Consultant spend on ETS-related projects
Debbie Leota made this Official Information request to Ministry for the Environment
The request was partially successful.
From: Debbie Leota
Dear Ministry for the Environment,
You may have seen the news in Australia - revelations that PwC Australia used confidential government information purposefully in its consulting arms to help its clients avoid future tax changes.
And today, the NZ government said it had obtained millions for various climate-related projects, including $38 million for the Emissions Trading Scheme.
So, I'm asking a few government departments to provide information about the consultants and contractors that it hires in its work, how much it spends on them, how long they've been hired, and how conflicts of interest are disclosed and managed.
I'd like to ask for the following information (whether contained in documents, emails, reports, or a summary or extract):
1. Please provide the titles of all projects relating to policy reform in the past 2 financial years (i.e. FY21/22 and 22/23) that have had an expert or policy consultant or contractor (i.e. not IT or marketing but involved in core analysis etc).
2. For each project, please list the firm (or trading name) and names of the individual consultants or contractors hired for each project.
3. Please provide a monthly breakdown for the period in question 1 of the spend on those consultants/contractors per individual (if held) or per firm.
4. Please provide a copy of all conflict of interest (actual or perceived) disclosures made by the firm and individuals (whether upon initial hire or made during the term of the contract(s)).
5. Please provide a copy of all information that sets out any conflict of interest mitigations or management plans or protocols used for any conflicts of interests disclosed.
Thank you,
Debbie Leota
From: OIA
Ministry for the Environment
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From: Taku Mahi
Ministry for the Environment
Kia ora Debbie Leota,
Thank you for your Official Information Act request received on
18/05/2023.
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 to that timeframe.
Please note the Ministry for the Environment will release responses to
selected OIA requests on our [1]OIA responses page shortly after the
response has been sent.
If you have any queries, please feel free to contact us at
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Ngâ mihi nui
Ministerial Services Team
Ministry for the Environment – Manatû Mô Te Taiao
Email: [MFE request email] Website: [2]www.mfe.govt.nz
23 Kate Sheppard Place, Thorndon, Wellington 6143
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From: OIA
Ministry for the Environment
Kia ora Debbie
Please find attached an update on your information request.
Ngā mihi
Louise
show quoted sections
From: Debbie Leota
Hi there
I would be grateful for you to respond in part to the requests. Some information, such as the titles of the projects, I would suggest does not require 60 working days to prepare, consult on, and release.
Thank you
Debbie Leota
From: OIA
Ministry for the Environment
Kia ora Debbie
Thank you for your email.
I can confirm that if any part of the Ministry’s response can be sent to you in advance of the remaining information then we will do so. Please note that the timeframe for responding to your request was extended by 40 working days rather than 60.
Alternatively, would you be willing to refine the scope of your request? Narrowing the scope to contracts over a certain value would likely result in the Ministry responding more quickly to your request.
Ngâ mihi
Louise
show quoted sections
From: Debbie Leota
Hi Louise
By extending the timeframe, MfE has confirmed it requires 60 working days to respond to the request ie from the date the request was made.
I suggest MfE consider releasing the titles of the relevant projects and some summary information to help me know what is in scope - I have no idea how many projects are in scope, hence the first question of the OIA. A small value contract may have a material conflict of interest that was failed to be disclosed, for example.
Otherwise, in the absence of more than a couple of sentences from MfE saying it will take 40 more working days, I don't have much insight into the reasons for needing to extend.
I think if MfE aren't willing to provide any information (ie respond in part) before 60 working days from the date of the request, I would really see this as something for the Ombudsman.
Happy to discuss and thanks
Debbie
From: OIA
Ministry for the Environment
Kia ora Debbie
Thank you for response.
I can confirm that MfE is working to provide you with a response to Q1 of your request in advance of the other information in scope.
You may also find Appendix Six of the Ministry's Annual Review 2021/22 helpful, as it provides information about contracts and consultants employed in that year: https://www.parliament.nz/resource/en-NZ....
Ngā mihi
Louise
show quoted sections
From: OIA
Ministry for the Environment
OIAD 662 Response.pdf
223K
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Appendix 2 Monthly breakdown of consultant spend.pdf
99K
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Kia ora Debbie
Please find attached a response to your information request.
Ngā mihi
Louise
show quoted sections
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- Add an annotation (to help the requester or others)
- Download a zip file of all correspondence
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