Your request for official information has been lodged in our system and allocated to the relevant departments within the council to
investigate.
You may hear from us again soon if we are not clear about what information you are looking for, or if your request is so big we would
have to do “substantial collation or research” to answer it. Collation means finding, gathering, organising and sometimes indexing
information. We will help you to narrow your request: for example, if you have asked for information spanning 5 years, we may ask you
to consider requesting only 1 year, or if you have asked for “all correspondence”, we may suggest you think about limiting your request to
key staff or departments.
We can refuse your request if, together, we cannot agree on a change which would allow us to answer your request without it requiring
“substantial collation” - or in other words, taking up so much of our time that it interferes with our other work.
How long will it take to get the information?
We will respond to you with a decision within 20 working days of receiving your request. If it is going to take longer than this, we will
let you know the reason why we are extending the time and confirm a new due date.
We can only extend the time to respond
• if there is a large amount of information to collate, or
• If we need to consult with people, either within or outside of the council, to help us make a decision about your request.
If there is a large amount of information within the scope of your request, we may write to you to tell you what information we have
decided to release, but that we need more time to collate it.
Transferring your request
If we do not hold the information, you are looking for, and we think the information is held by another local authority or government
agency, we will transfer your request. We can also transfer your request if we think the information you have requested is more closely
connected with the functions of another local authority or government agency.
We will let you know in writing within 10 working days if your request has been transferred.
Responding to your request
We will respond to your request in writing and outline the information that we have given you. We will explain any information that we
have withheld (not given to you) and the reasons why we have withheld it. These reasons can only be those set out in th
e LGOIMA
When you may need to pay for information
You may be required to make a payment when making a LGOIMA
We will tell you the cost of your request before we begin collating the information. You can then decide to proceed, withdraw or
refine your request.
We might ask for some or all of the cost to be paid in advance. Our chief executive can waive charges at his discretion.
Publishing information requests on our website
We regularly publish
responses to requests for information on our website which may be of interest to the general public. When
publishing a response, we will withhold the names of individual requestors to protect their privacy. You can visit the LGOIMA
responses page on our website
: http://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/EN/ContactUs/official_information_responses/Pages/lgoima.aspx
Office of the Ombudsman
You have the right to seek an investigation and review of our response by the Ombudsman. Information about how to make a
complaint is available a
t www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone 0800 802 602.
You can find more detailed information about the topics discussed in this information sheet here
