Publication of Ministerial diaries - overseas travel

Anna Wilson made this Official Information request to Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives

Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives did not have the information requested.

From: Anna Wilson

Dear Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives,

I am getting in touch with a question about the publication of Ministerial diaries on the Beehive website.

In the previous term of Government, these Ministerial diaries accounted for all activities undertaken by Ministers - including their overseas travel. Domestic activities and international activities were published in the same level of detail which was very useful.

In this current term of Government, I have noticed that Ministerial diaries now only list "Overseas Travel" with an indication of the days overseas and there is no further detail provided about what meetings or engagements the Minister undertook.

I made an OIA request for this information to Minister McClay's office who pointed me to the proactive release of Cabinet papers reporting back on the Minister's overseas travel.

While these Cabinet papers include details of the people that the Minister met with while overseas, they do not show the date of these meetings, the time of these meetings, the duration of these meetings, or which officials or other parties were in attendance at these meetings.

In addition, these Cabinet papers have to go through a lengthy proactive release process in contrast to the Ministerial diaries which are often uploaded quite soon after the conclusion of each month.

I wanted to ask whether you knew why this change had been made and whether Ministers are expected to account for their domestic and international engagements in a consistent way? Is this governed by a standing order or a speaker's ruling?

You can see the contrast in available information if you look through the published Ministerial diaries of people like the Foreign Affairs Minister or the Trade Minister in this Government and then the last few Governments.

Thanks for your consideration, please let me know if you are not the right people to be asking.

Yours sincerely,

Anna

Link to this

From: clerk
Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives


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Hello Anna, this is a matter for DPMC, not the Clerk of the House of
Representatives.
The Clerk looks after Parliament (the House), and DPMC looks after Cabinet
and all it's Ministers.
You can see their contact information here.
[1]Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (DPMC) | Department of the
Prime Minister and Cabinet (DPMC)
Best
Andie

Andie Lindsay
Executive Assistant to

The Clerk of the House, David Wilson; and

The Chief Executive, Parliamentary Service, Rafael Gonzalez-Montero

DDI 64 4 817 9445  M 027 512 0400
E [2][email address]

Please note: this email was sent at a time convenient to me. I do not
expect you to read or respond to it outside of your normal working hours.

Parliament Buildings

Private Bag 18041, Wellington 6160, New Zealand
[3]www.parliament.nz

 

[4][IMG]   [5][IMG]    [6][IMG]    [7][IMG]

 

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From: Anna Wilson <[FOI #29101 email]>
Sent: Thursday, November 7, 2024 1:10 PM
To: clerk <[Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives request email]>
Subject: Official Information request - Publication of Ministerial diaries
- overseas travel
 
Dear Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives,

I am getting in touch with a question about the publication of Ministerial
diaries on the Beehive website.

In the previous term of Government, these Ministerial diaries accounted
for all activities undertaken by Ministers - including their overseas
travel. Domestic activities and international activities were published in
the same level of detail which was very useful.

In this current term of Government, I have noticed that Ministerial
diaries now only list "Overseas Travel" with an indication of the days
overseas and there is no further detail provided about what meetings or
engagements the Minister undertook.

I made an OIA request for this information to Minister McClay's office who
pointed me to the proactive release of Cabinet papers reporting back on
the Minister's overseas travel.

While these Cabinet papers include details of the people that the Minister
met with while overseas, they do not show the date of these meetings, the
time of these meetings, the duration of these meetings, or which officials
or other parties were in attendance at these meetings.

In addition, these Cabinet papers have to go through a lengthy proactive
release process in contrast to the Ministerial diaries which are often
uploaded quite soon after the conclusion of each month.

I wanted to ask whether you knew why this change had been made and whether
Ministers are expected to account for their domestic and international
engagements in a consistent way? Is this governed by a standing order or a
speaker's ruling?

You can see the contrast in available information if you look through the
published Ministerial diaries of people like the Foreign Affairs Minister
or the Trade Minister in this Government and then the last few
Governments.

Thanks for your consideration, please let me know if you are not the right
people to be asking.

Yours sincerely,

Anna

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Link to this

From: Anna Wilson

Thank you for pointing me in the right direction.

Yours sincerely,

Anna Wilson

Link to this

From: clerk
Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives


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Attachment Outlook vfd004vs.gif
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Good as gold Anna, 
Best
Andie

Andie Lindsay
Executive Assistant to

The Clerk of the House, David Wilson; and

The Chief Executive, Parliamentary Service, Rafael Gonzalez-Montero

DDI 64 4 817 9445  M 027 512 0400
E [1][email address]

Please note: this email was sent at a time convenient to me. I do not
expect you to read or respond to it outside of your normal working hours.

Parliament Buildings

Private Bag 18041, Wellington 6160, New Zealand
[2]www.parliament.nz

 

[3][IMG]   [4][IMG]    [5][IMG]    [6][IMG]

 

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From: Anna Wilson <[FOI #29101 email]>
Sent: Monday, November 11, 2024 4:54 PM
To: clerk <[Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives request email]>
Subject: Re: Official Information request - Publication of Ministerial
diaries - overseas travel
 
Thank you for pointing me in the right direction.

Yours sincerely,

Anna Wilson

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