6 March 2024
45 Pipitea Street, Wellington 6011
Phone +64 4 495 7200
dia.govt.nz
James
fyi-request-25692-
[email address]
Tēnā koe James
OIA request 23/24 0579 Request for Waipareira Trust investigation
Thank you for your Official Information Act (Act) request received by the Department of Internal
Affairs (Department) on 10 February 2024.
You requested –
I would like to request the following. Please provide the cost per year, to date of the ongoing
investigation into the Waipareira Trust by Charities Services at the Department of Internal Affairs,
which first began in 2019.
Please provide the number of staff that have worked and are currently working on this
investigation.
In response to your request, I can provide you with the following information.
Your request is complex in nature. There are approximately 28000 charities in New Zealand.
Charities Services operates a regulatory team of about 35 staff and a small team of investigators
within that team.
The role of an investigator is varied, and the caseload is such that an investigator is expected to
manage several cases at the same time. Not all investigations are the same, and the level of
work required in each investigation varies. Often investigators are requesting information and
waiting for that information to be returned before work continues, working on other
investigations during that time. Sometimes there are several requests to different organisations
or several requests to the same organisation. A charity is afforded the opportunity to respond to
these requests and this can take time.
Charities Services does not record the amount of time spent by staff on individual cases. We do
however take the time needed to undertake comprehensive Investigations and fulfil our role.
Because of this, I must therefore refuse your request pursuant to section 18(g) of the Act as the
information you have requested is not held by the Department of Internal Affairs.
You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of this decision.
Information about how to make a complaint is available at www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or
freephone 0800 802 602.
Ngā mihi
Penelope Cox
Manager Regulatory
Charity Services
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