Communications about structured literacy programmes and resources
Ken Robertson made this Official Information request to Erica Stanford
Currently waiting for a response from Erica Stanford, they must respond promptly and normally no later than (details and exceptions).
From: Ken Robertson
Dear Erica Stanford,
Please release any communications, including letters, meeting notes, emails, texts between Erica Stanford and any representatives of private companies or charities with interests in structured literacy, including any groups that produce structured literacy resources and programmes (for example, Learning Matters, BSLA or Liz Kane Literacy) or charities relating to structured literacy (for example, DEB - Dyslexia NZ evidence based) from October 2023 to the current date. You can exclude communications where a company is asking for you to look at their programme or resources if no reply was made or just a standard no thank you type reply was made.
Yours faithfully,
Ken Robertson
From: Erica Stanford (MIN)
Erica Stanford
Thank you for contacting the Office of Hon Erica Stanford, Minister of
Education, Minister of Immigration, Lead Coordination Minister for the
Government's Response to the Royal Commission's Report into Historical
Abuse in State Care and in the Care of Faith-based Institutions, and
Member of Parliament for East Coast Bays.
We appreciate you reaching out – the Minister considers all correspondence
to be important, and all messages are carefully read and considered.
Please do note it is not always possible to provide a personal response to
every email received. Personal views, feedback and suggestions are
gratefully received and will be passed on to the Minister and/or relevant
Agencies.
NCEA Proposal
The Minister welcomes your feedback on the Government’s proposal to
replace NCEA with new national qualifications that are laser focused on
raising student achievement and providing clear pathways for future study,
training or employment. Consultation is open until 15 September. You can
find the full proposal and instructions on how to provide feedback here:
[1]https://www.education.govt.nz/have-your-...
Please note the following to help us direct your correspondence:
* If you are seeking ministerial intervention for an immigration case,
please contact Associate Minister of Immigration, Hon Chris Penk, at
[email address] Minister Stanford is unable to comment on
individual cases.
* Emails relating to education matters that are operational in
nature will be transferred to the Ministry of Education (or other
agency). Minister Stanford is unable to comment on individual cases.
You can contact the Ministry directly at:
[email address]
* For assistance related to historical abuse in state care, please
contact the Survivor Experiences Team at
[email address].
* If you have invited Minister Stanford to an event, or requested a
meeting, a member of staff may contact you for more information.
* Official Information or Privacy Act requests will be managed under the
relevant Acts, which may include transfer to another Agency.
* If you are a journalist, your request will be referred to the Press
Secretary.
* If you are a constituent of East Coast Bays, your email will be shared
with the Electorate Office.
Thank you again for writing to Minister Stanford.
Kind regards,
Office of Hon Erica Stanford
Reception: +64 4 817 6805 | Ministerial Email:
[2][Erica Stanford request email] |
Web: beehive.govt.nz | Post: Freepost Parliament, Private Bag 18 041,
Parliament Buildings, Wellington 6160, New Zealand
References
Visible links
1. https://www.education.govt.nz/have-your-...
2. mailto:[Erica Stanford request email]
From: Erica Stanford (MIN)
Erica Stanford
OIA ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Dear Ken,
Thank you for your Official Information Act 1982 (the Act) request,
received on 19/08/2025, in which you requested the following information:
Please release any communications, including letters, meeting notes,
emails, texts between Erica Stanford and any representatives of private
companies or charities with interests in structured literacy, including
any groups that produce structured literacy resources and programmes (for
example, Learning Matters, BSLA or Liz Kane Literacy) or charities
relating to structured literacy (for example, DEB - Dyslexia NZ evidence
based) from October 2023 to the current date. You can exclude
communications where a company is asking for you to look at their
programme or resources if no reply was made or just a standard no thank
you type reply was made.
Your request will be answered within the provisions of the Official
Information Act.
