Morena Barry

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION - LOCAL GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL INFORMATION AND MEETINGS ACT 1987 (LGOIMA) : ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF REQUEST

I am writing to acknowledge receipt of your official information request dated 20 March 2023 for information about Hutt City Council's processing of LGOIMA requests.

With respect to your second question, we do not have statistics for requests that were refused in full, or where the information requested was withheld in full. To answer this question would involve manual appraisal of each question and response, and accordingly your request is refused under section 17(f) of the LGOIMA. 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.

For questions 1 and 3, we will endeavour to respond to your request as soon as possible and in any event no later than 20 working days after the day your request was received. If we are unable to respond to your request by then, we will notify you of an extension of that timeframe. If the information is no longer required please let us know, it would be much appreciated.

Please note that our response to your information request, including your name, may be published on Hutt City Council’s website.

Nâku noa, nâ

Susan Sales
Senior Advisor, Official Information

Hutt City Council, 30 Laings Road, Private Bag 31912, Lower Hutt 5040, New Zealand
W www.huttcity.govt.nz

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Tçnâ koe Barry

Thank you for your correspondence of 20 March 2023, in which you have requested the following official information under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 (LGOIMA):
1) the number of LGOIMA requests made in the 12 months to 28 February 2023.
2) the number of requests that were totally denied.
3) the average number of working days between the submission of the request and the provision of the information to the requestor. Please exclude from this calculation any requests that were totally denied.

Our response to each question is provided below:

1. Our records show that 232 LGOIMA requests were made to Hutt City Council in the period 1 March 2022 to 28 February 2023. Of these:
Three were withdrawn or cancelled
Five were transferred to another agency
Hutt City Council requested clarification from four requesters but no response was received, and the requests remain 'on hold'
One request remains in progress
219 requests have been completed

2. We have interpreted this question as referring to requests that were refused in full or where data was withheld in full. Your request for this information is refused under section 17(f) of the Act, as the information cannot be made available without substantial collation or research.

3. We have interpreted this question as being for the average number of working days between the submission of the request and the provision of the decision to the requestor. This interpretation is made because, under section 13(1) of the LGOIMA, it is the decision that must be made within 20 working days of the request being submitted, not the provision of the information that was requested. We advise that, for those 219 LGOIMA requests that were completed by Hutt City Council between 1 March 2023 and 28 February 2023, the average processing time between the request being received and the decision being issued was 15 working days.

You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of this response. Information about how to make a complaint is available at www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone 0800 802 602.

Please note that this letter may be published on the Council’s website.

Nâku noa, nâ

Susan Sales
Senior Advisor, Official Information and Privacy

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