6 July 2022
45 Pipitea Street, Wellington 6011
Phone +64 4 495 7200
dia.govt.nz
John Luke
fyi-request-19613-
[email address]
Tēnā koe John
OIA request 21/22 0818 Request for Request for information on Community Organisation
Grants Scheme (COGS) Local Distribution Committees (LDC)
Thank you for your Official Information Act (Act) request received by the Department of Internal
Affairs (Department) on 7 June 2022.
You requested –
I noted on your website,
Community Organisation Grants Scheme (COGS) Local Distribution Committee Elections.
» Community Matters
Elections for the COGS LDCs will be happening from 23 September 2019 to 11 October
2019
May I ask when is your next election for the COGS Local Distribution Committee. Are they
on the same date for all COGS committee or they are different per region. Can you please
list all current COGS committee around the country and all member's name for each
committee. Also, if available the bio for each committee's member.
In response to your request I can provide you with the following information.
I can confirm that election dates are currently being worked through and will be put on the
Community Matters website once they have been determined. This portion of your request is
therefore refused pursuant to section 18(d) of the Act; the information requested will soon be
publicly available.
I note that the elections are preceded by a nomination process which will also be put on the
website. This process will start in August 2022, and is expected to conclude by the end of
October 2022.
It may be helpful for me to explain that elections only take place in regions where there are a
larger number of nominees than there are positions on the committee, so do not occur in every
region. I can confirm however, that the timing of the elections that do take place happen
consistently across the country and are managed centrally.
A list of the COGS LDCs and the names of all their current members can be found on the
Community Matters website here:
Ask Us » Community Matters. This portion of your request is
therefore refused pursuant to section 18(d) of the Act; that the information requested is
publicly available.
I must advise that there are approximately 260 members and so the portion of your request
relating to member bios is refused pursuant to section 18(f) of the Act; the information
requested cannot be made available without substantial collation or research.
Should there be specific members whose biographies you are interested in, you may submit a
request for this information through to [email address]. Please note
that not all members will have biographies, as those who were elected by co-option are not
required to submit one.
As this information may be of interest to other members of the public, the Department has
decided to proactively release a copy of this response on the DIA website. All requestor data,
including your name and contact details, will be removed prior to release. The released
response will be made available here:
https://www.dia.govt.nz/Official-Information-Act-
Requests-2.
You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of this decision.
Information about how to make a complaint is available at www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or
freephone 0800 802 602.
Ngā mihi
Julia Taylor
Manager Operational Policy and Official Correspondence
Service Delivery and Operations
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