RNZ Concert / youth radio

Gareth Watkins made this Official Information request to Ministry for Culture and Heritage

The request was partially successful.

From: Gareth Watkins

Kia ora MCH team,

Can you please supply me with all of the information you have relating to the 2019/2020 restructuring of RNZ Concert and/or the establishment of a youth radio station by RNZ. This could include diary entries, briefings, advice, memos, correspondence etc

Regards,
Gareth

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From: OIA
Ministry for Culture and Heritage

Kia Ora -

We are currently processing your request.

As it stands, your request requires a search through a significant amount of material to find information that may be relevant to the request. As such, it may be refused under section 18(f) of the OIA. Before taking this step, the Ministry is keen to engage with you to see whether you would be willing to narrow the scope of your request to cover:

Formal advice (Aides Memoire and briefings) provided to Minister Faafoi related to the proposed 2019/2020 restructuring of RNZ Concert and/or the establishment of a youth radio station by RNZ.

Please let us know if you are happy for us to rescope this request or if you have any questions or comments. Please also get in touch if you have other preferences for refinement.

Ngā mihi

Ministerial Services
Manatū Taonga | Ministry for Culture & Heritage He ngākau titikaha, he hononga tangata Promoting a confident and connected culture Public Trust Building, 131 Lambton Quay, Wellington PO Box 5364, Wellington 6140 Ph +64 4 499 4229

-----Original Message-----
From: Gareth Watkins <[FYI request #12195 email]>
Sent: Sunday, 9 February 2020 9:52 PM
To: Ministerial and OIA Enquiries <[Ministry for Culture and Heritage request email]>
Subject: Official Information request - RNZ Concert / youth radio

Kia ora MCH team,

Can you please supply me with all of the information you have relating to the 2019/2020 restructuring of RNZ Concert and/or the establishment of a youth radio station by RNZ. This could include diary entries, briefings, advice, memos, correspondence etc

Regards,
Gareth

-------------------------------------------------------------------

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[FYI request #12195 email]

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From: Gareth Watkins

Dear MCH team,

Thanks for the opportunity to refine my request. I have reduced my request significantly.

1. Please supply me with all of the official information you hold relating to the conversation(s) between Ministry officials and CEO Paul Thompson in mid-2019, as reported in the NZ Herald (https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/artic...): "Both Thompson and RNZ chairman Jim Mather said the broadcaster was told by officials midway through last year [2019] that there was little chance it would be able to use the 102 FM frequency for its planned youth radio channel. Thompson said he was told by officials that it would be 'very difficult to be able to gain access to the frequency, and to the funding required to support it'." Official information may include written notes, remembered conversations, subsequent briefing papers etc.

2. Please supply me with all of the correspondence you hold between the Ministry and RNZ relating to the 2019/2020 restructuring of RNZ Concert and/or the establishment of a youth radio station by RNZ, written or received in the two-week period 1 February 2020 - 15 February 2020.

Yours sincerely,

Gareth Watkins

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From: OIA
Ministry for Culture and Heritage

Kia Ora –

 

I write concerning your request made under the OIA asking for information
about RNZ Concert. For reference, you refined your request to the
following:

 

1. Please supply me with all of the official information you hold relating
to the conversation(s) between Ministry officials and CEO Paul Thompson in
mid-2019, as reported in the NZ Herald
([1]https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/artic...):
"Both Thompson and RNZ chairman Jim Mather said the broadcaster was told
by officials midway through last year [2019] that there was little chance
it would be able to use the 102 FM frequency for its planned youth radio
channel. Thompson said he was told by officials that it would be 'very
difficult to be able to gain access to the frequency, and to the funding
required to support it'."  Official information may include written notes,
remembered conversations, subsequent briefing papers etc.

 

2. Please supply me with all of the correspondence you hold between the
Ministry and RNZ relating  to the 2019/2020 restructuring of RNZ Concert
and/or the establishment of a youth radio station by RNZ, written or
received in the two-week period 1 February 2020 - 15 February 2020.

 

The Ministry will not be able to respond within the timeframes as set out
in the OIA as:

 

o The request necessitates a search through a large quantity of
information and meeting the original time limit would unreasonably
interfere with the operations of the Ministry; and
o Consultations necessary to make a decision on the request are such
that a proper response to the request cannot reasonably be made within
the original time limit.

 

The Ministry will communicate a decision on your request no later than
April 28, earlier if possible.

 

You have the right, under section 28(3) of the OIA, to make a complaint to
an Ombudsman.

 

 

Kind regards,

Keegan

 

Keegan Platten | Ministerial Lead

Manatū Taonga | Ministry for Culture & Heritage

He ngākau titikaha, he hononga tangata

Promoting a confident and connected culture
Public Trust Building, Level 1, 131-135 Lambton Quay
P O Box 5364, Wellington, New Zealand

 

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

This is an email between the Ministry for Culture and Heritage and the
intended recipients only.
It may contain privileged material. If this email is not intended for you
do not read, use, distribute or copy it.
Please notify the sender immediately and then delete the email and any
attachments.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

References

Visible links
1. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/artic...

