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NGO funding and record keeping

Shaun made this Official Information request to Health New Zealand

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From: Shaun

Dear Health New Zealand,

This request is related to my previous request responded to on 31 October seeking a list of NGOs funded by Health NZ. No relevant documents were able to be found.

I understand that there is a range of Health NGOs, and that these NGOs are funded (at least in part) centrally. If that is the case, it seems odd that there is no centralised list or oversight of those agencies.

Is it correct to say that Te Whatu Ora is responsible for certifying/endorsing and/or funding (partly or wholly) Health NGOs, but do not maintain a database of what those agencies are and what they do?

If that is correct, how are those funding decisions made and managed without a database of agencies that have been provided with funding?

If that is incorrect, what level of involvement or oversight does Te Whatu Ora exercise over NGOs?

Yours faithfully,

Shaun

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From: hnzOIA
Health New Zealand

Tēnā koe, 

 

Thank you for contacting Te Whatu Ora, Health NZ. This is an automatic
reply to confirm that we have received your email.  Depending on the
nature of your request you may not receive a response for up to 20 working
days.  We will try to respond to your query as quickly as possible.

 

 

Ngā mihi

 

Te Whatu Ora, Health NZ.

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From: hnzOIA
Health New Zealand


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Kia ora Shaun
 
It is apparent that we emailed you on 31 October but did not provide our
response to your request of 4 September, HNZ00029490.  I can advise that
you will receive this shortly.
 
We are writing to seek clarification of several parts of your current
request and offer information which may be of assistance.
 
You are correct, there are a range of health NGOs. Please see our Te Whatu
Ora website for an explanation of what the broad categories are [1]here 
On this page you will see an explanation of the various categories of
NGOs, including more detail on the primary care NGOs - Primary Health
Organisations (PHOs). There more than 30 in this primary care sector and
these are listed.
 
Information about applying for certification and the process can be found
here [2]here
 
It is not clear to us what you mean by endorsing a Health NGO, when you
ask "Is it correct to say that Te Whatu Ora is responsible for
certifying/endorsing (...) Health NGOs. 
 
In order to better understand this part of your request for information,
could you please clarify what the information you are seeking regarding
endorsement of Health NGOs?
 
Regarding funding we can advise that it is correct that Te Whatu Ora is
responsible for funding many of these Health NGOs partly or wholly. If you
could please specify which particular Health NGOs you seek funding
information about, we will assess this part of your 10 November request.
 
In the meantime, it may be useful to you to see an explanation of funding
of these entities, which can be found here: [3]NGO Funding   An indication
of the numbers of NGOS in the primary health sector can be found here:
[4]Primary Care NGOs Note there are more than 30 primary care PHOs. The
primary care organisations noted above are governed by service agreements
or contracts which provide the funder with oversight. For more information
on this see [5]here In particular you can find information about the
oversight part of your request by looking at the reporting requirements on
PHOs [6]here Please advise if you seek more information regarding this
part of your request.
Please note, under section 15 of the Official Information Act 1982, any
clarification or amendments made to a request within seven days after the
date it is received, that request may be treated as a new request and the
time limit for the response restarts. 

We look forward to receiving your response. 

Ngā mihi

Mark
 
Ministerial Services Team
 

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From: hnzOIA
Health New Zealand


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Kia ora Shaun
 
Te Whatu Ora asked if you would consider clarifying and refining your 10
November request on 21 November. We advised you that it was not clear to
us what you meant by endorsing a Health NGO, when you asked "Is it correct
to say that Te Whatu Ora is responsible for certifying/endorsing (...)
Health NGOs." 
 
We said that in order to better understand this part of your request for
information, we would need you to please clarify what specific information
you are seeking regarding endorsement of Health NGOs.
 
 We said that regarding funding we could advise that it is correct that Te
Whatu Ora is responsible for funding many of these Health NGOs partly or
wholly.
 
We also asked if you could please specify which particular Health NGOs you
sought funding information about, we would assess this part of your 10
November request. We sent you links in our email of 21 November to
publicly available information we believed would help in this process.
 
Five working days have passed and we are writing to record that we have
tried to assist you to specify your request with dues particularity. In
the absence of clarification or refinement of scope we must make a
decision. We are writing to advise that if we have not heard from you in
response to our email of 21 November by the close of business 30 November
2023 we will decline your request. This decision will be taken
under s18(f) of the Act due to the possibly substantial research and
collation of the information you may be seeking.
 
We look forward to hearing from you.
 
Ngā mihi

Mark
 
Government Services
 
 

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From: Shaun

Hi Mark,

Thanks for the response and links, and for following up regarding the clarification request.

My initial request, and the thrust of what I'm after is a list of all of the health NGOs that are funded by TWO. I understand that TWO is not able to provide this information because it cannot be found.

My second request (the one in this thread) is trying to understand how an agency responsible for certifying and funding NGOs is not able to generate a list of the agencies it has certified and funded.

I realize I cannot ask for new information to be created to respond to an OIA, but I am looking for some insight into how TWO manages its certification and funding processes effectively while apparently not knowing who they have certified or funded. If more specific questions are required, please consider:

- Does TWO know/have a list of all of the NGOs it has certified and/or funded? (not overly concerned about timeframes, current or active is fine)
- If not, how is the information held in such a way that makes it impossible to generate a list?
- Does TWO know how many NGOs it has certified? (if so, how many)
- Does TWO know how much funding has been provided to NGOs? (if so, how much)

Yours sincerely,

Shaun

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From: hnzOIA
Health New Zealand


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Kia ora Shaun

Thank you for your clarification of 28 November 2023. A copy follows for
your reference.

Thanks for the response and links, and for following up regarding the
clarification request.

My initial request, and the thrust of what I'm after is a list of all of
the health NGOs that are funded by TWO. I understand that TWO is not able
to provide this information because it cannot be found.

My second request (the one in this thread) is trying to understand how an
agency responsible for certifying and funding NGOs is not able to generate
a list of the agencies it has certified and funded.

I realize I cannot ask for new information to be created to respond to an
OIA, but I am looking for some insight into how TWO manages its
certification and funding processes effectively while apparently not
knowing who they have certified or funded. If more specific questions are
required, please consider:

- Does TWO know/have a list of all of the NGOs it has certified and/or
funded? (not overly concerned about timeframes, current or active is fine)
- If not, how is the information held in such a way that makes it
impossible to generate a list?
- Does TWO know how many NGOs it has certified? (if so, how many)
- Does TWO know how much funding has been provided to NGOs? (if so, how
much)

We consider this clarification to be a new request due to the additional
information you are requesting. We have calculated the maximum statutory
timeframe for response and will endeavour to get one to you by 17 January
2024.

Ngā mihi

Mark

Ministerial Services Team
 
 

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