IN-CONFIDENCE
24 November 2023
Erika Whittome
[FYI request #24726 email]
Tēnā koe Erika
On 13 November 2023
, you emailed the Ministry of Social Development (the
Ministry) requesting, under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act), the
following information:
1. Would you kindly share the total number of people receiving an
unemployment benefit as of today who were made unemployed as a
result of vaccine mandates.
2. Would you also share the total number of people on a sickness
benefit as of today for people who were made unemployed as a result
of vaccine mandates.
3. Please share the total number of people on a sickness benefit as of
today for people who suffered a medical misadventure or a vaccine
injury.
Due to the substantial amount of work that would be required to find and
collate the information you have requested, we are refusing your request
under section 18(f) of the Act, on the basis that the information requested
cannot be made available without substantial collation or research.
The Ministry does not centrally report on the areas requested. Instead, any
reference to the information you have requested would be contained within
the notes section of each relevant client’s file. To respond to your queries,
the Ministry would need to manually review a substantial number of files to
find any that relate to vaccine mandates, medical misadventure, or vaccine
injuries.
The Ministry have considered whether charging or extending the timeframe
for responding to your request would help, as required by section 18A of the
Act. However, the Ministry does not consider that either of these approaches
would allow us to meet your request without significant and unreasonable
impact on the Ministry’s ability to carry out its other operations.
We have considered consulting with you, as required by section 18B of the
Act. However, due to the specificity of your request, the Ministry does not
IN-CONFIDENCE
consider that consultation would assist in providing you the information that
you wish for. For reference, the closest data the Ministry centrally reports on
to your query is the number of people who have marked their reason for
applying for a benefit as ‘Ceased work’. If you would like this information,
please let us know.
The principles and purposes of the Official Information Act 1982 under which
you made your request are:
• to create greater openness and transparency about the plans, work
and activities of the Government,
• to increase the ability of the public to participate in the making and
administration of our laws and policies and
• to lead to greater accountability in the conduct of public affairs.
This Ministry fully supports those principles and purposes. The Ministry
therefore intends to make the information contained in this letter and any
attached documents available to the wider public. The Ministry will do this by
publishing this letter on the Ministry’s website. Your personal details will be
deleted, and the Ministry will not publish any information that would identify
you as the person who requested the information.
If you wish to discuss this response with us, please feel free to contact
[MSD request email].
If you are not satisfied with this response, you have the right to seek an
investigation and review by the Ombudsman. Information about how to make
a complaint is available
at www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or 0800 802 602.
Ngā mihi nui
Sarah Quigan
Manager Official Information
Ministerial and Executive Services
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