Justice Centre | 19 Aitken Street
DX SX10088 | Wel ington
T 04 918 8800 | F 04 918 8820
[email address] | www.justice.govt.nz
28 August 2020

Andrew Ecclestone
[FYI request #10553 email]


Our ref: OIA 75977
Dear Mr Ecclestone
Ombudsman complaint: Official Information Act request
I am writing in response to your further feedback to the Office of the Ombudsman, about the Ministry’s
resubmitted response to your Official Information Act request,  regarding  the Ministry’s targeted
engagement in 2019 with subject matter experts to help assess the merits of a formal review of the OIA.
I am advised that you have questioned why some of the submissions are image-only and not searchable
PDFs. While the Ministry used its website as the main mechanism to undertake the engagement process,
some people and organisations chose to provide written submissions outside this process. As some of the
submissions received were signed, scanned and then emailed to the Ministry, they unfortunately cannot
be provided as a searchable PDF as per your request.
You have also questioned why some of the appendices were not provided as a searchable PDF. I am advised
the adviser who prepared the information had some difficulty in turning the intranet page into a searchable
PDF and decided to print and scan the material. Further IT assistance has since been sought to convert these
documents into a searchable PDF, please see the appendices attached.
I trust this information answers your concerns about the documents not being provided as searchable PDFs.

Yours sincerely

Caroline Greaney
General Manager, Civil and Constitutional Policy

Proactively release Cabinet papers | JET — Ministry of Justice Intranet
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RELEASED UNER THE OFFICIAL INFORMATION ACT 1982
Appendix B
Proactively release Cabinet papers
Last updated: 12/5/2020 | Content owner: Jenna Bottcher
What you need to know about publishing Cabinet papers
and related documents on our website in accordance with
the Government's proactive release policy
Government policy on proactive release of Cabinet
material and key advice papers
From 1 January 2019, the Government expects Cabinet papers, attachments and minutes,
and, if the Minister chooses, ‘key advice’ papers relating to the Cabinet paper, to be
proactively released on departments’ websites.
The policy applies to all Cabinet papers other than appointment (APH) papers. We’re also
not expected to publish material that wouldn’t be released in response to a request under
the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) request.
The documents must be published within 30 business days of the matter being considered
by Cabinet, unless there’s a good reason not to. The information that’s published must be
approved by the relevant Minster.
SSC provided this helpful summary of the policy and the requirements to the OIA Forum on
31 October 2018:
OIA-Forum-31 Oct-2018 - SSC Presentation - proactive release Cabinet material [PDF, 950
KB]
The full details of the policy are set out in this Cabinet Office Circular - CO (18) 4 - Proactive
Release of Cabinet Material: Updated Requirements:
https://dpmc.govt.nz/publications/co-18-4-proactive-release-cabinet-material-updated-
requirements (https://dpmc.govt.nz/publications/co-18-4-proactive-release-cabinet-
material-updated-requirements)
https://jet.justice.govt.nz/how-do-i/proactively-release-cabinet-papers/
13/08/2020

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RELEASED UNER THE OFFICIAL INFORMATION ACT 1982
Who has to do this?
Anyone who drafts a Cabinet paper on behalf of a Minister needs to know about this policy
and how to review and publish the documents.
There are 2 key roles internally:
• The group responsible for the subject matter or function addressed in the Cabinet
paper drafts the Cabinet paper, identifies what should or shouldn’t be released and
works with the Minister’s office to get the Minster’s approval to release the
information.
• The Ministerial Services team in Strategy, Governance, and Finance (SGF) undertakes
the technical process of redacting and publishing the documents based on the
instructions of the responsible business group.
When do you need to do this?
The Cabinet paper itself must say whether it will be proactively released once it’s been
considered by Cabinet – so you need to think about proactive release before the paper is
lodged with the Cabinet Office.
Once the paper has been to Cabinet, the documents are generally expected to be published
within 30 business days – you’ll need to agree the exact timing with the Minister’s office.
Step 1: Draft the Cabinet paper
See related procedure: Prepare a Cabinet paper https://jet.justice.govt.nz/how-
do-i/prepare-a-cabinet-paper/ (https://jet.justice.govt.nz/how-do-i/prepare-a-cabinet-
paper/)
We draft Cabinet papers on behalf of Ministers. The relevant Minister ‘owns’ the paper and
takes it to Cabinet, so the decision on what, if anything, should be released sits with the
Minister (or joint Ministers, if the paper’s in the name of more than one Minister).
When you’re drafting a Cabinet paper you must include a section on proactive release that
says whether the Minister intends to proactively release the paper in whole or in part, or to
delay the release beyond 30 business days. It’s the Minister’s decision, so you don’t need to
include anything on proactive release in the recommendations.
That means you’ll need to get input from the Minister (or their office) on whether the paper
should be proactively during the drafting process.
https://jet.justice.govt.nz/how-do-i/proactively-release-cabinet-papers/
13/08/2020

