23/05/2025
Andrew Riddell
[FYI request #30538 email]
Tēnā koe Andrew
OIA: 1346685 – Ka Ora, Ka Ako and Compass Group
Thank you for your email of 26 April 2025 to Associate Minister of Education, Hon David Seymour,
which was transferred to the Ministry of Education (the Ministry) on 24 April 2025, requesting the
following information:
On 24 March you answered an information request of mine about the positive feedback you
state has been received on the current school lunch programme (your reference
DSOIA459).
You attached an Appendix A which is, apparently, positive feedback from schools.
You also note that
"My Ministerial and Electorate offices do not categorise incoming correspondence
according ot the apparent personal characteristics of the correspondent, such as their age,
or according to the nature of the feedback provided." and
"A selection of positive feedback from schools has been emailed to the School Lunch
Collective and the Ministry of Education. The Ministry and area managers are also
receiving positive comments when they visit schools. While an official record of positive
comments from schools is not maintained, it is gratifying for the team working on the school
lunches programme to receive this feedback."
So I request:
(a) an estimate of the proportion of correspondence received by your Ministerial Office on
the school lunch programme that is positive
(b) the dates each of the comments recorded in the Appendix A document were received
(c) for each the comments recorded whether that comment was received by School Lunch
Collective or whether it was received by the Ministry of Education
8 Gilmer Terrace, Levels Ground floor, 1, 2, and 6-14, Wellington
PO Box 1666, Wellington 6140 Phone: +64 4 463 8000
Your request has been considered under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act).
The Ministry needs to extend the timeframe for responding to the remainder of your request,
pursuant to section 15A(1)(b) of the Act, as consultations necessary to make a decision on the
request are such that a proper response cannot reasonably be made within the original time limit.
You can now expect to receive a response to your request on or before 22 July 2025, which is an
extension of 40 working days.
This due date takes into account King’s Birthday and Matariki, which fall on 2 June and 20 June
2025. While the Ministry will be working to provide this response prior to the due date, please note
that we are experiencing an unusually high volume of requests on this subject.
You have the right to ask an Ombudsman to investigate our decision to extend the timeframe for
responding to this request, in accordance with section 28 of the Act. You can do this by writing to
[email address] or Office of the Ombudsman, PO Box 10152, Wellington 6143.
Nāku noa, nā
Cindy McDonald
Principal Advisor
Government, Executive and Ministerial Services
