Justice Centre | 19 Aitken Street
DX SX10088 | Wellington
T 0800 268 787 | [email address]
justice.govt.nz
16 December 2022
Chris McCashin
[FYI request #20885 email]
Tēnā koe
Official Information Act 1982 request
Thank you for your Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) request of 18 November 2022
seeking further statistics regarding active coronial cases.
Specifically, you asked for the information you were previously given about active coronial
cases (OIA ref 100117) to be broken down into ten year age categories, with the start date
extended to 2015.
Additionally, you requested the following:
“
up to and including 31st August there were 177 deaths reported to CARM after
administration of the vaccine. Are you able to provide
- How many of those deaths were investigated by the Coroner
- How many had full autopsies, pathology tests etc completed
- How many of those deaths were declined to be investigated by the Coroner due to
a doctor signing off
- Of the deaths that were signed off by a doctor please confirm how many doctors in
total signed off the deaths - eg 177 cases referred to CARM, say 50 went to Coroner,
127 were declined due to Doctor signing off - 1 doctor, 2 doctors, 3 doctors, 127
doctors? Or were cases that were referred to CARM all signed off by one doctor?”
With respect to your request for data on active coronial cases, please find Tables 1 and 2
enclosed. These tables provide the number of active cases and the average age in days of
coronial cases completed in the 12 month periods ending January 2015 to October 2022.
Where you have asked for a breakdown of this data by ‘age’, we have interpreted ‘age’ to
mean the age of the deceased at the date of their death. Coronial cases, broken down by
the age of the deceased, is not data currently held by the Ministry of Justice and would need
to be created in order to respond to your request.
The OIA enables people to request official information from Ministers and agencies,
including the Ministry of Justice . However, the OIA only applies to information that is already
held, and the Ministry of Justice is not required to create information in order to respond to a
request. Therefore, I am refusing this part of your request as allowed by section 18(g)(i) of
the OIA as there are no grounds for believing that the information is held by another
department, Minister of the Crown, organisation, or local authority.
With respect to the remainder of your request, information relating to deaths of people who
have received a COVID-19 vaccination is reported to the Office of the Chief Coroner.
2
It is important to note that as this information is held by the Coroners Court, it is excluded
from the operation of the OIA under section 2(6)(a). As the information you have requested
is not held by the Ministry of Justice, I am refusing this part of your request under section
18(g)(i) of the OIA as there are no grounds for believing that the information is held by
another department, Minister of the Crown, organisation, or local authority.
If you require further information, please contact Joe Locke, Media and Social Media
Manager on 021 636 416, or email [email address]
If you are not satisfied with this response, you have the right to complain to the Ombudsman
under section 28(3) of the OIA. You can contact the Office of the Ombudsman by writing to
PO Box 10152, Wellington 6143; calling 0800 802 602; or emailing
[email address]
I trust that this information assists.
Nāku noa, nā
Jacquelyn Shannon
Group Manager, Courts and Tribunals, Regional Service Delivery
Ref:
101069
Encl: Table 1: Number of active coronial cases as at 31 January 2015 to 31 October 2022.
Table 2: Average age in days of coronial cases completed in the 12 month periods
ending January 2015 to October 2022.
3
Table 1: Number of active coronial cases as at 31 January 2015 to 31 October 2022.
Year
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August September
October
November December
2015
2,933
2,947
3,026
3,100
3,120
3,163
3,116
3,167
3,083
3,066
3,103
3,031
2016
3,026
3,042
3,076
3,126
3,132
3,187
3,266
3,276
3,279
3,292
3,310
3,420
2017
3,468
3,554
3,517
3,618
3,619
3,641
3,697
3,774
3,759
3,800
3,815
3,883
2018
3,978
3,971
4,002
4,047
4,056
4,110
4,160
4,180
4,251
4,283
4,217
4,234
2019
4,333
4,368
4,543
4,564
4,536
4,665
4,571
4,588
4,682
4,750
4,831
4,941
2020
4,982
4,967
5,100
5,281
5,249
5,244
5,284
5,238
5,209
5,225
5,278
5,381
2021
5,410
5,444
5,462
5,488
5,558
5,520
5,527
5,564
5,557
5,517
5,510
5,544
2022
5,659
5,771
5,830
5,979
6,066
6,160
6,130
6,115
6,137
6,236
-
-
Notes:
•
This data may differ from previously released or published data. This data was extracted from the case management system as at 05/11/2022.
•
Numbers of active cases may be affected by seasonal patterns.
•
Example interpretation: At the end of January 2018, there were 3,978 active coronial cases.
Table 2: Average age in days of coronial cases completed in the 12 month periods ending January 2015 to October 2022.
Year
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August September
October
November December
2015
361
358
332
333
334
337
333
328
328
319
318
316
2016
321
322
323
318
316
312
309
310
310
313
310
309
2017
307
303
304
307
308
312
325
325
323
320
324
325
2018
325
335
340
344
346
346
341
341
343
348
346
349
2019
354
347
344
339
342
342
342
338
343
347
350
348
2020
352
352
353
357
357
382
400
421
435
449
457
467
2021
464
477
491
489
494
479
472
480
476
474
478
480
2022
490
493
493
494
497
499
503
501
500
489
-
-
Notes:
•
This data may differ from previously released or published data. This data was extracted from the case management system as at 05/11/2022.
•
This data includes only Coronial cases. Advice cases (excluded) are those where the Coroner declines jurisdiction and a doctor certifies the death. Coronial cases are
those where the Coroner accepts jurisdiction for death.
•
Average completed time represents the active days between the date the death was notified to the Coroner and the date of final findings being issued.
•
Example interpretation: In the 12 months ending January 2018, the average age of coronial cases at the date final findings were issued was 325 days.