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RELEASED UNER THE OFFICIAL INFORMATION ACT 1982
Note that the proactive release policy does not apply to papers considered by the Cabinet
Appointments and Honours Committee (APH).
Step 2: Cabinet considers the paper
See related procedure: Attend a Cabinet Committee meeting
https://jet.justice.govt.nz/how-do-i/attend-a-cabinet-committee-meeting/
(https://jet.justice.govt.nz/how-do-i/attend-a-cabinet-committee-meeting/)
The 30 business days for proactively releasing the Cabinet material and any key advice
papers starts on the day of the Cabinet meeting at which Cabinet makes a final decision.
‘Business day’ is defined in CO (18) 4 - Proactive Release of Cabinet Material: Updated
Requirements [PDF, 950 KB]
Step 3: Agree the timing for publication
Ultimately, the Minister decides when the documents will be published. They’re generally
expected to publish the papers within 30 business days of the Cabinet decision. They may,
however, want to publish the documents earlier - particularly if they want to announce the
decisions at the same time the papers are published. Conversely, they may decide there’s a
good reason to delay publication.
The key is to talk to the Minister’s office about timing as early as possible, so you can plan
the timeline for collating, reviewing, and publishing the documents.
As soon as you know the likely timing, let the Ministerial Services team in SGF know as soon
as possible.
Step 4: Collate the documents
Identify the documents to be released:
• the Cabinet paper – don’t include the Cabinet summary sheet or agenda
• any attachments and appendices to the Cabinet paper
• the Cabinet minute
• any ‘key advice’ documents – these are papers addressed to the Minister who took the
item to Cabinet, and that seek agreement from the Minister to recommendations that
were subsequently decided by Cabinet. Publishing key advice papers is optional – it’s
up to the Minister to decide whether they want to include them in the proactive
release.
https://jet.justice.govt.nz/how-do-i/proactively-release-cabinet-papers/
13/08/2020

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RELEASED UNER THE OFFICIAL INFORMATION ACT 1982
It’s our responsibility to ensure we publish only the final versions of Cabinet material – that
means:
• the version of the Cabinet paper approved by the Minister for lodgement in CabNet or
tabled in the meeting, and
• the minute published by the Cabinet Office on CabNet
All the documents need to be in a text searchable format.
• electronic copies of the final versions of Cabinet material can be downloaded from
CabNet for the purposes of proactive release - keep the watermark
• for any key advice papers, start with the final Word version of the document and save
it as a pdf so it meets the accessibility requirements – don’t use a scanned version of
the document
• if a key advice paper contains important handwritten information (eg, comments
from the Minister), consider also publishing a scanned version or including that
information in the cover sheet that’s released with the documents.
Step 5: Assess the content of the documents and
draft the cover sheet and approval briefing
The group that drafted the Cabinet paper is responsible for reviewing the content,
considering any issues, assessing what, if anything, needs to be withheld, and agreeing that
with the Minister.
The documents will be published as a single ‘pack’ with a cover sheet. Start drafting the
cover sheet while you’re reviewing the content of the documents.
You should also start drafting the approval briefing, which seeks the Minster’s approval for
what should be published, at the same time.
While the information is being proactively released rather than released under the OIA, you
should still have regard to the grounds that would be used to withhold information under
the OIA.
There’s no expectation that information that would not be released under the OIA should
be proactively released. There’s also no expectation that exploratory advice, ‘blue skies’
thinking or advice generated in the early formative stages of a policy development process
and intended to ensure the free and uninhibited exchange of ideas that’s necessary for the
development of robust policy advice should be released.
https://jet.justice.govt.nz/how-do-i/proactively-release-cabinet-papers/
13/08/2020