Kind regards,
Office of Hon Erica Stanford
Office of Hon Erica Stanford
MP for East Coast Bays
Minister of Education
Minister of Immigration
Lead Coordination Minister for the Government’s Response to the Royal
Commission’s Report into Historical Abuse in State Care and in the Care
of Faith-based Institutions
Website: [1]www.Beehive,govt.nz
Private Bag 18041, Parliament Buildings, Wellington 6160, New Zealand
Disclaimer: The information in this email (including attachments) is
confidential and may be legally privileged. If an addressing or
transmission error has misdirected this email, please notify the author
by replying to this email and destroy the message. If you are not the
intended recipient, any use, disclosure, copying or distribution is
prohibited and may be unlawful.
show quoted sections
From: Erica Stanford (MIN)
Erica Stanford
Kia ora Ken,
Thank you for your Official Information Act 1982 (the Act) request, received on 19 August 2025
The Official Information Act requires that we advise you of our decision on your request no later than 20 working days after the day we received your request. Unfortunately, it will not be possible to meet that time limit and we are therefore writing to notify you of an extension of the time to make our decision, to 30 September under Section 15A(1)(b), to carry out necessary consultations.
We will endeavour to get this response to you as soon as possible.
You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of our decision to extend the time limit. Information about how to make a complaint is available at www.ombudsman.parliament.nz
Kind regards,
Office of Hon Erica Stanford
Office of Hon Erica Stanford
MP for East Coast Bays
Minister of Education
Minister of Immigration
Lead Coordination Minister for the Government's Response to the Royal Commission's Report into Historical Abuse in State Care and in the Care of Faith-based Institutions
Website: www.Beehive,govt.nz
Private Bag 18041, Parliament Buildings, Wellington 6160, New Zealand
Disclaimer: The information in this email (including attachments) is confidential and may be legally privileged. If an addressing or transmission error has misdirected this email, please notify the author by replying to this email and destroy the message. If you are not the intended recipient, any use, disclosure, copying or distribution is prohibited and may be unlawful.
show quoted sections
From: Erica Stanford (MIN)
Erica Stanford
Kia ora Ken,
Thank you for your Official Information Act 1982 (the Act) request,
received on 19 August 2025
The Official Information Act requires that we advise you of our decision
on your request no later than 20 working days after the day we received
your request. Unfortunately, it will not be possible to meet that time
limit and we are therefore writing to notify you of an extension of the
time to make our decision, to 14 October under Section 15A(1)(b), to carry
out necessary consultations.
We will endeavour to get this response to you as soon as possible.
You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of
our decision to extend the time limit. Information about how to make a
complaint is available at [1]www.ombudsman.parliament.nz
Kind regards,
Office of Hon Erica Stanford
show quoted sections
From: Erica Stanford (MIN)
Erica Stanford
Kia ora Ken,
Thank you for your Official Information Act 1982 (the Act) request,
received on 19 August 2025.
Unfortunately, it will not be possible to meet that time limit and we are
therefore writing to notify you of an extension of the time to make our
decision, to 28 October under Section 15A(1)(b), to carry out necessary
consultations. As soon as we receive a response from the parties with whom
we are consulting, we will be able to get a response to you.
We will endeavour to get this response to you as soon as possible.
You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of
our decision to extend the time limit. Information about how to make a
complaint is available at [1]www.ombudsman.parliament.nz
Kind regards,
Office of Hon Erica Stanford
Office of Hon Erica Stanford
MP for East Coast Bays
Minister of Education
Minister of Immigration
Lead Coordination Minister for the Government’s Response to the Royal
Commission’s Report into Historical Abuse in State Care and in the Care of
Faith-based Institutions
Website: [2]www.Beehive,govt.nz
Private Bag 18041, Parliament Buildings, Wellington 6160, New Zealand
Disclaimer: The information in this email (including attachments) is
confidential and may be legally privileged. If an addressing or
transmission error has misdirected this email, please notify the author by
replying to this email and destroy the message. If you are not the
intended recipient, any use, disclosure, copying or distribution is
prohibited and may be unlawful.
show quoted sections
From: Ken Robertson
Notification of breach of Section 15A(3) of the Official Information Act 1982
Dear Hon Erica Stanford,
I am writing to inform you that your response to me, dated October 13 2025, is in breach of the Official Information Act 1982. That section of the Act states:
“The extension shall be effected by giving or posting notice of the extension to the person who made the request within 20 working days after the day on which the request is received.”
This requires that all extensions - including secondary and other extensions - must be notified within the original 20 days from the time of the OIA request. This is made clear in the following publication by the State Service Commission: https://www.publicservice.govt.nz/assets...
