133 Molesworth Street
PO Box 5013
Wellington 6140
New Zealand
T+64 4 496 2000
23 November 2022
Chris McCashin
By email: [FYI request #21132 email]
Ref:
H2022016996
Tēnā koe Chris,
Transfer of your request for official information
Thank you for your request under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act) to Manatū Hauora
(Ministry of Health) on 16 November 2022. You requested:
“How many people are currently working/employed for the Ministry as contact tracers?
I also note there is a recruiter advertising for further roles as follow
“We are looking for someone to work full time hours Monday to Friday 8am - 4.30pm and
a couple of part time staff available same hours 2-3 days a week (weekdays). For this
role you wil need to be available for 3 months or longer and be available to work through
the Christmas/New Year period”
Please provide the following
- Business case for three “Contact” tracers working over Christmas
- Reason / justification for contact tracers given there is some evidence that vaccine stops
transmission and NZ is 90% vaccinated
- Job description & salary band for these roles
- Team / unit hiring these positions
- The job description states the role requires people to be interviewed remotely who have
been stood down for Covid. Please provide justification for this? Pretty simple isn’t it - not
at work due to Covid?
- Please provide what agency / team these people are working for and the actual
requirement for these roles and as noted above business case
- If a business case is not available then why not?”
The requested information is more closely connected to the functions of Te Whatu Ora (Health
New Zealand). For this reason, I have decided to transfer your request to Te Whatu Ora under
section 14(b)(i)(i ) of the Act. You can expect a response from Te Whatu Ora in due course.
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.
Nāku noa, na
Jan Torres
Acting Manager, OIA Services
Government and Executive Services