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RELEASED UNER THE OFFICIAL INFORMATION ACT 1982
If you’re not sure whether there would be grounds for withholding information under the
OIA, talk to the Office of Legal Counsel.
If any of the information has already been released, you can choose to link to that, but
think about what will be easiest and most accessible.
Due diligence – section 48 of the OIA
While we should have regard to the OIA when considering what should be released,
proactively released information is not covered by the OIA. This means section 48 of the
OIA, which protects Ministers and agencies from civil or criminal liability when information
is released in good faith under the OIA, does not apply to information that is released
proactively.
We must therefore consider any potential liability, civil or criminal, that might result from
proactively releasing the Cabinet material and any key advice papers before seeking the
Minister’s approval to publish them.
Once Cabinet material is published online, the security classification of the original
document may no longer apply. Unless some information has been withheld from the
version that’s proactively released, you should review the security classification of the
original version.
Step 6: Prepare the documents
The electronic documents will be published in one package with a cover sheet that outlines
what’s being released and the reasons for any redactions.
The Ministerial Services team in (SGF) will make the redactions and prepare the documents
for publication based on the instructions from the responsible business group.
Once you’ve got internal approval for what should be released, what, if anything, should be
withheld and the grounds for that, send the documents and draft cover sheet to Ministerial
Services team to make the redactions.
Talk to Ministerial Services team about the best way to get the instructions to them. For
straightforward releases, an email attaching the documents and noting the redactions may
be enough. For more complex matters, it may be helpful to meet and talk through the
redactions.
Step 7: Review the pack
https://jet.justice.govt.nz/how-do-i/proactively-release-cabinet-papers/
13/08/2020

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RELEASED UNER THE OFFICIAL INFORMATION ACT 1982
Ministerial Services team will provide the pack with the redactions marked to the
responsible business group to review and check.
Step 8: Approval from the Minister
The decision on what to release sits with the Minister – or joint Ministers if the paper went
to Cabinet in the name of more than one Minister.
The approval briefing is the mechanism for getting formal agreement from the Minister on
what is released and when. You should have started drafting the approval briefing when
you were assessing the content of the documents for release (step 5).
The responsible business group provides the approval briefing to the Minister attaching the
marked documents and setting out their recommendations on what should be released
and when. The approval briefing should also note where the papers will be published on
the Ministry’s website (Ministerial Services team will give you that information).
Step 9: Publish the documents
Once the documents have been approved by the Minister, send them back to Ministerial
Services team to publish.
Let Ministerial Services team know whether any changes are required – Ministerial Services
team will liaise with you to make those changes and confirm they’ve been done correctly.
Ministerial Services team will arrange for the documents to be uploaded on to the external
website on the agreed date.
Contacts
Ministeral Services team
[email address]
Part of
Ministers and cabinet
https://jet.justice.govt.nz/how-do-i/proactively-release-cabinet-papers/
13/08/2020

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RELEASED UNER THE OFFICIAL INFORMATION ACT 1982
Templates
Process map for proactive release
Proactive release cover sheet template
Proactive release approval briefing template
https://jet.justice.govt.nz/how-do-i/proactively-release-cabinet-papers/
13/08/2020