The relevant advice in that document states the following : “You can extend the time limits for a request more than once, providing all extensions are made within the original 20 working day time period after receiving the request (see section 15A(3))”.
That advice goes on to give an example that makes it clear that all extensions must be notified within those first 20 days; the time limit does not reset every time there is a new extension.
My OIA request was submitted to you on 19 August 2025. You’ve extended the response time frame three times; every notified extension must be made within 20 days of the August 19 and this has not occurred. Section 15A(3) is meant to stop the ongoing extensions building upon each other, as has occurred with my request.
I am aware I can make a complaint to the Ombudsman, but I wanted to first give you the opportunity to revise the relevant legislation and remedy your response, since your previous communications with me appear to be a very clear breach of the OIA legislation.
Thank you for your time, and I look forward to a timely response.
Regards,
Ken
From: Erica Stanford (MIN)
Erica Stanford
Kia ora Ken,
On behalf of Hon Erica Stanford, please see the attached response to your request for Official Information.
Office of Hon Erica Stanford
Office of Hon Erica Stanford
MP for East Coast Bays
Minister of Education
Minister of Immigration
Lead Coordination Minister for the Government's Response to the Royal Commission's Report into Historical Abuse in State Care and in the Care of Faith-based Institutions
Website: www.Beehive,govt.nz
Private Bag 18041, Parliament Buildings, Wellington 6160, New Zealand
Disclaimer: The information in this email (including attachments) is confidential and may be legally privileged. If an addressing or transmission error has misdirected this email, please notify the author by replying to this email and destroy the message. If you are not the intended recipient, any use, disclosure, copying or distribution is prohibited and may be unlawful.
show quoted sections
From: Ken Robertson
Dear Erica Stanford (MIN),
You have interpreted my request as only pertaining to the organisations named. This is incorrect. I listed these, as described, as examples only. These were chosen because they are "big names" that are well known in the sphere, and/or are mentioned in the Minister's diaries. I would like information, as requested I would like information about "any representatives of private companies or charities with interests in structured literacy"
Regarding your second point regarding privacy, feel free to redact the name of individuals, and just put the company/ organisation name.
Yours sincerely,
Ken Robertson
From: Julia Corston
Dear Ken,
Thank you for your follow-up.
Section 12(2) of the Official Information Act requires that official
information requested shall be specified with due particularity in the
request. If you would like to submit a new Official Information Act
request specifying the private companies/charities of which you would like
information, you are free to do so. A more broad search as your request
currently stands would not be possible without requiring substantial
collation and research.
With regard to privacy, some of the companies/organisations are operated
by a single proprietor. In cases such as this, releasing any information
from the company would be identifying the individual, hence the decision
to withhold such information under section 9(2)(a).
Kind regards,
Office of Hon Erica Stanford
show quoted sections
From: Erica Stanford (MIN)
Erica Stanford
Dear Ken,
On behalf of Hon Erica Stanford,
I am writing to acknowledge that the extensions made to your request
(ESOIA651) were invalid. I apologise for these invalid extensions.
Please advise if you would still like your email of 28 October processed
as a new request. We are more than happy to do so. However, as advised in
my colleague’s email of 5 November, we would most likely require you to
specify the private companies/charities from which you would like
information. If you have questions regarding making a request, I refer you
to the Ombudsman’s guide for requesters,
[1]https://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/reso...,
otherwise, we are happy to assist you with making your request.
Looking forward to hearing back from you,
Kind regard,
Office of Hon Erica Stanford
From: Julia Corston
Sent: Wednesday, 5 November 2025 10:01 AM
To: [FOI #32055 email]
Subject: RE: ESOIA651 | Official Information request - Communications
about structured literacy programmes and resources
Dear Ken,
Thank you for your follow-up.
Section 12(2) of the Official Information Act requires that official
information requested shall be specified with due particularity in the
request. If you would like to submit a new Official Information Act
request specifying the private companies/charities of which you would like
information, you are free to do so. A more broad search as your request
currently stands would not be possible without requiring substantial
collation and research.
With regard to privacy, some of the companies/organisations are operated
by a single proprietor. In cases such as this, releasing any information
from the company would be identifying the individual, hence the decision
to withhold such information under section 9(2)(a).
