21 December 2022
Chris McCashin
[FYI request #21132 email]
Tēnā koe Chris,
Your Official Information Act request, reference: HNZ00007461
Thank you for your request of 23 November 2022, asking for the following which has been
considered under the Of icial Information Act 1982 (the Act):
“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
also a couple of part time staff available same hours 2-3 days a week (week days). 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?”
Te Whatu Ora does not directly employ contact tracers. We have contracted call providers whose
capacity is utilised across a range of functions, including case investigation, provision of advice to
cases and their household contacts, providing assistance with reporting rapid antigen testing
results, and providing assistance with the online contact tracing form.
Therefore, the remaining aspect of your request is refused under section 18(g) of the Act as the
information you have requested is not held by the Te Whatu Ora and we have no grounds to
believe that the information is held by another department or Minister of the Crown or organisation.
If you have any questions, you can contact us at
[email address].
If you are not happy with this response, you have the right to make a complaint to the
Ombudsman. Information about how to do this is available at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or
by phoning 0800 802 602.
As this information may be of interest to other members of the public, Te Whatu Ora may
proactively release a copy of this response on Te What Ora’s website. Al requester data, including
your name and contact details, wil be removed prior to release. The released response wil be
made available on our website.
Nāku iti noa, nā
Karyn Carndo
Acting Group Manager
National Investigation Centre
TeWhatuOra.govt.nz
Te Whatu Ora, PO Box 793,
Wel ington 6140, New Zealand
