Kia ora,

Thank you for contacting the Official Information Act request mailbox for
the Ministry of Justice. 

We will endeavour to acknowledge your email within 2 working days.

You can find more information about how we can help you at our [1]Official
Information Act Requests page.

Please note that by law, when you ask for official information we have to
respond to your request as soon as reasonably practicable and no later
than 20 working days after we receive it.

 

The Ministry of Justice may publish the response to your request on our
website, you can expect that if your OIA is to be published that this will
take place at least 10 working days after it has been sent you. Your name
and any other personal information will be withheld under Section 9(2)(a)
(protect the privacy of natural persons).

 

Please send any non-OIA related emails through to
o[2][email address] and any complaints through
to [3][email address]

Ngā mihi,

Ministerial Relations and Services

Governance and Assurance

DDI: +64 4 918 8800

Justice Centre I Aitken Street

DX Box SX 10088 I Wellington

[4]www.justice.govt.nz

References

Visible links
1. https://www.justice.govt.nz/about/offici...
https://www.justice.govt.nz/about/offici...
2. mailto:[email address]
mailto:[email address]
3. mailto:[email address]
mailto:[email address]
4. http://www.justice.govt.nz/

Kia ora James,
 
Thank you for emailing the Ministry of Justice. 
 
We acknowledge receipt of your request.
 
This has been forwarded onto the relevant business unit to respond to. 
 
The Ministry of Justice may publish the response to your request on our
website, you can expect that if your OIA is to be published that this will
take place at least 10 working days after it has been sent you. Your name
and any other personal information will be withheld under Section 9(2)(a)
(protect the privacy of natural persons). 
 
You can expect a response by 11 August 2023.
 
Ngā mihi, 

 
Ministerial Relations and Services
  Governance and Assurance
Justice Centre I Aitken Street
DX Box SX 10088 I Wellington
[1]www.justice.govt.nz

 
 
 
 
 
 

show quoted sections

Tçnâ koe James,
 
Thank you for your email of 14 August 2023, to the Ministry of Justice
(the Ministry) requesting information on Cultural Reports, under the
Official Information Act 1982 (the Act).
 
We have interpreted your request to be asking for the number of Section 27
Cultural Reports submitted to the Courts. Can you please confirm whether
this interpretation is correct? If it is not, are you please able to
clarify what you are requesting where you have asked for “… the total
number of cultural reports, submitted to the courts.” You can find more
information about Section 27 Cultural Reports at: [1]Sentencing Act 2002
No 9 (as at 27 July 2023), Public Act 27 Offender may request court to
hear person on personal, family, whanau, community, and cultural
background of offender – New Zealand Legislation
 
I must advise that the Ministry is unable to provide information regarding
ethnicity. The Ministry’s reporting function does not allow us to record
information at this level. Therefore, any request for data broken down by
ethnicity would be refused under section 18(e).
 
Please note that in line with s15(1AA) of the Act, if a request is amended
or clarified after the date it was received, this may be treated as a new
request.
 
Under section 28 of the Act, you have the right to complain to the
Ombudsman about the Ministry’s handling of your request. The Ombudsman can
be contacted at: [2]www.ombudsman.parliament.nz 
 
We look forward to hearing from you soon.
 
Ngâ mihi,

 
  Ministerial Relations and Services
Governance and Assurance
[3]www.justice.govt.nz

_____________________________________________
From: [Ministry of Justice request email] <[Ministry of Justice request email]>
Sent: Monday, 14 August 2023 2:39 pm
To: James <[FOI #23826 email]>
Subject: RE: Official Information request - Cultural reports
 
 
Kia ora James,
 
Thank you for emailing the Ministry of Justice. 
 
We acknowledge receipt of your request.
 
This has been forwarded onto the relevant business unit to respond to. 
 
The Ministry of Justice may publish the response to your request on our
website, you can expect that if your OIA is to be published that this will
take place at least 10 working days after it has been sent you. Your name
and any other personal information will be withheld under Section 9(2)(a)
(protect the privacy of natural persons). 
 
