As the extended deadline of 25 working days until the 15th of October passed yesterday and I have had no further response from ACC, I have lodged the following complaint with the Ombudsman:

ACC has failed to respond to two OIA requests within the specified timeframe. The requests were made with the website FYI and can be accessed here:
https://fyi.org.nz/request/3043-acupunct...
https://fyi.org.nz/request/3044-correspo...

Both requests were made on August 13th. ACC responded on the day of the 20 working days deadline, September 10th, to ask for a 25 working day extension on each request under section 15A of the OIA. That new deadline passed yesterday, on October 15th, and ACC still has not responded to either request.

Having viewed section 15A of the OIA today, I also see that ACC failed to notify me that I could complain to an Ombudman about the extension (I was under the impression I had to wait until the deadline passed), as is required under part 4(c) of section 15A of the OIA.

I have sent the following to ACC's Government Services via email:

Dear Government Services team,

Thank you for your response to my Official Information Act request regarding ACC's spending on acupuncture and predictions of spending on acupuncture (https://fyi.org.nz/request/3043-acupunct...).

To clarify your response, I would like to confirm the nature of the predictions that you sent me. They were described as "the estimated cost of acupuncture treatments for each financial year". I would like clarification as to when each prediction was made.

My current assumption is that they were made near the end the previous financial year, so for example the prediction for 2015/16 would have been made near the end of the 2014/15 financial year. Can you please confirm for me if this is correct and, if not, clarify when each of these predictions was made?

I am also aware of more previous predictions of spending on acupuncture from ACC, which were provided by Hon Ruth Dyson (then Minister for ACC) to Dr Paul Hutchison on December 2004. I found these predictions previously in the "Questions for written answer" section of the New Zealand Parliament website: http://www.parliament.nz/en-nz/pb/busine...

As I requested all previous and current predictions of spending on acupuncture treatments by ACC, this information falls within the scope of my request and should have been provided. If any other such previous or current predictions than those you have provided me with exist, please provide me with them alongside information regarding when the predictions were made.

Sincerely,

Mark Hanna
Society for Science Based Healthcare

ACC answered my questions about the estimates via email, received at 5:27pm on Friday 20/11/2015. I am continuing to correspond with them about another request: https://fyi.org.nz/request/3044-correspo...

In the interest of keeping this request transparent, here is the email I received from ACC:

"Dear Mr Hanna

I apologise for not being able to respond to you sooner.

I can confirm that estimates for future claim and treatment costs are completed before the end of each financial year, which is 30 June. After having spoken to our Finance team, my understanding is that they are usually completed between April and end of May each year, for the coming financial year. So as an example, the 2014/15 estimates were completed around May 2014. As these are part of a larger body of work in accounting, it is difficult to determine the exact date that each estimate was calculated. However, I can certainly enquire further if you are interested in specific dates?

I also queried the estimates provided by Hon Dyson and was advised that the information provided was specifically created for that Parliamentary Question. It is not ACC’s usual practice to estimate costs of specific treatments for longer than one financial year in advance. In other words, the information provided in response to the question was not in line with how the estimates are calculated and was a ‘one off’. I was also advised that previous estimates, such as those provided for that Parliamentary Question, are not stored/archived as they are not used for accounting purposes.

In reference to your questions regarding the development of the Treatment Profiles document, I would like to sincerely apologise the delay. I have searched through the documents I could readily access but have so far been unable to locate the sources of the particular terms you mentioned in your email. However, I am currently in the process of engaging with staff members who are involved in the provision of acupuncture services and should be able to provide you with information around the this next week. Staff absences have unfortunately delayed this much longer than expected.

If it might be useful to you, I may also be able to arrange for a staff member from our Clinical Services area to connect with you, either by phone or by email (whichever you prefer). They may be able to answer some of your questions straight away. We can then provide you with a written response containing the information you would like stated officially.

In the meantime, and especially since I am aware of the length of time that has elapsed since you first requested information around this topic, please feel free to contact me directly if you have any questions or would like an update. I am also more than happy to assist you with further clarifications or subsequent requests that would enable you to obtain the information that you require. My direct dial number is [number].

Once again, please accept my apologies for not being able to respond sooner (my hope was to provide you with a lot more information by this stage)."

Information gained from this request regarding how much ACC spent on acupuncture treatments last year was reported on 3 News last night: http://www.3news.co.nz/nznews/asa-acupun...