Kind regards,
Office of Hon Erica Stanford
show quoted sections
From: Ken Robertson
Dear Erica Stanford (MIN),
Yes please continue with my request from October 28. If I need to name companies/ charities, I would like information on the following:
BSLA
Tātai Angitu
IMSLE
Learning Matters
Liz Kane Literacy
The Kiwi Reading Doctor
Sound Foundation for literacy
The Writing Teacher
DEB (Dyslexia evidence based)
Lifting Literacy Aotearoa
Tātai Atu Rau Core Education
Evaluation Associates
Cognition
Feel free to redact company/ organisation names if they are run by a sole proprietor.
Yours sincerely,
Ken Robertson
From: Erica Stanford (MIN)
Erica Stanford
Thank you for contacting the Office of Hon Erica Stanford, Minister of
Education, Minister of Immigration, Lead Coordination Minister for the
Government's Response to the Royal Commission's Report into Historical
Abuse in State Care and in the Care of Faith-based Institutions, and
Member of Parliament for East Coast Bays.
We appreciate you reaching out – the Minister considers all correspondence
to be important, and all messages are carefully read and considered.
Please do note it is not always possible to provide a personal response to
every email received. Personal views, feedback and suggestions are
gratefully received and will be passed on to the Minister and/or relevant
Agencies.
Please note the following to help us direct your correspondence:
* If you are seeking ministerial intervention for an immigration case,
please contact Associate Minister of Immigration, Hon Chris Penk, at
[email address] Minister Stanford is unable to comment on
individual cases.
* Emails relating to education matters that are operational in
nature will be transferred to the Ministry of Education (or other
agency). Minister Stanford is unable to comment on individual cases.
You can contact the Ministry directly at:
[email address]
* For assistance related to historical abuse in state care, please
contact the Survivor Experiences Team at
[email address].
* If you have invited Minister Stanford to an event, or requested a
meeting, a member of staff may contact you for more information.
* Official Information or Privacy Act requests will be managed under the
relevant Acts, which may include transfer to another Agency.
* If you are a journalist, your request will be referred to the Press
Secretary.
* If you are a constituent of East Coast Bays, your email will be shared
with the Electorate Office.
Thank you again for writing to Minister Stanford.
Kind regards,
Office of Hon Erica Stanford
Reception: +64 4 817 6805 | Ministerial Email:
[1][Erica Stanford request email] |
Web: beehive.govt.nz | Post: Freepost Parliament, Private Bag 18 041,
Parliament Buildings, Wellington 6160, New Zealand
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[Erica Stanford request email]
From: Erica Stanford (MIN)
Erica Stanford
Thank you Ken,
Could you please confirm what information you are seeking under the OIA,
so that we can process your request accordingly?
Office of Hon Erica Stanford
MP for East Coast Bays
Minister of Education
Minister of Immigration
Lead Coordination Minister for the Government’s Response to the Royal
Commission’s Report into Historical Abuse in State Care and in the Care
of Faith-based Institutions
Website: [1]www.Beehive,govt.nz
Private Bag 18041, Parliament Buildings, Wellington 6160, New Zealand
Disclaimer: The information in this email (including attachments) is
confidential and may be legally privileged. If an addressing or
transmission error has misdirected this email, please notify the author
by replying to this email and destroy the message. If you are not the
intended recipient, any use, disclosure, copying or distribution is
prohibited and may be unlawful.
show quoted sections
From: Ken Robertson
Dear Erica Stanford (MIN),
I have copied in my initial request below. This is the information I am seeking under the OIA. You asked me to specify the names of the organisations I am interested in, this did not change the information I'm requesting.
Please release any communications, including letters, meeting notes, emails, texts between Erica Stanford and any representatives of private companies or charities with interests in structured literacy, including any groups that produce structured literacy resources and programmes (for example, Learning Matters, BSLA or Liz Kane Literacy) or charities relating to structured literacy (for example, DEB - Dyslexia NZ evidence based) from October 2023 to the current date.
Yours sincerely,
Ken Robertson
Things to do with this request
- Add an annotation (to help the requester or others)
- Download a zip file of all correspondence (note: this contains the same information already available above).
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