19 December 2023
Ref: DOIA 2324-1188
John Luke
[FYI request #24918 email]
Tēnā koe John
Thank you for writing to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) on 28 November
2023 requesting, under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act) the following information:
org chart of your team who deal with OIA Act request.
How many OIA Act request you have received from 1st Jan 2023 to 28 Nov 2023.
how many request you have delayed in reply and
how many you required extension of time to response.
In your request, you asked for an organisational chart of the team who deal with OIA requests. We have
interpreted this to refer to a team that collates information in response to requests lodged under the Act,
and then prepares it for public release.
In the public service, the departmental function responsible for collating information and preparing it for
public release in response to requests made under the OIA is called Ministerial Servicing. As well as
managing responses to requests made under the OIA, Ministerial Servicing staff coordinate and provide
advice on responses to Parliamentary questions, correspondence from members of the public and Privacy
Act responses, although their duties will vary by team and department.
MBIE does not operate a single team or business group that prepares responses to Official Information
Act requests. Instead, this work is undertaken by business groups across the department, recognising the
nature of the diverse portfolios MBIE supports. For your information, a list of our business groups can be
found on our website, at www.mbie.govt.nz/about/who-we-are/our-structure/.
All groups have staff whose role include supporting the processing of information requests, however
many staff who provide this support may do so alongside other functions. For this reason it is not possible
to provide an exact headcount associated with delivering these specific services and I am refusing your
request under section 18(e) of the Act, as the requested information does not exist.
The Ministry has a centralised team of 10 people who are responsible for the workflow management and
reporting of information requests received by the Ministry, which includes parliamentary questions,
Official Information Act 1982 requests and ministerial correspondence, along with other items.
For staff information relating to previous years, please refer to the responses for:
2021/22 – question 55 (page 29) at:
Annual Review 2021/22
2020/21 – question 55 (Page 32) at:
Annual Review 2020/21
2019/20 – question 55 (page 25) at:
Annual Review 2019/20
2018/19 – question 55 (page 28) at:
Annual Review 2018/19
OIA response data
Between 1 January 2023 and 28 November 2023, MBIE received 2,536 requests and responded to 2,523
requests. Of the 2,523 responded to in this time frame, 114 (4.5%) were sent either after the statutory
due date, or after the date notified to a requester as a result of their request being extended.
In the same time period, 302 requests were extended for the reasons outlined in section 15(A) of the OIA.
When reading this information, it is important to note:
The number of requests responded to and received differ slightly, as the number of requests
responded to includes requests that were already open as at 1 January 2023, and the number of
requests received includes requests still open as at 28 November 2023.
This number refers to Official Information Act requests only, and is not a measure of MBIE’s
responses to requests made under other legislation, such as Privacy Act requests.
You may be interested in other publicly available information about this issue:
the Public Service Commission Te Kawa Mataaho publishes OIA statistics covering government
agencies every six months. The most recent statistics, covering the first six months of 2023 were
published in September, and can be viewed at
www.publicservice.govt.nz/guidance/official-
information/oia-statistics/
We also report data relating to MBIE’s handling of OIA requests to Parliament’s Economic
Development, Science and Innovation Select Committee, as part of the Annual Review process.
You can find more information about this on Parliament’s website, at
www.parliament.nz/resource/en-
NZ/53SCED_EVI_119680_ED8677/573aa78d1133b7e199cc955f8a98fdd63723512c.
If you wish to discuss any aspect of your request or this response, or if you require any further assistance,
please contact [email address].
Please note that this response, with your personal details removed, may be published on the MBIE
website
: www.mbie.govt.nz/about/open-government-and-official-information/published-official-
information-act-requests/.
You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of this decision. Information
about how to make a complaint is available at www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone 0800 802
602.
Nāku noa, nā
Karin Schofield
General Manager, Communications, Design and Ministerial Servicing
Corporate Services, Finance and Enablement
