T 04 918 8800 |
F 04 918 8820
[email address] | www.justice.govt.nz
4. Please provide a copy of all internal and external correspondence in relation to
OIA100591, including but not limited to any correspondence or advice to ministers.
Pursuant to section 15(1) of the Act I have made the decision to grant your request. The
information is being finalised and the response will be provided to you as soon as possible. I
apologise for any inconvenience this delay may cause you.
You have the right to complain to the Ombudsman about this decision under section 28(3) of
the Act. The Ombudsman may be contacted by email at:
[email address].
Nāku noa, nā
Antony Paltridge
Team Leader, Ministerial Relations and Services
