Dear Ministry of Social Development,

I would like to know how MSD can confirm the attendees at a hearing that took place in 2015 at the Porirua branch of work and income and the process to obtain this clarification, the measures, safeguards and above all else the transparency in place to prevent such discrepancies.

As, in this case, the acknowledgement of a particular attendee who was omitted from the official report that was approved by MSD( ie all members of the BRC panel) proved to be a crucial point/fact in an appeal lodged with the Social Security Appeals Authority who, subsequently, ruled they were unable to make a decision which, ultimately, benefited MSD. A different outcome would have occurred had the report been correct and acknowledged all attendees at the hearing.

Also, the appeal was considered on 'papers' where no such meeting took place between the parties concerned as is usual procedure. I believe this was at the request of MSD which benefited them and denied me my opportunity to question MSD directly on the point of the report's omission and to hold them accountable for the error.

From the time I received the erroneous report I repeatedly tried to have it corrected and maintained its inaccuracies of which MSD/BRC have neither confirmed not denied the omission and the lead BRC panel member(S Ward) refused to add my version of the correction to the official file. Nor did MSD/BRC raise this discrepancy during the appeals process.

The HIYA number for this case is #191462

Once again, I would like to know what the process to obtain this clarification, the measures, safeguards and above all else the transparency in place to prevent such discrepancies in 'official' reports.

How robust are your processes in such matters?

Yours faithfully,

D Dahya