You can expect a response by 11 September 2023.
 
Ngâ mihi, 

 
Ministerial Relations and Services
  Governance and Assurance
Justice Centre I Aitken Street
DX Box SX 10088 I Wellington
[4]www.justice.govt.nz

 

show quoted sections

Tçnâ koe James,
 
I am writing to you to follow up on the email below, sent to you on
Wednesday 23 August 2023.
 
We have interpreted your request to be asking for the number of Section 27
Cultural Reports submitted to the Courts. Can you please confirm whether
this interpretation is correct? If it is not, are you please able to
clarify what you are requesting, where you have asked for “… the total
number of cultural reports, submitted to the courts.” You can find more
information about Section 27 Cultural Reports at: [1]Sentencing Act 2002
No 9 (as at 27 July 2023), Public Act 27 Offender may request court to
hear person on personal, family, whanau, community, and cultural
background of offender – New Zealand Legislation
 
I must advise that the Ministry is unable to provide information regarding
ethnicity. The Ministry’s reporting function does not allow us to record
information at this level. Therefore, any request for data broken down by
ethnicity would be refused under section 18(e).
 
Please note that in line with s15(1AA) of the Act, if a request is amended
or clarified after the date it was received, this may be treated as a new
request.
 
Under section 28 of the Act, you have the right to complain to the
Ombudsman about the Ministry’s handling of your request. The Ombudsman can
be contacted at: [2]www.ombudsman.parliament.nz 
 
We look forward to hearing from you soon.
 
Ngâ mihi,

 
  Ministerial Relations and Services
Governance and Assurance
[3]www.justice.govt.nz

__________________________________________
From: [Ministry of Justice request email]
Sent: Wednesday, 23 August 2023 1:44 pm
To: [FOI #23826 email]
Subject: Regarding your request for information (Our ref: OIA - 106781)
 
 
Tçnâ koe James,
 
Thank you for your email of 14 August 2023, to the Ministry of Justice
(the Ministry) requesting information on Cultural Reports, under the
Official Information Act 1982 (the Act).
 
We have interpreted your request to be asking for the number of Section 27
Cultural Reports submitted to the Courts. Can you please confirm whether
this interpretation is correct? If it is not, are you please able to
clarify what you are requesting where you have asked for “… the total
number of cultural reports, submitted to the courts.” You can find more
information about Section 27 Cultural Reports at: [4]Sentencing Act 2002
No 9 (as at 27 July 2023), Public Act 27 Offender may request court to
hear person on personal, family, whanau, community, and cultural
background of offender – New Zealand Legislation
 
I must advise that the Ministry is unable to provide information regarding
ethnicity. The Ministry’s reporting function does not allow us to record
information at this level. Therefore, any request for data broken down by
ethnicity would be refused under section 18(e).
 
Please note that in line with s15(1AA) of the Act, if a request is amended
or clarified after the date it was received, this may be treated as a new
request.
 
Under section 28 of the Act, you have the right to complain to the
Ombudsman about the Ministry’s handling of your request. The Ombudsman can
be contacted at: [5]www.ombudsman.parliament.nz 
 
We look forward to hearing from you soon.
 
Ngâ mihi,

   
<< OLE Object: Picture (Device Ministerial Relations and Services
Independent Bitmap) >> Governance and Assurance
[6]www.justice.govt.nz

_____________________________________________
From: [Ministry of Justice request email] <[Ministry of Justice request email]>
Sent: Monday, 14 August 2023 2:39 pm
To: James <[FOI #23826 email]>
Subject: RE: Official Information request - Cultural reports
 
 
Kia ora James,
 
Thank you for emailing the Ministry of Justice. 
 
We acknowledge receipt of your request.
 
This has been forwarded onto the relevant business unit to respond to. 
 
