Dear Hutt City Council,

Please supply the following information:

1. The number of non-disclosure agreements signed by staff leaving the organisation in each of the years ending 30 June 2023, 2022, 2021 and 2020, and the number of non-disclosure agreements signed in the 2024 financial year to date.

2. The template standard template for non-disclosure agreements signed by exiting staff members.

Yours faithfully,

Matt Sykes

Dear Information Requests (attn Philip Rossiter),

Thank you Philip for your response. It does not address the bulk of my questions.

Thank you for providing the number of NDAs signed in the 2024 year to date (2). I also requested the number of NDAs signed in the years 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023. This information has not been provided.

I did not ask about severance payments to staff as that information is already publicly available in the annual reports - as you have advised.

Also, your response about the template for NDAs is confusing. I asked for the template. You have not supplied this, noting that the requirements for each NDA may vary. That is understood, which is why I requested the standard template, being the starting document from which individual NDAs are developed.

I look forward to your response.

Yours sincerely,

Matt Sykes

Dear Philip,

Given the extent of restructuring that has occurred during the period covered by this LGOIMA it is simply not possible for there to be no other signed NDAs.

Can you please advise. I look forward to hearing back.

Yours sincerely,

Matt Sykes

Dear Philip

I may not have been clear enough in my original question. When I say "NDA" I mean confidential settlements/agreements and/or Records of Settlement.

Yours sincerely,

Matt Sykes

Dear Philip

I think the intent of the original LGOIMA request was clear but if you wish to treat this as a fresh LGOIMA request please confirm and I can lodge that.

Please confirm either way by return.

Yours sincerely,

Matt Sykes

Dear Information Requests,

I have just lodged a fresh request through the FYI system. Please respond to that request as it's easier to manage via this online portal than one to one via email. Many thanks.

Yours sincerely,

Matt Sykes

Dear Mr Rossiter,

Thank you for your response. Does your response mean that there were no NDAs, Records of Settlement etc (as per my request) during the years ended 30 June 2020, 2021, 2022 or 2023 or does it mean that you have been unable to find them?

Yours sincerely,

Matt Sykes

Mr Rossiter

I asked a follow up question on 6th May 2024. I have received no response. Incidentally, I don't accept your response to my original LGOIMA request. I asked identical LGOIMA questions of all TAs in the Wellington Region, including GWRC. HCC is the only council not to have responded with the information requested. This isn't good enough.

I look forward to your response by return. Better still, please supply the information originally requested, in line with all other Wellington territorial authorities.

Yours sincerely,

Matt Sykes

Dear Mr. Philip Rossiter

So, you stand by your response, do you? Even though every other TA in Wellington has supplied the information, but Hutt City Council has refused to supply it.

I do not wish to make a complaint to the Ombudsman, but if this information is not supplied you will leave me with no other option.

As a properly trained civil servant you must know that you are withholding public information, in contravention of your legal obligations.

I presume you take professional pride in your career and work at Hutt City Council. Are you comfortable with knowingly breaching the law in your chosen career role?

Please can you reconsider your response. The Ombudsman will find against you. It will be a waste of public resources, both at Hutt City Council and at the Ombudsman's office.

This will reflect poorly on you personally, and on the Council.

I look forward to your response, after which my course of action will be clear.

Yours sincerely,

Matt Sykes