Dear Ministry of Health,

BACKGROUND
In OIA H2024053399 it was stated in a reply on 6 November 2024:

"The Ministry’s Evidence, Research and Innovation Directorate was established in July 2022 and includes several teams that undertake horizon scanning as well as maintaining a watching brief on key issues of relevance to the health portfolio. Recent examples include updated evidence briefs on community water fluoridation and Long COVID-19."

On 24 October 2024 the MoH responded to an OIA with the subject: "Impact of U.S. Federal Court Ruling on Fluoridation on New Zealand’s Policies" stating:

"As was required by the New Zealand High Court, the Director-General is
undertaking a Bill of Rights analysis of the directions to ensure that
section 11 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 is considered. This
will include consideration of scientific evidence, and local circumstances
in each locality subject to a direction. The Ministry is ensuring it is
using the most current information since the directions were made in 2022,
where this is available. The Ministry keeps a watching brief on the
national and international evidence base.

In 2014, a comprehensive report was published by the Royal Society Te
Apârangi, prepared jointly with the Office of the Prime Minister’s Chief
Science Advisor, reviewing the substantial

body of scientific evidence on the efficacy and safety of fluoridation of
public water supplies.

The report concluded that there are no adverse health effects of any
significance from fluoridation levels used in New Zealand. In June 2021, the Office of the
Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor released an evidence update, which confirmed that the conclusions of the 2014 report remain appropriate. You can find these
reviews online at:

[1]www.pmcsa.ac.nz/topics/fluoridation-an-update-on-evidence/."

QUESTIONS

1) Please provide the latest Evidence Briefs created by the Ministry’s Evidence, Research and Innovation Directorate on community water fluoridation and Long COVID-19.

2) If work on the Evidence Briefs requested in (1) is currently underway and cannot be released then please provide the correspondence that initiated the work - including the terms of reference, any instructions on objectives and scope etc, and any resulting communication (eg clarifying questions, meeting minutes and instructions for delegated work packages). Please also provide the planned completion date.

3) Please identify which group within the MoH is "undertaking the Bill of Rights analysis of the directions to ensure that section 11 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 is considered". Please provide the correspondence that initiated the work - including the terms of reference, any instructions on objectives and scope etc, and any resulting communication (eg clarifying questions, meeting minutes and instructions for delegated work packages). Please also provide the planned completion date.

4) Please provide any evidence that the Evidence Briefs by Ministry’s Evidence, Research and Innovation Directorate on Community fluoridation and the review regarding the Bill of Rights are coordinated. This could for example be an email trail confirming that the two teams are communicating, or possibly a revised Evidence Brief being provided to the Bill of Rights review. There may be other ways to provide this evidence - eg a project plan showing that the draft outcomes of both work streams will be considered together before either complete.

Yours faithfully,

Chris Johnston