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3/12/2025
Ken Robertson
[FYI request #32754 email]
Tēnā koe Ken
OIA: GEMS-45538 - OIA and Ombudsman statistics
Thank you for your email of 6 November 2025 to the Ministry of Education (the Ministry) requesting
the following information:
Please release the numbers of the following for the years 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024
and thus far for 2025.
1. How many OIA requests were made to the Ministry of Education?
2. What percentage of these were refused,
a. with a breakdown of reasons for refusal.
3. What percentage of all OIA requests were sent to the Ombudsman?
4. What was the breakdown of Ombudsman decisions of these complaints?
5. If complaints were upheld by the Ombudsman, what was the reason for upholding this
complaint?
6. What was the timeframe for completion of requests that were sent to the Ombudsman?
Your request has been considered under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA).
The Ministry reports on a six-monthly basis to Te Kawa Mataaho | Public Service Commission
(TKM) on our OIA statistics, so I have interpreted your request for “thus far for 2025” to refer to
information up to 30 June 2025, being the last reporting period. This information is published on
TKM’s website here: https://www.publicservice.govt.nz/guidance/official-information/oia-statistics.
I am refusing
part 1 of your request under section 18(d) of the Act, as this information is included
in the above reporting.
Regarding
part 2 of your request, the overall number of full refusals has been reported to TKM
since the six-monthly period to June 2022, and that number is included in the reporting referred to
above, so I am also refusing this aspect of your request insofar as it relates to those periods under
section 18(d) of the Act, as above.
I am refusing the number of refusals for the periods to December 2021 under section 18(g) of the
Act, as the Ministry only began tracking this information in our workflow system when it became
necessary to report full refusals to TKM, so the information requested for those periods is not held
Wellington National Office, 1 The Terrace, Levels 5 to 14, Wellington 6011
PO Box 1666, Wellington 6140, DX SR51201 Phone: +64 4 463 8000
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in a collated form by the Ministry, and I have no grounds for believing that it is either held by, or
more closely related to the functions of, another department or organisation subject to the Act.
The breakdown of full refusal grounds relied upon has been reported to TKM and therefore tracked
in our workflow system since the period commencing July 2023. Please refer to the
table provided
at
Appendix A below for that information. I am refusing the information for the periods requested
to June 2023 under section 18(g) of the Act, as above.
The number of OIA complaints notified to the Ministry and the number of those complaints that
were upheld by the Ombudsman has been reported to TKM since 2016. This information is
published on TKM’s website at the link provided above, and a breakdown of the Ombudsman’s
decisions on complaints is published on the Ombudsman’s website at:
https://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/resources?f%5B0%5D=category%3A1989%20, so I am
refusing
parts three, four and five of your request under section 18(d) of the Act, as above.
I have interpreted
part six of your request to be for the average time the Office of the Ombudsman
takes to complete an investigation, since not all complaints are referred to the agency at issue.
This information would only be held by the Office of the Ombudsman, so I am refusing this part of
your request under section 18(g) of the Act, as above.
Please note, we may publish this response on our website after five working days. Your name and
contact details will be removed.
Thank you again for your email. You have the right to ask an Ombudsman to review my decision
on your request, in accordance with section 28 of the Act. You can do this by writing to
[email address] or to Office of the Ombudsman, PO Box 10152, Wellington 6143.
Nāku noa, nā
Emma Drysdale
Manager Official and Parliamentary Information
Te Pou Rangatōpū | Corporate
OIA: GEMS-45538
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Appendix A – Breakdown of full refusal grounds
Period
18(a)
18(b)
18(c)
18(d)
18(da)
18(e)
18(f)
18(g)
18(h)
July-Dec 2023
14 0 1 79 0 52 26 56 0
Jan-June 2024
30 0 3
160 3
123 51 87 2
July-Dec 2024
34 0 1
129 0 76 27 69 1
Jan-June 2025
36 0 1
113 0 49 22 41 0
OIA: GEMS-45538
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