30 September 2024
George Morrison
Ref: PSTE-OI-24-015
[FYI request #28287 email]
Dear George
Thank you for your email of 3 September 2024 requesting the following information:
1. Please provide me with the initial report of the University Advisory Group in
relation to advice on New Zealand's university system. The Group's website notes
that an initial report was to have been provided to the government in August.
2. Please also provide me with all correspondence between the chair Sir Peter
Gluckman and your office. I am happy to exclude incidental communications
(logistical arrangements etcetera), but wish to receive any advice, policy
considerations, briefings, notes, opinions, or options under consideration as they
relate to the work of the Group.
3. Please also provide me with the overall cost of the group, breaking out fees,
administration and hosting costs.
I have considered your request under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act) and
numbered it for the purposes of responding.
I am refusing
part one of your request under section 18(e) of the Act, as the information
requested does not yet exist. The University Advisory Group’s (UAG) interim report is still in
development and the Ministry of Education (the Ministry) has agreed to extend the deadline
until the end of September 2024.
My office has identified no communication in scope of
part two of your request, so I am
refusing this under section 18(e) of the Act, as the document alleged to contain the
information requested does not exist or, despite reasonable efforts to locate it, cannot be
found.
As advised on 17 September 2024, I have transferred
part three of your request to the
Ministry in accordance with section 14(b)(i) of the Act, and you may expect a response in
due course.
Thank you again for your email. You have the right to ask an Ombudsman to review this
decision. You can do this by writing to
[email address] or Of ice of the
Ombudsman, PO Box 10152, Wellington 6143.
Kind regards
Hon Penny Simmonds
Minister for Tertiary Education and Skil s
