Amanda Murtagh
[FYI request #17125 email]
10 December 2021
Tēnā koe Amanda Murtagh
On 11 October 2021, you emailed the Ministry of Social Development (the Ministry)
requesting, under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act), the following information
in relation to a previous response sent to you on 7 September 2021:
1. How did the Official and Parliamentary Information team assessing the OIA
which arrived at the decision that the best approach would be a personal phone
call and not a formal response?
2. Who at the Ministry authorised this decision?
3. Why was the decision made not to answer the questions under the OIA act?
4. Was Ministerial Services involved in the decision?
5. Please provide a copy of all Internal MSD correspondence regarding this matter.
For the sake of clarity, the Ministry will address you questions in turn.
1. How did the Official and Parliamentary Information team assessing the OIA
which arrived at the decision that the best approach would be a personal phone
call and not a formal response?
3. Why was the decision made not to answer the questions under the OIA act?
With every official information request, the Official and Parliamentary Information
(OPI) team corresponds with the relevant business units who are the subject matter
experts of the request. In this case, the OPI team consulted with the Service Delivery
business unit.
Numerous factors were taken into consideration when discussing your previous official
information request, such as, the context of your questions, the information you were
seeking as well as your privacy. When responding to requests we also always consider
the best channel to convey information back to the client, and in same case we may
consider a direct phone call to be more appropriate because it will allow for follow up
questions to be addressed as part of this conversation.
Page 1 of 3
The Aurora Centre, 56 The Terrace, PO Box 1556, Wel ington • Telephone 0-4-916 3300 • Facsimile 0-4-918 0099

However, since you disagreed with the approach, we did provide you with a written
response on 7 September 2021.
As per our letter of 19 November, we treated your request as a request under the
Privacy Act 2020 rather than one made under the Official Information Act 1982
because you requested information about yourself and your file information which is
covered by the Privacy Act. Responses under the Privacy Act do not get published on
our website.
3. Who at the Ministry authorised this decision?
I  authorised this decision. But I also wish to add  that the legislation required this
decision.
4. Was Ministerial Services involved in the decision?
Yes, the OPI team is part of the Ministerial and Executive Services.
5. Please provide a copy of all Internal MSD correspondence regarding this matter.
The Ministry interpreted your request as being all internal correspondence regarding
the Ministry’s decision  making  of  the  previous response, sent to you on dated 7
September 2021. Therefore, please see enclosed a copy of all internal correspondence
in relation to the decision making of the response sent to you on 7 September 2021.
Some information has been withheld to protect the privacy of Ministry staff under
section 9(2)(a) of the Act. There are no countervailing reasons which would favour
release of this information.
Due to the sensitive and personal information enclosed in these documents, I am
sending them to your personal email address to protect your confidentiality. As such,
they will not be posted on the FYI website.
The principles and purposes of the Official Information Act 1982 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.
This Ministry fully supports those principles and purposes. If you wish to discuss this
response with us, please feel free to contact [MSD request email].
Page 2 of 3
The Aurora Centre, 56 The Terrace, PO Box 1556, Wel ington  • Telephone 0-4-916 3300 • Facsimile 0-4-918 0099

If you are not satisfied with this response 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.
Ngā mihi nui
Magnus O’Neill
General Manager
Ministerial and Executive Services
Page 3 of 3
The Aurora Centre, 56 The Terrace, PO Box 1556, Wel ington  • Telephone 0-4-916 3300 • Facsimile 0-4-918 0099

Document Outline