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From: OIA
Ministry for Culture and Heritage

Dear Mr Watkins

I refer to your request received on 9 February 2020, and extended on 9 March, which has now been considered under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA), for the following information:

1. Please supply me with all of the official information you hold relating to the conversation(s) between Ministry officials and CEO Paul Thompson in mid-2019, as reported in the NZ Herald
(https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/artic...): "Both Thompson and RNZ chairman Jim Mather said the broadcaster was told by officials midway through last year [2019] that there was little chance it would be able to use the 102 FM frequency for its planned youth radio channel. Thompson said he was told by officials that it would be 'very difficult to be able to gain access to the frequency, and to the funding required to support it'." Official information may include written notes, remembered conversations, subsequent briefing papers etc.

2. Please supply me with all of the correspondence you hold between the Ministry and RNZ relating to the 2019/2020 restructuring of RNZ Concert and/or the establishment of a youth radio station by RNZ, written or received in the two-week period 1 February 2020 - 15 February 2020.

This email is to advise that a decision has been made in accordance with the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA). The information in scope of your request will be provided to you after being administratively processed. This is taking longer than anticipated due to government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Formal advice in the form of briefings, aides memoire and status reports which the Ministry for Culture and Heritage provided to the Minister of Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media, which is in scope of your request, will soon be made publicly available on the Ministry’s website at https://mch.govt.nz/proactive_releases. Therefore, these documents have been refused under section 18(d) of the OIA - that the information requested is or will soon be publicly available. The Ministry will provide you links to these documents once they are publicly available.

Other documentation including correspondence which is within scope of your request will be released to you in accordance with the OIA shortly.

Some material has been withheld in accordance with section 9 of the OIA. In these cases, any public interest has been considered as per section 9(1) of the OIA.

If you wish to discuss this decision, please feel free to contact [email address].

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.

Yours sincerely

Ministerial Services
Manatū Taonga | Ministry for Culture & Heritage He ngākau titikaha, he hononga tangata Promoting a confident and connected culture Public Trust Building, 131 Lambton Quay, Wellington PO Box 5364, Wellington 6140 Ph +64 4 499 4229

-----Original Message-----
From: Gareth Watkins <[FOI #12195 email]>
Sent: Monday, 24 February 2020 7:57 PM
To: OIA <[email address]>
Subject: Re: Clarification of OIA request

Dear MCH team,

Thanks for the opportunity to refine my request. I have reduced my request significantly.

1. Please supply me with all of the official information you hold relating to the conversation(s) between Ministry officials and CEO Paul Thompson in mid-2019, as reported in the NZ Herald (https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/artic...): "Both Thompson and RNZ chairman Jim Mather said the broadcaster was told by officials midway through last year [2019] that there was little chance it would be able to use the 102 FM frequency for its planned youth radio channel. Thompson said he was told by officials that it would be 'very difficult to be able to gain access to the frequency, and to the funding required to support it'." Official information may include written notes, remembered conversations, subsequent briefing papers etc.

2. Please supply me with all of the correspondence you hold between the Ministry and RNZ relating to the 2019/2020 restructuring of RNZ Concert and/or the establishment of a youth radio station by RNZ, written or received in the two-week period 1 February 2020 - 15 February 2020.

Yours sincerely,

Gareth Watkins

-----Original Message-----

Kia Ora -

We are currently processing your request.

As it stands, your request requires a search through a significant amount of material to find information that may be relevant to the request. As such, it may be refused under section 18(f) of the OIA. Before taking this step, the Ministry is keen to engage with you to see whether you would be willing to narrow the scope of your request to cover:

Formal advice (Aides Memoire and briefings) provided to Minister Faafoi related to the proposed 2019/2020 restructuring of RNZ Concert and/or the establishment of a youth radio station by RNZ.

Please let us know if you are happy for us to rescope this request or if you have any questions or comments. Please also get in touch if you have other preferences for refinement.

Ngā mihi

Ministerial Services
Manatū Taonga | Ministry for Culture & Heritage He ngākau titikaha, he hononga tangata Promoting a confident and connected culture Public Trust Building, 131 Lambton Quay, Wellington PO Box 5364, Wellington 6140 Ph +64 4 499 4229

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #12195 email]

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
https://fyi.org.nz/help/officers

If you find this service useful as an Official Information officer, please ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's OIA or LGOIMA page.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

This is an email between the Ministry for Culture and Heritage and the intended recipients only. It may contain privileged material. If this email is not intended for you do not read, use, distribute or copy it. Please notify the sender immediately and then delete the email and any attachments.

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From: Gareth Watkins

Dear Ministerial Services,

Thanks for the update. I fully appreciate that these are exceptional circumstances and the information will come in due course,

Yours sincerely,

Gareth Watkins

Link to this

From: Gareth Watkins

Dear Ministry for Culture and Heritage,

It has now been six weeks since you said the information "will soon be made publicly available on the Ministry’s website...Other documentation including correspondence which is within scope of your request will be released to you in accordance with the OIA shortly."

