OIAD-750
Debbie Leota
[FYI request #23863 email]
Tēnā koe Debbie Leota
Thank you for your email of 16 August 2023 requesting the fol owing under the Official Information
Act 1982 (the Act):
I made an OIA request (your handle OIAD-662) in May 2023 which MfE responded to after 60
working days (20 working days plus a 40 working day extension). MfE stated in its reply: "I can
assure you that the Ministry asks each supplier undertaking contract work with us to declare
any conflict of interest in providing goods and/or services or entering into a contract with us.
The Ministry informs all suppliers that they must do their best to avoid situations that may
lead to conflicts of interest arising. Suppliers must inform the Ministry immediately if any
conflicts of interest arise."
Please provide copies of all correspondence, documents, reports that:
1. MfE generated and, received from third parties, in responding to the OIAD-662 to evidence
that assurance; and
2. outline MfE's policies and information about what constitutes a conflict of interest, that was
provided to those contractors and consultants in order for them to make a proper declaration
of a conflict of interest.
I would also be grateful if you could provide all relevant emails and documents that contain
MfE's reasons that 60 working days were required to respond to that request.
In relation to parts one and two of your request, third party consultation is required to make a decision
on this request and the Ministry has been unable to conduct these consultations in the original
timeframe. Therefore, the Ministry is extending the timeframe for its response to parts one and two
of your request under section 15A(1)(b) of the Act, as consultations necessary to make a decision on
the request are such that a proper response cannot reasonably be made within the original timeframe.
We wil now respond to your request on, if not before, 29 September 2023, which is an extension of
12 working days. This extension timeframe is as short as possible to complete the necessary
consultations while providing a response as soon as practicable.
In response to your request for “all relevant emails and documents that contain MfE's reasons that 60
working days were required to respond to that request” the Ministry has identified four documents
in scope, or partially in scope of your request. Where a document is partially in scope of your request,
the in-scope information has been provided to you as an extract in accordance with section 16(1)(e)
of the Act. Fully in scope documents have been released to you in full. These documents are
summarised in the attached document schedule.
As you are aware, the Act enables agencies to extend the timeframe for responding to a request under
certain circumstances. In the case of OIAD-622, due to the two-year time period covered by your
request and nature of the information in scope, significant consultation with several teams within the
Ministry was required in order to make a decision on your request. When determining the timeframe
for extending an OIA request, the Ministry also considers the resources and capacity available to
undertake the necessary activities, as these affect the time needed to provide a response. At the time
of preparing a response to OIAD-622, the teams working on your response were at a reduced capacity.
This, in combination with the two-year time period of your request and nature of the information
requested, meant that a 40-day extension was necessary in order to provide you with a response to
your request.
You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Office of the Ombudsman of my decision
relating to this request, in accordance with section 28(3) of the Act. The relevant details can be found
on their website at:
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz.
Please note that due to the public interest in our work the Ministry publishes responses to requests
for official information on ou
r OIA responses page shortly after the response has been sent. If you
have any queries about this, please feel free to contact our Ministerial Services team:
[email address].
Ngā mihi
Jonathan Ryan
Acting Director – Ministerial Services
Ministry for the Environment | Manatū Mō Te Taiao
Document schedule
Document Document
Content
Decisions
OIA sections
no.
date
applied
1
23 May 2023 Re: OIAD-662: Consultant spend
Released in full
N/A
on ETS-related projects
2
1 June 2023
OIAD-662 Scoping meeting
Released in full
N/A
3
6 June 2023
OIAD-662 Scoping meeting
In scope
S16(1)(e)
notes
information
released as an
extract
4
14 August
OIAD-662 Memo
In scope
S16(1)(e)
2023
information
released as an
extract
