Official Information Act Request S Rowe.pdf

24 February 2021

S Rowe
[FYI request #13967 email]

Tēnā koe

Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) Request

Thank you for your request for information received on 13 December 2020. You requested that the
Earthquake Commission (EQC) provide you with information relating to your previous information
request of 13 October 2020. For ease of reference, we have set out your request of 13 December in
ful  below including where you have simply acknowledged any answer provided in our response of
20 November 2020.

1. Acknowledged.

2(a) I can not find the answer to this question in EQC’s response.
We consider that our letter of 20 November 2020 adequately answers question 2(a) of your request.

2(b) EQC stated in it’s response “Information about complaints arising from claims managed by
EQC is provided monthly by EQC staff to Southern Response by entering it into a spreadsheet saved
on a Southern Response database (the Aggressive/Unacceptable Behaviour or Accident/Incident
report).”
Can you please explain why this spreadsheet was not used al  the time, and instead the
communication of this information took place over email?
Prior to mid-June 2020, information was shared by email (which explains the material you have
referred to). Following a recommendation arising from an audit undertaken at that time, it was
decided that the shared spreadsheet would be used instead.
2(c) EQC stated in its response “The information shared relates only to claim management and
complaints about EQC staff are not included in this spreadsheet.
This does not relate to the question asked, but seems to imply that EQC did not share complaints
about EQC staff with Southern Response. EQC has shared complaints about EQC staff with
Southern Response on more than one occasion.
Can you please acknowledge the last paragraph as being true?
It is not part of EQC’s policies to share complaints about EQC staff with Southern Response.

EQC and Southern Response staff have access to the Southern Response claim management system.
All claim relevant information is saved there. If claim relevant information, such as an email, was
saved on this claim management system that contained information relating to a complaint made
Earthquake Commission
Corporate Mail: PO Box 790, Wel ington 6140
Level 11, Majestic Centre
Claims Mail: PO Box 311, Wel ington 6140

100 Wil is Street
Telephone: 0800-326-243 Fax: (04) 978-6431
Wel ington 6011, New Zealand
www.eqc.govt.nz

about EQC staff, both parties would be able to access it. Due to this, it is possible that Southern
Response staff may have become aware of complaints made about EQC staff.

3. I can not find the answer to this question in EQC’s response. The “answer above” does not make
reference to the “Aggressive/Unacceptable Behaviour” list, nor to the “Accident/Incident reports”
list.
The answer to your question can be found under the heading “Complaints against EQC and
information shared about those” in our letter of 20 November 2020. As indicated in that response
the spreadsheet we are referring to is known as the Aggressive/Unacceptable Behaviour and
Accident/Incident Report. There are two spreadsheet tabs respectively titled
Aggressive/Unacceptable Behaviour and Accident/Incident Report.

4(a) Do the 10 requests include this request?
Unfortunately, there was an error in our previous response where we stated that EQC has
transferred 10 OIA requests through to Southern Response.  The correct position is that Southern
Response transferred 10 OIA requests to EQC. We apologise for any confusion this might have
caused.

Your OIA request of 13 October 2020 was not transferred to Southern Response.

4(b) Did EQC communicate to Southern Response about this request?
No.

5. It appears the implied answer to this question is “0”. Can you explicitly confirm this was the
intended answer?
The transfer process of OIA requests involves the transfer of a request for official information from
one agency to another under section 14(b)(i) or (i ) of the OIA.  That process does not involve the
transfer of any further information.
Requesters make a wide variety of requests for official information. Some requests may contain
further information that is provided by the requester in order to support an agency to better identify
the information they seek. If a request is transferred, then the further information provided by the
requester is also transferred as it forms part of the request.
EQC does not keep a record of whether transferred requests contain further information provided
by the requester. As such, we are unable to provide you with information to confirm the number of
times this may have occurred, as this information does not exist. This decision is made under section
18(e) of the OIA.

6(a) Can you please provide the list of people Southern Response has made available to EQC, and
what their subject matter expertise is? Please indicate which staff had been made use of prior to
this OIA request being made, and which after it was initially filed.
We are unable to provide you with “the list of people Southern Response has made available to
EQC” as that information does not exist. This decision is made under section 18(e) of the OIA.

6(b) The Agency Agreement says that EQC can be charged for use of additional Southern Response
staff. Who is bearing the cost of the use of unprescribed staff?
The Agreement relating to Management of Outstanding Canterbury Claims (the Agency Agreement)
does not state that EQC can be charged for the use of additional Southern Response staff.
Furthermore, it does not outline who bears the cost for the use of “unprescribed staff”.
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We are unable to provide you with that information as it does not exist. This decision is made under
section 18(e) of the OIA.

7(a) Can you please provide an example of when the sharing of claimant personal details would be
required to facilitate advice about property damage?
Each claim file in the Southern Response claim management system contains claimant personal
details alongside further claim relevant information such as property damage. As noted above, both
EQC and Southern Response staff have access to this claim management system. Because of this,
there is no need to share claimant personal details between parties.
We are unable to provide you with the example requested above, as that information does not exist.
This decision is made under section 18(e) of the OIA.

7(b) I requested a total instead of requesting the individual documents, which would be covered by
the Official Information Act. If EQC does not want to answer the question as asked, then please
provide me with redacted copies of every communication and I wil  sum the documents myself. If
EQC chooses to redact documents then please redact and provide in such a way that facilitates the
counting of the communications.
As noted above, there is no need for EQC to share claimant personal details with Southern Response
as both parties have access to the claim management system.  We are therefore unable to provide
you with “every communication” where this has occurred, as no such communication exists. This
decision is made under section 18(e) of the OIA.

