Tēnā koe Harwood Wilson

Re: Communications regarding Select Committee  
 
We write to acknowledge receipt of your information request dated 12 March
2026. Our commitment is to provide a response to your request as soon as
possible, and no later than 20 working days after the day it was received.
If we are unable to meet this timeframe, we will inform you promptly and
provide details regarding any extension required. Should clarification be
necessary for your request, we may reach out to you for additional
information.
             
The information you have requested may contain the names and contact
details of our staff or volunteers. Please let us know whether you require
these names and contact details. We may need to consult our people before
deciding whether we can release this information, and this may take a bit
more time. If we do not hear from you, we will assume that you do not
require their names and contact details.

Nāku noa, nā
Information Request Team

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Kia ora Harwood,

 

Thank you for your request of 12 March 2026 to Fire and Emergency New
Zealand seeking communications relating to Select Committee matters, as
well as communications, reports, or documents regarding the performance,
conduct, or concerns of the Executive Leadership Team (ELT).

 

To assist us in identifying and providing the information you are seeking,
we are writing to propose a refinement of your request. As it is currently
framed, it may need to be refused under substantial research and collation
grounds.

 

We address each aspect of your request below.

 

 1. Any communication involving the Executive Leadership Team within the
past 3 months regarding any aspect of the government select committee,
be that discussing their appearance at, tactics about the meeting or
other, include ALL forms of written communication such as messenger,
microsoft teams, whatsapp, email or SMS.

 

You have requested all forms of written communication including Messenger,
Microsoft Teams, WhatsApp, email, and text messages between any ELT
members relating to any aspect of Select Committee activity. There have
been two hearings within the timeframe of your request. While ELT members
had varying levels of involvement, all were engaged in preparation and
communication with each other and with other parts of the organisation. To
identify all in‑scope communications, we would be required to run keyword
searches such as “Select Committee”, “GAC”, “Governance and
Administration”, “Governance & Administration”, and “committee” across all
platforms for every ELT member.

 

Search terms such as “committee” are likely to generate a high volume of
irrelevant results, each of which would need to be manually reviewed. As
an indication of scale, an initial scoping exercise showed that one staff
member - who was not heavily involved in preparation, sent nearly 1,000
emails containing the term “Select Committee” alone. In line with our
obligations under section 18B of the OIA, we are therefore seeking
refinement of this part of your request to avoid the need for refusal. You
may wish to consider narrowing the scope to email correspondence only,
limited to communications to and from the Chief Executive, relating
specifically to attendance at Select Committee and tactics for the
appearance within the past 3 months.

 

 2. Any communication, reports or documents within the past 6 months
regarding the performance, conduct or concerns of the Executive
Leadership Team. I will require information about any communication
within FENZ. I do not require communications originating from members
of the public. However, if complaints or concerns regarding the
Executive Leadership Team have been received from members of the
public during this period, please provide the number of such
complaints or concerns recorded.

 

You have requested any internal communication within Fire and Emergency
regarding performance, conduct, or concerns relating to the ELT, excluding
communications originating from members of the public. You have also
requested the number of complaints or concerns received from the public,
if any. This part of your request is very broad and open to
interpretation. For example, the term “concerns” is not defined, and any
such information may not be held centrally. Even with the exclusion of
public-originated communications, fulfilling the request would require
extensive enquiries across multiple parts of the organisation to determine
whether any relevant information exists.

 

Additionally, even if the request were refined to enable targeted
searching, any information relating to performance or conduct of
identifiable individuals is likely to be withheld to protect the privacy
of natural persons, given the strong confidentiality obligations inherent
in employment matters. We therefore suggest refining this part of your
request to non‑identifying information or statistics, for example, the
number of complaints received regarding ELT within the relevant timeframe,
which would increase the likelihood that we can provide the information.

 

We look forward to hearing from you. If you would like to discuss any
aspect of this email or need further clarification, please feel free to
contact us. In the absence of a reply, we will proceed to consider your
request as originally submitted.

 

Ngā mihi,

 

Information Requests Team

 

[1]Description: Cato Server:WORK IN PROGRESS:FENZ:FENZ_Assets:FENZ
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 E: [2][FENZ request email]

 W: [3]www.fireandemergency.nz

A: Fire and Emergency National Headquarters

     Level 7, 42-52 Willis Street, Wellington Central

     PO Box 2133, Wellington 6011

 

 

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Tēnā koe Harwood

 

Please find attached correspondence from Fire and Emergency New Zealand |
Whakaratonga Iwi.

 

Ngā mihi,

 

Information Requests Team

 

[1]Description: Cato Server:WORK IN PROGRESS:FENZ:FENZ_Assets:FENZ
Logos:FENZ logos _Supplied to FENZ:FENZ Logos png:FENZ Logo_CMYK.png 

 E: [2][FENZ request email]

 W: [3]www.fireandemergency.nz

A: Fire and Emergency National Headquarters

     Level 7, 42-52 Willis Street, Wellington Central

     PO Box 2133, Wellington 6011

 

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Tēnā koe Harwood

 

Please find attached correspondence from Fire and Emergency New Zealand |
Whakaratonga Iwi.

 

Ngā mihi,

 

Information Requests Team

 

[1]Description: Cato Server:WORK IN PROGRESS:FENZ:FENZ_Assets:FENZ
Logos:FENZ logos _Supplied to FENZ:FENZ Logos png:FENZ Logo_CMYK.png 

 E: [2][FENZ request email]

 W: [3]www.fireandemergency.nz

A: Fire and Emergency National Headquarters

     Level 7, 42-52 Willis Street, Wellington Central

     PO Box 2133, Wellington 6011

 

 

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Tēnā koe Harwood

 

Please find attached correspondence from Fire and Emergency New Zealand |
Whakaratonga Iwi.

 

Ngā mihi,

 

Information Requests Team

 

[1]Description: Cato Server:WORK IN PROGRESS:FENZ:FENZ_Assets:FENZ
Logos:FENZ logos _Supplied to FENZ:FENZ Logos png:FENZ Logo_CMYK.png 

 E: [2][FENZ request email]

 W: [3]www.fireandemergency.nz

A: Fire and Emergency National Headquarters

     Level 7, 42-52 Willis Street, Wellington Central

     PO Box 2133, Wellington 6011

 

 

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