The Ministry of Justice may publish the response to your request on our
website, you can expect that if your OIA is to be published that this will
take place at least 10 working days after it has been sent you. Your name
and any other personal information will be withheld under Section 9(2)(a)
(protect the privacy of natural persons). 
 
You can expect a response by 11 September 2023.
 
Ngâ mihi, 

 
Ministerial Relations and Services
  Governance and Assurance
Justice Centre I Aitken Street
DX Box SX 10088 I Wellington
[7]www.justice.govt.nz

 

show quoted sections

Tēnā koe James,

 

Thank you for your reply of 28 August 2023. We apologise for the delay in
responding to your email.

 

Legal Aid Services introduced the specific recording of ‘section 27
cultural reports’ after the changes to legal aid forms. Although some
ethnicity data has historically been collected for legal aid applications,
this is only available for a very limited number of cases. This is because
a person’s ethnicity used to be included in the legal aid application
form, but this field was removed in 2017 as part of work to simplify the
forms and process for applying for aid. This data is published on our
website at:
[1]www.justice.govt.nz/assets/Documents/Publications/16cvkRt_Legal_aid_dec2022_v1.0.xlsx

 

As a result, almost all records of payments for section 27 cultural
reports will sitting on legal aid cases, where ethnicity was not recorded.
Therefore, any data that the Ministry does hold will be incomplete, with
more than 80% of applicants having an ethnicity recorded as “unknown” or
“other” in recent years. Providing this information would be misleading
and entirely inaccurate as the ethnicity totals would not be a true
representation of the actual applicant ethnicity breakdown.

 

It is likely that an accurate record of the ethnicity of an individual who
has had a section 27 cultural report ordered under the Sentencing Act
2002, will likely exist in the court record for each individual case.
However, as the courts are not subject to the Official Information Act,
under section 2(6)(a), any request for this information would be refused
under section 18(g) of the Act.

 

With the above in mind, could you please confirm if you would like to
withdraw your request?

 

Under section 28 of the Act, you have the right to complain to the
Ombudsman about the Ministry’s handling of your request. The Ombudsman can
be contacted at: [2]www.ombudsman.parliament.nz

 

We look forward to hearing from you soon.

 

Ngā mihi,

   

Ministerial Relations and Services

Governance and Assurance
[3]www.justice.govt.nz

 

show quoted sections

Tēnā koe James,

 

Thank you for your response and for clarifying your request.

 

As advised previously, in line with s15(1AA) of the Act, as your request
has been clarified after the date it was received, it is being treated as
a new request for the purposes of the Act.

 

The new deadline for this request is Thursday 28 September 2023. You can
expect to receive a response by this date.

 

Ngā mihi,

   

Ministerial Relations and Services

Governance and Assurance
[1]www.justice.govt.nz

 

show quoted sections

Tēnā koe James,

 

Please find attached a letter regarding your request for information, of
14 August 2023.

 

Ngā mihi,

   

Ministerial Relations and Services

Governance and Assurance
[1]www.justice.govt.nz

 

From: [Ministry of Justice request email]
Sent: Friday, 1 September 2023 10:58 am
To: James <[FOI #23826 email]>
Subject: RE: Regarding your request for information (Our ref: OIA -
106781)

 

Tēnā koe James,

 

Thank you for your response and for clarifying your request.

 

As advised previously, in line with s15(1AA) of the Act, as your request
has been clarified after the date it was received, it is being treated as
a new request for the purposes of the Act.

 

The new deadline for this request is Thursday 28 September 2023. You can
expect to receive a response by this date.

 

Ngā mihi,

   

Ministerial Relations and Services

Governance and Assurance
[2]www.justice.govt.nz

 

show quoted sections

Dear James

 

Please find your OIA response attached.

 

 

Ngā mihi,

Communications Services
Ministry of Justice | Tāhū o te Ture

www.[1]justice.govt.nz

 

 

 

References

Visible links
1. http://www.justice.govt.nz/