Process for the proactive release of Cabinet papers and related documents
RELEASED UNER THE OFFICIAL INFORMATION ACT 1982
Appendix C
Cabinet
Agree timing
Prepare and
Get approval
Collate
Assess
Review
Publish
Draft Cabinet paper
considers
for
redact
from the
documents
content
documents
documents
paper
publication
documents
Minister
Responsible business
30 day timeframe
Responsible business
Responsible business
Responsible business
Responsible business
t
Responsible business
Responsible business
unit drafts Cabinet
triggered
unit agrees with the
unit collates Cabinet
unit:
unit reviews redacted
unit sends
unit notifies
paper for Minister –
uni
Minister or their
material and any key
• assesses
documents and
documents, cover
Operational
s
paper must include a
office when the
advice papers
documents to
finalises approval
sheet and approval
Improvement once
es
statement on
documents will be
identify any issues
briefing
briefing to Minister
the pack has been
whether it will be
sin
published
and whether there
for approval
approved by the
proactively released
might be grounds
Minister and can be
e bu
to withhold any
published
bl
information –
seeking advice
from OLC if
ponsi
necessary
es
• drafts cover sheet
R
and approval
briefing
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Operational
Operational
Operational
Improvement
Improvement
Improvement
prepares documents
publishes
monitors CabNet for
for release, including
coversheet and
Cabinet papers
making electronic
documents on
requiring publication.
Improvement
redactions
website, and
notifies the
onal
responsible
ti
business unit that
it has been
published
Opera
KEY TERMS
Responsible business unit
The unit responsible for the subject matter or function addressed in the Cabinet paper. They draft the Cabinet paper, identify what should or shouldn’t be released and work with the
Minister’s office to get the Minster’s approval to release the information.
Operational Improvement
The team in Corporate and Governance that undertakes the technical process of redacting and publishing the documents based on the instructions of the responsible business group.
Cabinet material
All Cabinet papers, any attachments or appendices to those papers, and the associated minutes. This includes minutes resulting from the consideration of oral items at Cabinet.
Key advice papers
A key advice paper is a document addressed to the Minister who took the item to Cabinet that seeks agreement from the Minister to recommendations on the matter.
Cover sheet
Cabinet material and any related key advice will be published as a single pack with a cover sheet that contains key information like a list of the documents being released and whether and
why anything has been withheld (redacted).
Approval briefing
The briefing to the Minister seeking agreement on what documents will be released and any redactions.
9 May 2019

RELEASED UNER THE OFFICIAL INFORMATION ACT 1982
[Hon XXX YYYY]
Appendix D
[Minister of/for XXXX]
[Proactive release – name of the package]
[Date of issue: DD Month YYYY]
The following document[s] [has/have] been proactively released in accordance with
Cabinet Office Circular CO (18) 4.
[Some information has been withheld on the basis that it would not, if requested under
the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA), be released. Where that is the case, the relevant
section of the OIA has been noted and no public interest has been identified that would
outweigh the reasons for withholding it.]
No. Document
Comments
1
[Title of the document]
[For example:
[Type of document – eg “Cabinet paper”,
“Some information has been withheld in
“Cabinet minute”, “Attachment to Cabinet
accordance with section 9(2)(f)(iv) of the OIA to
paper”, “Key advice”, and so on]
protect the confidentiality of advice tendered by
[Author of document – eg, “Office of the
Ministers of the Crown and officials.”
Associate Minister of Justice”, “Cabinet
Where regulations or other legislative instruments
Office” (for minutes) or “Ministry of Justice”
have been agreed: “Note that the copies of the
for key advice]
regulations and commencement orders provided to
[Date of the document – for Minutes:
Ministers with this paper have been withheld in
“Meeting date: dd mm yyyy”]
accordance with section 61 of the Legislation Act
2012 and section 9(2)(h) of the Official Information
Act 1982 to maintain legal professional privilege.
The legislative instruments are publicly available
from www.legislation.govt.nz.”]
2
[Title of the document]
[For example:
[Type of document]
“Some information has been withheld in
[Author of document]
accordance with the following sections of the OIA:
[Date of the document]
•
section 9(2)(a) to protect the privacy of
natural persons, and
•
section 9(2)(f)(iv) to protect the confidentiality
of advice tendered by Ministers of the Crown
and officials.”]
3.
[Title of the document]
[For example:
[Type of document]
“Released in full.”]
[Author of document]
[Date of the document]
© Crown Copyright, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

