24 September 2020
Andrew Chen
By email to: [FYI request #13714 email]
Dear Dr Chen
OFFICIAL INFORMATION REQUEST – OUR REFERENCE: IR-01-20-26373
I refer to your Official Information Act (OIA) request, submit ed via the FYI website
on 8 September 2020, which requested a copy of a recent assurance review report
completed on emergent technologies, as well as a list of all groups and individuals
consulted as part of the review.
With respect to the first element of your request, we intend to proactively release
a copy of the assurance report - along with an update on further work undertaken
since it was completed - within the next five to six weeks. As the requested report
is shortly to be made publicly available, we therefore formally decline this part of
your request as allowed for by section 18(d) of the OIA. (An equivalent process
was followed for last year’s assurance work on firearms security and storage: see
www.police.govt.nz/sites/default/files/publications/national-audit-firearms-storage-
and-security-summary-report.pdf).
As to the second element of your request, the reviewers who led the work consulted
internally with staff from the National Operations and Service Delivery Groups, as
wel as from the Legal Service Centre and Evidence Based Policing Centre. We can
also confirm that subsequent conversations have been taken forward with officials
from relevant agencies to discuss matters raised in the review, including from the
Office of the Privacy Commissioner and Statistics New Zealand. Beyond that, it
would not be appropriate to identify named individuals who contributed to the
review; in order to protect against there being any ‘chilling effect’ on the Assurance
Group’s work, and the wil ingness of staff to provide information [section 9(2)(ba)(i)
of the OIA refers]. I am satisfied the relevant interests at stake are not outweighed
by any countervailing public interest in disclosing the names of specific individuals.
In closing, while it hasn’t been possible to immediately provide all the information
you requested, I trust this reply has nonetheless been of value. If you’re dissatisfied
with the response, though, you may complain to the Office of the Ombudsman, and
seek an investigation and review of my handling of your request.
Respectfully
Mike Webb
Director: Assurance