This is an HTML version of an attachment to the Official Information request 'Te Tiriti of Waitangi'.

 
 
 
 
 
 James Watson 
 
[FYI request #14496 email] 
    Tēnā koe James 
 
Thank you for your email of 20 January 2021 to the Ministry of Education requesting the 
following information:  
 
1.  Can I please have copies of all correspondence and reports or other material 
referring to s 9 of the Education and Training Act 2020. 
Y our request has been considered under the Of icial Information Act 1982 (the Act).  
Reports or other material referring to s 9 of the Education and Training Act 2020. 
There is a substantial amount of material publicly available online in relation to section 9 of 
the Education and Training Act 2020 as per the following links: 
•  Education Report - Proposed approach to reflect the Treaty of Waitangi in the 
Education and Training Bil : https:/ www.education.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/R-21-
1184856-ER-Hipkins-Redacted.pdf 
•  Education Report - Education and Training Bil : Proposals to give bet er effect to 
the Treaty of Waitangi: https:/ www.education.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/R-34-
1200361-ER-Hipkins-Redacted.pdf 
•  Cabinet paper – reform of Tomorrow’s Schools: R-2-Paper-2-Redacted.pdf 
(education.govt.nz)  
•  Cabinet paper – approval for introduction: 
https:/ www.education.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/R-E+T-185-191-Redacted.pdf 
•  Regulatory Impact Analysis (Refocusing Boards’ role): 
https:/ www.education.govt.nz/assets/Documents/Ministry/Legislation/ETB/Refoc
using-the-role-of-school-boards-of-trustees.pdf  
•  Initial Brief: https:/ www.parliament.nz/en/pb/sc/submissions-and-
advice/document/52SCEW_ADV_93294_EW6786/education-and-training-bill-
initial-brief   
•  Departmental report to the Education and Workforce Select 
Commit ee:  https://www.parliament.nz/resource/en-
OIA: 1248914 
National Of ice, Mātauranga House, 33 Bowen Street, Wellington 6011 
PO Box 1666, Wel ington 6140. Phone: +64 4 463 8000 Fax: +64 4 463 8001 
education.govt.nz 
 

 
NZ/52SCEW_ADV_93294_EW8040/a2d721d4fdcaed0f21dfd6599ded2f9f5af70a
70 
•  Versions of E&T Bil : 
https:/ www.legislation.govt.nz/bil /government/2019/0193/latest/versions.aspx?s
earch=ts_act%40bil %40regulation%40deemedreg_education+and+training+bil _
resel_25_a&p=1 
Some of the reports and material referring to section 9 of the Act were considered by the 
Legislation Board, which is an internal board that provides oversight of the Ministry’s 
legislative programme including the progress of al  bil s and regulations. This Board includes 
key members representing the Ministry’s business groups and meets on a regular basis to 
consider policy issues that may require regulatory changes.  
The Ministry’s officials brought to the Legislation Governance Board three papers that 
considered the inclusion of a Tiriti o Waitangi clause in the Education and Training Act Bill:  
•  Education and Training Bil : Proposed Project Plan dated 25 January 2019 which 
included a draft high-level structure of the Education and Training Bil   
•  Education and Training Bil  - first round of Cabinet policy approvals dated 13 
February 2019 
•  Reflecting the Treaty of Waitangi in the Education and Training Bil , dated 1 April 
2019 
We are not releasing the paper “Education and Training Bil : Proposed Project Plan” to you 
as it does not specifically reference section 9 and therefore falls outside of the scope of your 
request. We are, however, providing you an excerpt from the Annex of this paper 
(document 1) which sets out the draft high-level structure for the Education and Training Bil  
and noted the possible inclusion of a Tiriti clause.   
We are releasing relevant excerpts of the paper dated 13 February 2019 and the minutes of 
that Board meeting (document 2) in part with some information withheld under section 
9(2)(g)(i) of the Act,  to maintain the effective conduct of public affairs through the free and 
frank expression of opinion. 
We are releasing the 1 April 2019 paper (document 3) to you in part with some information 
withheld under section 9(2)(h) of the Act to maintain legal professional privilege and under 
section 9(2)(g)(i) of the Act to maintain the effective conduct of public affairs through the free 
and frank expression of opinions. We are also releasing the relevant minutes of that meeting 
to you in full (document 4).  
Where information has been withheld under section 9 of the Act, we have considered the 
public interest in its release.  We have identified no public interest considerations sufficient to 
outweigh the need to withhold this information at this time.  
The information being released is provided in the attached Appendix A. 
Correspondence referring to s 9 of the Education and Training Act 2020. We are refusing 
your request for all correspondence under section 18(f) of the Act due to the substantial 
collation and research required to provide a response. We have identified that there is a 
minimum of six email accounts that would need to be checked for information within scope of 
your request and a scan of  one account alone has identified in excess of 100 pieces of 
correspondence potential y in scope of your request. As required under sections 18A and B 
of the Act, we have considered whether extending, charging, or inviting you to clarify for your 
education.govt.nz 
 


 
request would remove the need to refuse it. However, we do not consider any of the 
mechanisms sufficiently mitigate the administrative burden associated with attempting to 
provide a response. In reaching this conclusion we have been mindful that the majority of the 
correspondence covered by your request relates to the drafting of papers that have already 
been made publicly available or that we propose to release in the future and that much of 
that information would be legally privileged. Those documents that aren’t of this nature, are 
likely to be largely administrative (such as arranging meetings to discuss various issues). 
Please note, the Ministry now proactively publishes responses under the Act on our website. 
As such, we may publish this response on our website after five working days. Your name and 
contact details wil  be removed. 
 
Thank you again for your email. You have the right to ask an Ombudsman to review this 
decision. You can do this by writing to [email address]  or Office of the 
Ombudsman, PO Box 10152, Wellington 6143. 
 
 
Nāku noa, nā 
 
 
 
 
Dr Andrea Schöllmann 
Deputy Secretary 
Education System Policy 
education.govt.nz 
 

Document Outline