133 Molesworth Street
PO Box 5013
Wellington 6140
New Zealand
T+64 4 496 2000
26 January 2022
Jack Heikell
By email: [FYI request #17905 email]
Ref:
H202117829
Tēnā koe Jack
Response to your request for official information
Thank you for your consolidated requests under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act) to
the Ministry of Health (the Ministry) on 10 December 2021 for:
“…the demographic statistics of every birth certificate issues, broken down by the DHBs
issuing each certificate, from 1990-2010. By demographic statistics, I am requesting
information like parental age, parental/child ethnicity where applicable, occupation if
recorded, parents present, issuing type (new or replacement). Ideally, this would mean I
could view the demographic information of issues birth certificates in a manner that could
be filtered by DHB, preferable in a spreadsheet or spreadsheet-equivalent format.”
“…the names, versions, and any relevant implementation information of systems
(computer applications, software, hardware, or peripheral devices like scanners) in the
creation, maintenance, transfer, and issuing of birth certificates, from 1990-2010 broken
down by DHB. Ideally, information should be presented in a spreadsheet or spreadsheet-
equivalent format, with dates attributed to each system name and version, preferably a
date range for the period of time these systems were used and if they are currently used.
In the spreadsheet, I should be able to filter by a selected DHB.”
On 21 December 2021, the Ministry contacted you for clarification of your request. On that same
day you clarified your request to include:
“…information related to any products used in the creation, modification, or replacement
of birth certificates, held by the district health boards.”
The Ministry subsequently contacted you on 20 January 2022 to advise that district health
boards (DHBs) do not issue, create, modify, or replace birth certificates and that this was
responsibility of the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA). The Ministry has consulted with DHBs
and DIA regarding a transfer of your request but was advised that neither of these agencies
hold the information in the requested form (information about birth certificates held by DHBs).
As such, the information is refused under section 18(g) of the Act as the information, in its
requested form, is not held by the Ministry and there are no grounds for believing it is held by
any other agency subject to the Act.
The Ministry remains willing to engage with you on making a request under the Act.
Under section 28(3) of the Act, you have the right to ask the Ombudsman to review any
decisions made under this request. The Ombudsman may be contacted by email at:
[email address] or by calling 0800 802 602.
Please note that this response, with your personal details removed, may be published on the
Ministry of Health website at:
www.health.govt.nz/about-ministry/information-releases. Nāku noa, nā
Jan Torres
Acting Manager, OIA Services
Office of the Director-General
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