Dear Public Service Commission,

In October 2017 the State Services Commission provided to the Prime Minister a 'Briefing to the Incoming Government'.

A copy of the State Services Commissioner's letter to the Prime Minister is published on your website here:
https://www.publicservice.govt.nz/public...

However, the link on that page to the Briefing itself is broken and a search of your website and publications does not provide a link to the document itself.

I can also find no reference on your website to any 'Briefing to the Incoming Government' provided after the 2023 general election, or to any provided after the 2020 general election, but I know the 2017 briefing was not exceptional as I have a copy of the 2014 Briefing to the Incoming Government.

I would therefore like to request the following information:

1) An unredacted copy of the Briefing to the Incoming Government sent to the Prime Minister in 2017;

2) An unredacted copy of any briefing, or briefings, to the incoming Government sent to any minister after the 2020 general election; and

3) An unredacted copy of the covering letters that were sent by the Commission to any minister who was provided with a briefing, or briefings, to the incoming government after the 2020 general election;

4) An unredacted copy of any briefing, or briefings, to the incoming Government sent to any minister after the 2023 general election; and

5) An unredacted copy of the covering letters that were sent by the Commission to any minister who was provided with a briefing, or briefings, to the incoming government after the 2023 general election.

To be clear, I am not requesting the post-election briefings to individual incoming State Services or Public Service ministers, unless they were the recipients of the Briefings to the Incoming Government.

Under section 16(2) of the OIA my preferences are (a) to receive a copy of the whole of each document (b) that the information is disclosed in a text searchable format, either Word or PDF, and (c) that it is sent to the email address from which the Commission received this request.

If the Commission decides that there is 'good reason' under the OIA to withhold any of the information I am requesting, then under section 19(a)(ii) of the OIA, I further request that the Commission provide me with the grounds in support of each withholding reason cited for refusal, and what public interest factors favouring release it has considered.

If any part of our request is unclear, please don't hesitate to contact me via the address this request was received from.

Yours faithfully,

Andrew Ecclestone