MIQ debts
R S Grant made this Official Information request to Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment
Response to this request is long overdue. By law Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment should have responded by now (details and exceptions). The requester can complain to the Ombudsman.
From: R S Grant
Dear Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment,
Please advise me whether all unpaid debts relating to people required to stay in MIQ facilities during 2021 have now been written off, or if collection efforts remain under way.
If collection efforts remain under way, please provide a list of all unpaid MIQ debts that have not been written off and remain subject to collection action, showing in each case invoice number, invoice date and amount of debt. (I am not asking for any personal information relating to the debtors.)
This information will be simple and quick to extract from your system, and so I would not expect you to require anything like the maximum 20 working days to respond, given that the legal requirement is to respond as soon as reasonably practicable.
Yours faithfully,
R S Grant
From: Ministerial Services
Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment
Kia ora R S Grant,
On behalf of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment I
acknowledge your email of 4 April 2024, requesting under the Official
Information Act 1982 (the Act), the following:
Please advise me whether all unpaid debts relating to people required to
stay in MIQ facilities during 2021 have now been written off, or if
collection efforts remain under way.
If collection efforts remain under way, please provide a list of all
unpaid MIQ debts that have not been written off and remain subject to
collection action, showing in each case invoice number, invoice date and
amount of debt. (I am not asking for any personal information relating to
the debtors.)
We will endeavour to respond to your request as soon as possible, and no
later than 3 May 2024, being 20 working days after the day your request
was received. If we are unable to respond to your request by then, we will
notify you of an extension of that timeframe. If you have any enquiries
regarding your request feel free to contact us via email to
[1][MBIE request email].
Nāku noa, nā
Ministerial Services
Corporate Services, Finance & Enablement
Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment
15 Stout Street, Wellington 6011 | PO Box 1473 Wellington 6140
-----Original Message-----
From: R S Grant <[FOI #26316 email]>
Sent: Thursday, April 4, 2024 3:26 PM
To: *OIA <[email address]>
Subject: Official Information request - MIQ debts
Dear Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment,
Please advise me whether all unpaid debts relating to people required to
stay in MIQ facilities during 2021 have now been written off, or if
collection efforts remain under way.
If collection efforts remain under way, please provide a list of all
unpaid MIQ debts that have not been written off and remain subject to
collection action, showing in each case invoice number, invoice date and
amount of debt. (I am not asking for any personal information relating to
the debtors.)
This information will be simple and quick to extract from your system, and
so I would not expect you to require anything like the maximum 20 working
days to respond, given that the legal requirement is to respond as soon as
reasonably practicable.
Yours faithfully,
R S Grant
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From: LSE Ministerial Servicing
Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment
Kia ora R S Grant
Please see attached.
Ngā mihi
Office of the Deputy Secretary, Labour, Science and Enterprise | Ministry
of Business, Innovation & Employment
Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment
From: R S Grant
Dear LSE Ministerial Servicing,
Thank you for this response, but I specifically stated that I was not asking for any details of individual debtors - I am only asking for a list of unpaid invoices with invoice numbers and amounts for each. There is no way in which that information could possible “breach the privacy of natural persons”.
Please can you reconsider your refusal with this in mind.
Yours sincerely,
R S Grant
From: LSE Ministerial Servicing
Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment
Kia ora R S Grant
MBIE considers that invoice numbers on invoices we send to members of the public, to be personal information specific to those people. However, I am looking at getting a list of the amounts of those invoices without those identifying numbers, which should give you some useful information.
Ngâ mihi
LSE Ministerial Servicing
Office of the Deputy Secretary, Labour, Science and Enterprise | Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment
Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment
-----Original Message-----
From: R S Grant <[FOI #26316 email]>
Sent: Friday, April 19, 2024 7:27 PM
To: LSE Ministerial Servicing <[email address]>
Subject: Re: Your request for information about MIQ debt [IN-CONFIDENCE: RELEASE-EXTERNAL]
Dear LSE Ministerial Servicing,
Thank you for this response, but I specifically stated that I was not asking for any details of individual debtors - I am only asking for a list of unpaid invoices with invoice numbers and amounts for each. There is no way in which that information could possible “breach the privacy of natural persons”.
Please can you reconsider your refusal with this in mind.
Yours sincerely,
R S Grant
-----Original Message-----
Kia ora R S Grant
Please see attached.
Ngâ mihi
Office of the Deputy Secretary, Labour, Science and Enterprise | Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment
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Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #26316 email]
Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
https://fyi.org.nz/help/officers
If you find this service useful as an Official Information officer, please ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's OIA or LGOIMA page.
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hide quoted sections
From: R S Grant
Dear LSE Ministerial Servicing,
Thank you for your reply, and I appreciate your efforts to provide some level of useful information.
I would nonetheless like to draw your attention to the guidance of the Privacy Commissioner regarding personal information. They say:
“The information does not need to name the individual, as long as they are identifiable in other ways, like through their home address or another identifier, or if their identity could be pieced together. The question is whether there's a reasonable chance that someone could be identified from the information. Any information that you can look at and say "this is about X” may be considered personal information, if X is an identifiable person.”
I would respectfully submit that providing an invoice number and the amount of the invoice would not enable anyone’s identity to be pieced together!
Yours sincerely,
R S Grant
From: R S Grant
Dear LSE Ministerial Servicing,
Is there any update on this request?
Yours sincerely,
R S Grant
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