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 t
o [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
- The request and due date
- Background
- Proposed response
- Public interest considerations
- Consultation