19 May 2023
Kent H
Tēnā koe Kent H
On 29 April 2023
, you emailed the Ministry of Social Development (the
Ministry) requesting, under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act), the
following information:
How many employees currently have a qualification in gender studies?
It is optional for employees to disclose their educational qualifications, and this
information is held in individual employee profiles. To retrieve this information,
Ministry staff would be required to manually go into each employee profile to
see if they have listed an educational qualification in gender studies.
I am therefore refusing your request under section 18(f) of the Act, on the
basis it would require substantial manual collation to find the information in
scope. The greater public interest is in the effective and efficient administration
of the public service.
I have considered whether the Ministry would be able to respond to your
request given extra time, or the ability to charge for the information requested.
I have concluded that, in either case, the Ministry’s ability to undertake its
work would still be prejudiced.
The principles and purposes of the Official Information Act 1982 under which
you made your request are:
• to create greater openness and transparency about the plans, work and
activities of the Government,
• to increase the ability of the public to participate in the making and
administration of our laws and policies and
• to lead to greater accountability in the conduct of public affairs.
This Ministry fully supports those principles and purposes.
If you wish to discuss this response with us, please feel free to contact
[MSD request email].
If you are not satisfied with this response regarding employees with a
qualification in gender studies, you have the right to seek an investigation and
review by the Ombudsman. Information about how to make a complaint is
available a
t www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or 0800 802 602.
Ngā mihi nui
Sarah Quigan
Manager
Official Information Team
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