Tçnâ koe,

 

Thank you for your email. 

 

Under the Official Information Act (OIA), agencies are required to respond
to requests for official information as soon as reasonably practicable and
no later than 20 working days after receiving them.

If your request is for data that Health NZ holds, have you checked
[1]Lighthouse first to see if the data you are seeking is already
published?

 

Lighthouse is a searchable catalogue that makes a range of data and
analytics products available to New Zealanders to enable easier, faster
access to insights about health services.

 

You can find further information about how OIA timeframes are calculated,
including the Ombudsman’s OIA calculator, at the link below:
[2]Official information calculators | Ombudsman New Zealand

 

We will provide a response to your request in line with the statutory
timeframes set out in the OIA.

We appreciate your understanding and patience during this time.

 

Ngâ mihi,
Health NZ | Te Whatu Ora

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Kia ora Robert, 
  
I am emailing regarding your request received on 11 March 2026 for the
following information made under the Official Information Act 1982 (the
Act):

 
Under the Official Information Act 1982, I am requesting
information regarding the internal administrative triage, IT security
escalation, and executive communications surrounding an email sent by
former employee Barry Young to the Te Whatu Ora Executive Leadership Team
on November 30, 2023. 
 
It is a matter of public record that Chief Executive Margie Apa replied to
Mr. Young's November 30 email, signing off with "warmest
regards." However, shortly thereafter, a police complaint was filed by the
organization. To understand the exact timeline of how Mr. Young's internal
disclosure was handled administratively and the precise moment it was
escalated to a security and criminal matter, I request the following
official information generated between November 30, 2023, and December 4,
2023: 
 
1. Any internal emails, Microsoft Teams messages, or memos between members
of the Executive Leadership Team (including Margie Apa's office) and the
Te Whatu Ora IT/Cybersecurity teams discussing the receipt, content, or
implications of Barry Young's November 30 email. 
 
2. Any incident reports, IT security alerts, or internal risk assessments
generated in direct response to the receipt of Mr. Young's November 30
email. 
 
3. Any written directives, meeting minutes, or communications detailing
the internal decision-making process to revoke Mr. Young's system access
and file a formal complaint with the New Zealand Police. 
 
To be explicitly clear, I am not requesting the raw data Mr. Young
allegedly possessed, nor am I asking for the personal or medical details
of any vaccinators or patients. I am strictly asking for the
internal operational and administrative communications regarding how his
November 30 communication was handled by Te Whatu Ora management.

We have reviewed your request and consider that as currently worded, parts
of your request are broad and might be refused under substantial manual
collation and research (section 18(f) of the Act). This is because
requests for communications are wide-ranging, held by various staff and
cannot be completed without consultations and extensive manual collation.
To identify all correspondence within scope of your request, we would have
to rely on keyword searches. 

 

The results of these searches would require each piece of correspondence
to be manually assessed to establish what was within scope of your
request. 

 
Refinement suggestion 
We appreciate you are under no obligation to amend your request, but
requests that require substantial collation may be refused under section
18(f) of the OIA. We want to work with you to avoid this and ensure
we can provide a response that best meets your needs.

We suggest the following refinement of your request for your
consideration:

1. Any email communications, focused on Margie Apa's email box to
the Health NZ executive team between the dates of November 30, 2023, and
December 4, 2023 that discuss the response to the leaked vaccination data 
 
2. Any incident reports, IT security alerts, or internal risk
assessments generated in direct response to the receipt of Mr. Young's
November 30 email. 
 
3. Any written directives, or meeting minutes, detailing the internal
decision-making process to revoke Mr. Young's system access and file a
formal complaint with the New Zealand Police. 
 

Please let us know by 5pm on 26 March 2026 whether you are comfortable
with the proposed refinement above or otherwise. Once we receive this
information, we will be able to progress your request.

Under section 15 of the OIA, any clarification or amendments made to a
request within seven days after the date it is received, that request may
be treated as a new request and the time limit for the response restarts.

Ngā mihi
 
Miranda

Government Services
Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora

Statement of confidentiality: This email message and any accompanying
attachments may contain information that is IN-CONFIDENCE and subject to
legal privilege. If you are not the intended recipient, do not read, use,
disseminate, distribute or copy this message or attachments. If you have
received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately and
delete this message

Kia ora Robert, 
 
Thank you for your request for information on 11 March 2026. Please find
attached Part One of our response to your request.
 
If you have any questions, please get in touch at
[1][email address].
 
If you are not happy with this response, you have the right to make a
complaint to the Ombudsman. Information about how to do this is available
at [2]www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or by phoning 0800 802 602.
 
Ngā mihi, 
 
Miranda 

Government Services
Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora

 

Statement of confidentiality: This email message and any accompanying
attachments may contain information that is IN-CONFIDENCE and subject to
legal privilege. If you are not the intended recipient, do not read, use,
disseminate, distribute or copy this message or attachments. If you have
received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately and
delete this message

References

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