28 April 2023
Ref: DOIA 2223-2230
J Bruning
Email:
[FYI request #22322 email]
Tēnā koe J Bruning
Thank you for your email of 20 March 2023 to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment
(MBIE) requesting, under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act), the following information:
(1) Please supply all advice, memos and reports provided to senior government officials and
Members of Parliament, inclusive of Cabinet, that discuss the health status of small and medium
sized business in Aotearoa New Zealand from April 2018 to March 2023.
Health status for this request specifically means whether small and medium business sectors are
growing in size or declining.
This information might include analyses of changing ownership patterns, specifically concerning
small and business sized businesses. For example, this information might concern degree of
bankruptcies, consolidations and mergers by business size.
Small business: Under 20 full time employees Medium business: 20-50 full time employees
https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mbie.govt.nz%2Fass
ets%2Fdefining-small-
business.pdf&data=05%7C01%7CMinisterialServices%40mbie.govt.nz%7C16aeaf4bddd740fbd13e
08db30a731e4%7C78b2bd11e42b47eab0112e04c3af5ec1%7C0%7C0%7C638157268168348594%
7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXV
CI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=SlX8SR6LLrZ9V7P0st3E%2FJ1D%2BLtKK7c66qqcih%2FA
JyY%3D&reserved=0
If this is in those reports, please supply status by sector, agricultural, commercial, trades,
manufacturing, retail or approximate.
Your request is very broad, and as such, the amount of research and collation required to assemble the
relevant documentation for this request would be unreasonably large. MBIE pays close attention to
business health, and assembling the material you have requested would require, at minimum, scanning
five years’ worth of weekly reports, briefings, event briefings, and products being produced for
publication. For example, an initial search of MBIE’s document management system for ‘small business
health’ for the period specified produced approximately 270,000 results.
I must therefore refuse your request under section 18(f) of the Act, that the information requested
cannot be made available without substantial collation or research. However, please see below some
links to information regarding business resources and statistics are relevant to your request. I believe
there is a high probability that the information you are seeking is already available via these resources.
https://www.stats.govt.nz/topics/business
https://www.stats.govt.nz/information-releases/new-zealand-business-demography-statistics-at-
february-2022/
https://www.mbie.govt.nz/business-and-employment/business/support-for-business/small-
business/
https://www.betterforbusiness.govt.nz/resources-2/
https://www.companiesoffice.govt.nz/data-services/ways-to-get-our-data/
If you wish to discuss any aspect of your request or this response, or if you require any further assistance,
please contact
[email address]. If, on perusing the publicly available information listed above, you
identify specific documents you would like to access (and these are not already in the public domain), I
encourage you to submit a new request under the Act.
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.
Nāku noa, nā
Kate Challis
Manager, Small Business Policy
Small Business, Commerce and Consumer Policy
