19 March 2025
James Webb
[FYI request #30272 email]
Ref: PMO OIA 317-2024-24
Dear James,
Official Information Act request: Ombudsman complaints received by Prime Minister
Thank you for your Official Information Act 1982 (the Act) request, received on 3 March
2025. You requested:
“1. How many Ombudsman complaints have you been notified of since December
2023?
2. How many were regarding your office's handling of OIAs?
3. What processes, if any, have been implemented to ensure you are meeting your
legal obligations under the OIA?
4. How many judgements have the Ombudsman made against your office?”
I have added numbering to the parts of your request for ease of reference.
Part 1
For the period 1 December 2023 through 3 March 2025, this Office has been notified of 19
complaints to the Ombudsman. For completeness, I note that the Prime Minister was sworn
in on 27 November 2023.
Part 2
The Ombudsman’s jurisdiction to investigate decisions made by Ministers of the Crown,
including the Prime Minister, is limited to those decisions made under the Official Information
Act 1982. Accordingly, all 19 complaints concerned this Office’s decision-making on requests
for information made under the Act.
Part 3
This Office considers meeting its obligations under the Act to be of the utmost importance
and has commensurate administrative processes in place.
Part 4
As at 3 March 2025, the date we received your request, the Ombudsman has not made any
findings against this Office.
You have the right to ask the Ombudsman to investigate and review my decision under
section 28(3) of the Act.
Yours sincerely,
Cameron Burrows
Chief of Staff