Westbridge Residential School proposed closure consultation
Joe Clarke made this Official Information request to Ministry of Education
The request was refused by Ministry of Education.
From: Joe Clarke
Dear Ministry of Education,
Please provide copies of all submissions received in response to the proposed closure of Westbridge Residential School.
Yours faithfully,
Joe Clarke
From: Enquiries National
Ministry of Education
Thank you for your email to the Ministry of Education.
This is an auto generated response confirming your email has been received.
Please do not respond to this message.
We will respond to your email as soon as possible.
Tēnā koe mō tō īmēra mai ki te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga.
He urupare aunoa tēnei hei whakaatu kua tae mai tō īmēra
ki a mātou. Kaua noa e whakautu i tēnei karere.
Mea ake nei ka urupare tonu atu mātou ki tō īmēra.
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From: Enquiries National
Ministry of Education
[IN-CONFIDENCE - RELEASE EXTERNAL]
Kia ora Joe,
Thank you for the information request below. The Ministry will consider
and respond to your request in accordance with the Official Information
Act 1982 (the Act).
Under section 15(1) of the Act, we are required to make and inform you of
our decision on your request as soon as reasonably practicable and in any
case not later than 20 working days after the day on which your request is
received. You can therefore expect to receive our decision on your
request on or before 11 June 2026. If more than 20 working days are
needed due to the potential workload and/or consultations involved in
answering your request, we will notify you accordingly.
In the interim, if you have any questions about your request, please email
[1][email address].
Ngā mihi,
Enquiries National Team | Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga | Ministry of
Education | JH
[2]education.govt.nz
We shape an education system that delivers equitable and excellent
outcomes
He mea tārai e mātou te mātauranga kia rangatira ai, kia mana taurite ai
ōna huanga
[3]Te TD huhu o te MD tauranga
Dear Ministry of Education,
Please provide copies of all submissions received in response to the
proposed closure of Westbridge Residential School.
Yours faithfully,
Joe Clarke
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From: Enquiries National
Ministry of Education
[IN-CONFIDENCE - RELEASE EXTERNAL]
Tēnā koe Joe
Please find attached a response to your request under the Official
Information Act.
Nāku noa, nā,
Official and Parliamentary Information | Ministry of Education | CM
[1]education.govt.nz
He mea tārai e mātou te mātauranga kia rangatira ai, kia mana taurite ai
ōna huanga
We shape an education system that delivers equitable and excellent
outcomes
[2]Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga
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From: Joe Clarke
Dear Enquiries National,
Thank you for your letter dated 27 May 2026. I believe that you have misinterpreted the part of my request that you refer to as part 1, and misinterpreted the Act in regards to the information that you refer to as part 5 of my request. (I accept your interpretation in respect of part 4 and, reluctantly, parts 2 and 3).
Regarding part 1, the request was for “any summaries/analysis/reports about the consultation feedback”. You have advised that the summary is being prepared and have therefore refused the request on the grounds that it does not exist. You have not provided a response regarding any analysis or reports. Please do so.
Regarding part 5, I do not accept that the submitters made their submissions on an expectation that they would be kept confidential. I would expect that the reverse would be true – that participation in a public process inevitably means that information provided would enter the public domain. I note that it is common for public submission processes to explicitly state that, with the exception of personal information, the contents of the submission will be publicly available. The fact that the Ministry omitted to provide that clarity does not reverse the presumption.
I do not accept the blanket treatment of all submissions as likely to have come from “vulnerable students and their families”. None of the submitters that I have spoken to fall into this category. Further, it is paternalistic for the Ministry to make such assumptions about submitters, some of whom, despite being associated with past or current pupils, could well enthusiastically embrace disclosure of their submissions.
It would be more appropriate for the submissions to be released with personal information redacted, with an expectation that submissions referring to personal experiences at the school may need more than just names and addresses redacted. Please now provide the submissions on that basis.
To summarise:
1. Please release any analysis or reports about the consultation feedback.
2. Please release the submissions with personal information redacted.
Yours sincerely,
Joe Clarke
From: Enquiries National
Ministry of Education
[IN-CONFIDENCE - RELEASE EXTERNAL]
Tēnā koe Joe
Thank you for your email of 19 June2026, further to the Ministry's
response to your request for information under the Official Information
Act 1982 (the Act) GEMS-47930 & 48106.
You asked the following:
1. Please release any analysis or reports about the consultation feedback.
* Contrary to your email below, the Ministry did not refuse this part of
your request on the grounds that the information does not exist.
Rather, we advised that the Ministry is in the process of producing a
summary of the submissions received, which will be published once the
Minister has reached her decision regarding the future of Westbridge
School. We therefore refused you request under section 18(g) of the
Act, as the information requested is not yet held by the Ministry. We
note that the Act does not require an agency to create information to
respond to an individual requester.
2. Please release the submissions with personal information redacted.
* The Ministry has already considered this part of your request and
responded to you on 27 May 2026 advising that the information is
withheld under section 9(2)(ba)(ii) of the Act to protect information
which is subject to an obligation of confidence, where disclosure
would be likely to prejudice the supply of similar information, or
information from the same source, and it is in the public interest
that such information should continue to be supplied. Further, we
advised that we consider the public interest in transparency is
mitigated by our intention to publish a comprehensive summary of
submissions and therefore does not outweigh the need to withhold the
information at this time.
Thank you again for your email. You have the right to ask an Ombudsman to
review the Ministry’s 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,
Official and Parliamentary Information | Ministry of Education | CM
[1]education.govt.nz
He mea tārai e mātou te mātauranga kia rangatira ai, kia mana taurite ai
ōna huanga
We shape an education system that delivers equitable and excellent
outcomes
[2][IMG]
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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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