8. Please confirm that the implied response of “0” is accurate.
As we have noted EQC generally does not require privacy waivers. However, there may be instances
where this has occurred. We do not keep a record of, or tally these occurrences.  As such, we are
unable to provide you with information to confirm “that the implied response of ‘0’ is accurate” as
this information does not exist. This decision is made under section 18(e) of the OIA.
9-12. The answers to questions 9-12 appear to be addressed by reference to Clause 5.2 of the
agency agreement.
However that clause explicitly states that the Privacy Act stil  applies.
Additionally, EQC has shared personal details of individuals with Southern Response outside of the
prescribed Information Systems.
As such Clause 5.2 does not apply to all circumstances, so please provide the answers to questions
9-12.
We consider that our letter of 20 November 2020 answers these questions. As noted above, EQC
and Southern Response both have access to the Southern Response claim management system and
a shared spreadsheet. Because of this, there is no need to share claimant information between the
two parties. This means that claimants were not notified of occurrences of their information being
shared, as there were no such individual, countable occurrences. As such, we are unable to provide
you with the information requested in questions 9 to 11, as this information does not exist. This
decision is made under section 18(e) of the OIA.
13. Acknowledged.
However EQC has stated “Where EQC is acting as Southern Response’s agent on a claim, EQC is
able to seek legal advice from Southern Response”.
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However there are instances of EQC engaging the Southern Response legal team in relation to
events that are not EQC acting as agents for Southern Response, such as complaints about EQC
staff.
Please readdress the questions 14-16 based on this apparent interaction outside of what EQC has
deemed appropriate use of the Southern Response legal team.

14. Please see 7(b) above for alternatives to providing this information.
We consider that our letter of 20 November 2020 adequately answers question 14 of your request.
We are unable to provide you with “every communication” in relation to number of times EQC has
sought legal advice from Southern Response as this would constitute substantial collation and
research. This decision is made under section 18(f) of the OIA.

15-16. I can not find the answer to this question.
We consider that our letter of 20 November 2020 adequately answers questions 15 to 16 of your
request.

17-20. Can you please explain how a count of individuals could possibly expose personal
information?
You have indicated that you have knowledge of certain claimant information. In the event that this is
either not your own personal information or information about a claimant for whom you have
authority to act, disclosing specific counts could interfere with the privacy of any claimant to whom
such information relates.

21. The response from EQC seems to imply that the Agency Agreement allows for close
col aboration between EQC and Southern Response. However, the prior points made by EQC in its
response were that EQC and Southern Response could share information contained in existing
information systems and that a single subject matter expert be made available to EQC.
Please explain EQC’s response to this saying that close col aboration is permitted.
We consider that our letter of 20 November 2020 adequately answers question 21 of your request.

22. Acknowledged.

23. Please see 7(b) above for alternatives to providing this information.
We consider that our letter of 20 November 2020 adequately answers question 23 of your request.
We are unable to provide you with “every communication” in relation to al independent damage
assessments as this would constitute substantial collation and research. This decision is made under
section 18(f) of the OIA.

24. Please see 7(b) above for alternatives to providing this information.
We consider that our letter of 20 November 2020 adequately answers question 24 of your request.
We are unable to provide you with “every communication” in relation to every independent damage
assessment requested and not provided as this would constitute substantial collation and research.
This decision is made under section 18(f) of the OIA.
25. Why has EQC not held Southern Response to it’s agency agreement requirement to provide a
list of vulnerable persons?
As noted above, EQC and Southern Response staff both have access to the Southern Response claim
management system where a claimant’s vulnerability status is clearly displayed in their electronic
file. Because of this it is not necessary for a list of vulnerable persons to be provided.

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26. I can not find the answer to this question.
We consider that our letter of 20 November 2020 adequately answers questions 26 of your request.

27-38. The questions are not directed at identifying a particular claim.

Despite having crafted the questions so that no personal information would be exposed, If EQC
believes that any personal information would be exposed then please let me know what the
questions are, and what category of personal information would be exposed, and I wil  adjust the
questions as to not be a privacy risk.
As mentioned earlier, you have indicated that you have knowledge of certain claimant information
(for example questions 36 and 37 of your request of 13 October 2020). In the event that this is either
not your own personal information or information about a claimant for whom you have authority to
act, disclosing information about such a claim could interfere with the privacy of those concerned.
A further difficulty with this aspect of your request is that it is likely to relate to only a very small
number of claims. Because of this, specifying the number of instances where the events you have
referred to could also interfere with the privacy of those concerned. With that in mind we would be
open to receiving a further request that would avoid those issues. We do however reiterate our
decision to withhold the information sought at questions 28 to 38 under section 9(2)(a) of the OIA.
39-40. I can not find the answer to this question. EQC stated “We note that this aspect of your
request also appears to be directed at particular claims or claimants.”
I must assume that this is in relation to questions 39-40.
Can you please explain how communicating which EQC staff and minister have knowledge of EQC
requests to Southern Response would expose personal information?
As we have indicated, your request is directed at a particular claims or claimants. We believe the
issues we have noted in relation to questions 28 to 38 of your request are also relevant to questions
39 and 40.

Please note that we do not intend to publish our response to your official information request.

You have the right under section 28(3) of the OIA to ask the Ombudsman to investigate and review
our decision. The Ombudsman can be contacted at PO Box 10 152, Wel ington 6143, by telephone
on 0800 802 602, or through their website at www.ombudsman.parliament.nz.

Ngā mihi

Sophie Carrol
Principal Advisor

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