Dear Ministry of Education,

Under the Official Information Act, I request copies of any records documenting the decision to proceed with the SMART (Student Monitoring, Assessment and Reporting Tool) programme after concerns were raised by Treasury during development of the business case.

This request follows recent written parliamentary questions and released Treasury material referring to those concerns.

This request includes any documents recording approval, sign-off, or agreement to continue the programme, including decision papers, briefings, emails, meeting notes, risk or mitigation documents, or updates to the business case.

For the avoidance of doubt, this request is for all recorded information held by the Ministry of Education relating to the decision to proceed, and is not limited to formal written advice.

Yours faithfully,

Phillip Fry

Dear Enquiries National,

I request that the Ministry reconsider its decision on OIA GEMS-47297.

My original request sought all recorded information documenting the decision to proceed with the SMART (Student Monitoring, Assessment and Reporting Tool) programme after concerns were raised by Treasury. It expressly included decision papers, briefings, emails, meeting notes, risk or mitigation documents, updates to the business case, and records of approval or agreement to continue the programme. I also noted that the request was not limited to formal written advice.

In its response, the Ministry advised that it had interpreted my request as seeking information documenting the formal decision to proceed, and identified only the Cabinet Minute.

Since that decision, the Ministry has released the Appendix C document lists from the December 2024 Gateway Review and the March 2025 Assurance of Action Plan Review.

Those document lists identify a range of records that appear potentially relevant to the broader wording of my request, including:

updated business case documentation;
Ministerial funding approvals and next-steps briefings;
Gateway recommendations and action plans;
Programme Governance Board and leadership papers;
programme status reports;
risk assessments; and
the programme RAID Register.

I appreciate that not every document listed in Appendix C will necessarily fall within the scope of my original request. However, the document lists indicate that there were a number of records documenting the programme's progression, governance, risk management and decision-making beyond the final Cabinet Minute.

In light of this new information, could the Ministry please reconsider whether OIA GEMS-47297 was interpreted more narrowly than my original request intended, and whether a further search should be undertaken using the wording of my original request?

I would appreciate it if the Ministry could let me know within five working days whether it intends to reconsider the decision. If the Ministry does not intend to revisit the request, I will consider asking the Ombudsman to review the decision.

Thank you for your consideration.

Yours sincerely,

Phillip Fry