Greg Floyd
[FYI request #16008 email]
Tēnā koe Greg Floyd
On 8 July 2021, you emailed Kāinga Ora requesting, under the Official Information Act
1982 (the Act), the following information:
•
A breakdown of total household income (before tax) of all Kainga Ora houses in Pt
Chevalier. I.e. under 50k, 50k to 100k, 100k to 150k and over 150k.
On 3 August 2021, this part of your request was transferred to the Ministry of Social
Development (the Ministry).
Although the Ministry holds information on clients’ income for the purposes of calculating
income-related rent subsidies, we regret to inform you that we are unable to provide you
with the information requested.
The relevant business unit conducted investigations on whether the information requested
can be extracted from the Ministry’s IT system and advised that the data is not centrally
reported on. New code would be required to extract the figures requested from the
Ministry’s IT system. However, under the Act, agencies are not required to create new
information in order to respond to a request for official information.
Without an automated collation method, Ministry staff would be required to manually look
through thousands of client files to collate the information. The Ministry would need to
divert personnel from their core duties and al ocate extra time to complete this task. The
diversion of these resources would impair the Ministry’s ability to continue standard
operations and would be an inefficient use of the Ministry’s resources. As such, the request
is refused under section 18(f) of the Act, as it requires substantial manual collation. The
greater public interest is in the effective and efficient administration of the public service.
The Ministry has considered whether it would be able to respond to your request given
extra time, or the ability to charge for the information requested. The Ministry has
concluded that, in either case, its ability to undertake its work would still be prejudiced.
We apologise that it has taken so long to provide you with a response, and that
unfortunately we are unable to provide you with the information requested.
The principles and purposes of the Act under which you made your request are:
• to create greater openness and transparency about the plans, work and activities
of the Government,
• to increase the ability of the public to participate in the making and administration
of our laws and policies and
• to lead to greater accountability in the conduct of public affairs.
The Aurora Centre, 56 The Terrace, PO Box 1556, Wel ington • Telephone 0-4-916 3300 • Facsimile 0-4-918 0099
If you wish to discuss this response with us, please feel free to contact
[email address].
If you are not satisfied with this response regarding household incomes of Kāinga Ora
homes at Point Chevalier, you have the right to seek an investigation and review by the
Ombudsman. Information about how to make a complaint is available at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or 0800 802 602.
Nāku noa, nā
Magnus O’Neill
General Manager
Ministerial and Executive Services
Document Outline