RELEASED UNER THE OFFICIAL INFORMATION ACT 1982
Appendix E
Approval to proactively release documents
To
Hon XXXX YYYY, Minister [of/for etc]
From
[Firstname Lastname], [Role]
Date
[DD Month YYYY]
Subject
Proactive release of documents relating to…
Purpose
1. This paper seeks your approval to publish documents relating to [XXXXX] on the Ministry’s website on
[DD Month YYYY]  in accordance with the Government’s policy on proactive release of Cabinet and
related material [CO (18) 4].
Information to be released
2. [Note what the Minister indicated they would do in relation to proactive release (Ministers must indicate
whether they intend to release in the Cabinet paper itself).]
3. [Describe the documents we recommend releasing:
3.1.  There is an expectation that papers and any attachments and appendices wil  be released (see
para 18 of CO (18) 4).
3.2.  There is an expectation that the minute wil  also be published. Use the minute of the Cabinet
Committee, if that is where the substantive discussion took place, provided it has subsequently
been confirmed by Cabinet (see para 18 of CO (18) 4).
3.3.  Note what, it any “key advice papers” we recommend releasing.
Prepare the coversheet to be published with the pack at the same time that you’re completing this
section of the approval briefing.]
4. [Explain what, if any, information we recommend withholding and the grounds for that. Did you need
to seek legal advice on any of the withholding grounds? If so, explain.]
5. [Add or modify headings and sub-headings as required.]
Sub-heading format [if required]
6.
6.1.
Issues
7. [For example: do the papers include any information that is likely to attract wider media, political or
public attention? Is it a one-off paper, or is it part of a bigger project or series of papers? Is any of the
information to be released already in the public domain?]
1

RELEASED UNER THE OFFICIAL INFORMATION ACT 1982
8.  [Delete this heading if it’s not required – any issues may have been addressed in the previous section.]
Timing
9.  [For example: what is the 30-day deadline for publishing the papers? Did they Minister decide to delay
publication? When do we recommend publishing the material? Have we talked to the Minister’s office
about linking the release to an announcement or press release? If publication is expected to line up with
a Ministerial announcement or press release, we may need to agree a specific time for publication, and
not just the date of publication.]
Consultation
10.  [Did we need to consult any other organisations or individuals about what should be released? What
was their feedback?]
Publication details
11.  The proposed publication details are set out in the appendix.
Recommendations
12.  It is recommended that you approve publication of the following documents on the Ministry’s website
on [DD Month YYYY]:
No.  Document
Comments
Approval
1  [Title of the document]
[For example:
Yes / No
[Date of the document – if
“We recommend withholding some information as it is
applicable
likely it would, if requested under the Official
]
Information Act 1982, be withheld under section
9(2)(f)(iv) to protect the confidentiality of advice
tendered by Ministers of the Crown and officials.
No public interest has been identified that would
outweigh the reasons for withholding it.”]


2

RELEASED UNER THE OFFICIAL INFORMATION ACT 1982
[Make sure the signature blocks are on a page with other text – they shouldn’t be on a standalone page.]

[Name of person signing the briefing]
[Role]
APPROVED
SEEN
NOT AGREED

  _______________________________________
[Hon Firstname Lastname]
Minister [of or for] XXXX]
Date    /    /

Attachments:
•  Draft pack for publication [the pack should include the coversheet and the documents with any
proposed redactions marked]


3

RELEASED UNER THE OFFICIAL INFORMATION ACT 1982
Appendix – publication details
13.  The documents wil  be published on [DD Month YYYY].
14.  The fol owing table outlines the details for loading the documents onto the external website.
Topic
[You must include at least one “topic” - see the publications finder for
The “topic” is the top-level tag
options.]
for material in the publications
[If you’re releasing Cabinet and related material you must include “Cabinet
finder on the website
and related material” as a topic, but you can add others if applicable (eg,
“Policy”).]
Category
[There are currently no categories under “Cabinet and related material”, but
The “category” is the second-
there may be applicable categories if you include another “Topic”. If you’re
level tag for material in the
not including any categories, write “Not applicable”.]
publications finder
Title
[Use the title from the coversheet for the pack of documents to be proactively
released.]
Description

This is different from the title –
it’s what appears in the search
results, so it needs to be
meaningful.
Key words
Proactive release [this term must be included]
Any additional keywords to be
[Add other key words if applicable]
tagged – you don’t need to
include any words already
mentioned in the title or
description
Content owner
[Firstname Lastname], Role
This must be a person
Business unit and group

Owner’s email address

Use a generic team address if
you have one – eg,
[email address]

4

Document Outline

Binder.pdf
- E Proactive-release-approval-briefing-template.pdf