No information has been supplied. Can you please advise when you will respond to my OIA request.

Yours faithfully,

Gareth Watkins

Link to this

From: OIA
Ministry for Culture and Heritage

Thank you for your email, Mr Watkins.

 

Sincere apologies on the delay in getting this material to you. We have
just this moment published the formal advice documents on mch.govt.nz,
which are available here
[1]https://mch.govt.nz/sites/default/files/....

 

We are working on getting a response to the other part of your request by
early next week.

 

Kind regards

 

 

Ministerial Services
Manatū Taonga | Ministry for Culture & Heritage
He ngākau titikaha, he hononga tangata
Promoting a confident and connected culture
Public Trust Building, 131 Lambton Quay, Wellington
PO Box 5364, Wellington 6140 Ph +64 4 499 4229

 

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Gareth Watkins <[FOI #12195 email]>
Sent: Saturday, 13 June 2020 2:00 PM
To: Ministerial and OIA Enquiries <[Ministry for Culture and Heritage request email]>
Subject: Re: Official Information request - RNZ Concert / youth radio

 

Dear Ministry for Culture and Heritage,

 

It has now been six weeks since you said the information "will soon be
made publicly available on the Ministry’s website...Other documentation
including correspondence which is within scope of your request will be
released to you in accordance with the OIA shortly."

 

No information has been supplied. Can you please advise when you will
respond to my OIA request.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

Gareth Watkins

 

 

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:

[2][FOI #12195 email]

 

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:

[3]https://fyi.org.nz/help/officers

 

If you find this service useful as an Official Information officer, please
ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's OIA or LGOIMA
page.

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------

 

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

This is an email between the Ministry for Culture and Heritage and the
intended recipients only.
It may contain privileged material. If this email is not intended for you
do not read, use, distribute or copy it.
Please notify the sender immediately and then delete the email and any
attachments.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

References

Visible links
1. https://mch.govt.nz/sites/default/files/...
2. mailto:[FOI #12195 email]
3. https://fyi.org.nz/help/officers

hide quoted sections

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From: OIA
Ministry for Culture and Heritage


Attachment For release MCH RNZ Concert Emails.PDF.pdf
4.0M Download View as HTML


Dear Mr Watkins

 

This email refers to your request received on 9 February 2020, and
extended on 9 March, which has been considered under the Official
Information Act 1982 (OIA), for the following information:

 

1. Please supply me with all of the official information you hold relating
to the conversation(s) between Ministry officials and CEO Paul Thompson in
mid-2019, as reported in the NZ Herald

([1]https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/artic...):
"Both Thompson and RNZ chairman Jim Mather said the broadcaster was told
by officials midway through last year [2019] that there was little chance
it would be able to use the 102 FM frequency for its planned youth radio
channel. Thompson said he was told by officials that it would be 'very
difficult to be able to gain access to the frequency, and to the funding
required to support it'."  Official information may include written notes,
remembered conversations, subsequent briefing papers etc.

 

2. Please supply me with all of the correspondence you hold between the
Ministry and RNZ relating to the 2019/2020 restructuring of RNZ Concert
and/or the establishment of a youth radio station by RNZ, written or
received in the two-week period 1 February 2020 - 15 February 2020.

 

On the 28 April 2020 we advised that a decision had been made on the
information which is in scope of your request in accordance with the OIA.
The remaining information has now been administratively processed. Please
find this information attached as the document entitled, For release – MCH
– RNZ Concert – Emails.

 

Please note, some information has been withheld under the following
grounds of the OIA:

 

·                section 9(2)(a) – to protect the privacy of natural
persons

·                section 9(2)(b)(ii) – to protect the commercial position
of the person who supplied the information, or who is the subject of the
information

·                section 9(2)(ba)(i) – as releasing this information would
be likely to prejudice the supply of similar information, or information
from the same source, and it is in the public interest that such
information should continue to be supplied

·                section 9(2)(f)(iv) – to maintain the constitutional
conventions for the time being which protect the confidentiality of advice
tendered by Ministers and officials. Once a ministerial decision has been
made in relation to this advice, this information will be able to be
reconsidered for release under the OIA in response to future requests.

 

Information which is not in scope of your request has also been withheld.
If you wish to discuss this decision, please feel free to contact
[2][email address].

 

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
[3]www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone 0800 802 602.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Ministerial Services
Manatū Taonga | Ministry for Culture & Heritage
He ngākau titikaha, he hononga tangata
Promoting a confident and connected culture
Public Trust Building, 131 Lambton Quay, Wellington
PO Box 5364, Wellington 6140 Ph +64 4 499 4229

 

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

This is an email between the Ministry for Culture and Heritage and the
intended recipients only.
It may contain privileged material. If this email is not intended for you
do not read, use, distribute or copy it.
Please notify the sender immediately and then delete the email and any
attachments.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

References

Visible links
1. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/artic...
2. mailto:[email address]
3. http://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/

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