David,

How many times in your life, to the best of your recollection, have you eaten sushi? Please provide the number of instances of sushi consumption
(a) in a personal capacity, as well as
(b) any instances where you consumed sushi that was either:
(i)provided as a catering option in a professional setting, or
(ii)purchased with a purchasing card provided to you/a member of your staff or with any other parliamentary funds available to you.

Please also indicate, on average, your estimation of how nutritious you found any of the sushi you have consumed (assuming a non-zero amount) on a scale from 1 (not nutritious at all) to 10 (very nutritious).

Yours,

Dear Lewis,

Please advise which office should be contacted to receive information regarding David Seymour's recollections and experiences, if not his office.

Yours sincerely,

A Mark

Dear Liam,

Apologies for getting your name wrong in my previous follow-up. I would still like that question answered, and I have an additional question: my original request was considered and denied in one day, which seems a very quick turnaround to decide that David Seymour's office held none of this information. Please advise what steps and processes were followed to determine that no relevant information was held. For example, was David questioned about his recollection of eating sushi? Were office financial records examined? If neither of these steps were taken, please advise what was done to reach the conclusion that no information could be provided to respond to this request.

Yours sincerely,

A Mark

Kia ora Andrew,

Thank you for your response, although I'm not clear whether you're responding to my first follow-up ("which office should be contacted to receive information regarding David Seymour's recollections and experiences, if not his office", submitted May 13) or my second ("advise what steps and processes were followed to determine that no relevant information was held. For example, was David questioned about his recollection of eating sushi? Were office financial records examined? If neither of these steps were taken, please advise what was done to reach the conclusion that no information could be provided to respond to this request", submitted May 22).

I assume you're refusing both of these under s 18(e) of the OIA.

I am concerned at the quick turnaround of these responses, particularly the most recent as it sought information to understand the speed with which the first request was denied, and which was in turn denied equally as quickly with no explanation offered, either as a response or as a justification for the speed of the response. The Ombudsman guidance on 18(e) states that:

“A reasonable search will be thorough and intelligent, rather than mechanical. The agency should have tried its best to find the information, and followed all obvious lines of inquiry. It should have convincing reasons for concluding that the document does not exist, or cannot be found, or that the information is not held."

It's not clear to me what search steps have been undertaken, noting I specifically asked for information on this when my first request was denied.

I therefore take the opportunity to restate each request:

1. How many times in [David Seymour's] life, to the best of [his] recollection, [has he] eaten sushi? Please provide the number of instances of sushi consumption
(a) in a personal capacity, as well as
(b) any instances where [he] consumed sushi that was either:
(i)provided as a catering option in a professional setting, or
(ii)purchased with a purchasing card provided to [him]/a member of [his] staff or with any other parliamentary funds available to [David].

Please also indicate, on average, [his] estimation of how nutritious [he] found any of the sushi [he has] consumed (assuming a non-zero amount) on a scale from 1 (not nutritious at all) to 10 (very nutritious).

2. Please advise which office should be contacted to receive information regarding David Seymour's recollections and experiences, if not his office.

3. Please advise what steps and processes were followed to determine that no relevant information [in relation to question 1.] was held. For example, was David questioned about his recollection of eating sushi? Were office financial records examined? If neither of these steps were taken, please advise what was done to reach the conclusion that no information could be provided to respond to this request.

Yours sincerely,

A Mark