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Thank you for your email Mark.
 
Your email has been forwarded to the appropriate department.
 
Please email us again at [1][New Zealand Police request email] if we can help you
any further.
 
Regards
 
New Zealand Police
 
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===============================================================

WARNING

The information contained in this email message is intended for the
addressee only and may contain privileged information. It may also be
subject to the provisions of section 50 of the Policing Act 2008, which
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are not the intended recipient of this message or have received this
message in error, you must not peruse, use, distribute or copy this
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Also note, the views expressed in this message may not necessarily reflect
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1. mailto:[New Zealand Police request email]

Dear Mr Hanna

 

I acknowledge receipt of your Official Information Act request about the
response time of official Information Act requests.

Your request is being actioned pursuant to the Official Information Act
1982.

 

 

Ngā mihi

 

Holly Foxwell

Ministerial Services Officer

Ministerial Services

 

E [1][email address]

 

[2]wordmark transparent

 

[3]cid:image011.png@01D3C5CF.0D3B7960[4]cid:image005.png@01D3C5CE.CD2D9DD0[5]cid:image012.png@01D3C5CF.0D3B7960[6]cid:image013.png@01D3C5CF.0D3B7960

 

To: OIA/LGOIMA requests at New Zealand Police
<[7][New Zealand Police request email]>
From: Mark Hanna <[8][FYI request #7621 email]>
Date: 16/04/2018 12:23PM
Subject: Official Information request - OIA response time statistics

Tēnā koutou,

For the past four years, I have been keeping records of the time it takes
for various agencies to respond to requests I’ve made to them under the
OIA and LGOIMA via the website fyi.org.nz. I’ve noticed, over this
relatively small data set, that response times have fallen into three
roughly equal groups:

- Responses received before the due date
- Responses received on the due date (the majority of which are received
after 4pm)
  - Responses received after the due date

I think this may be indicative of agencies disregarding the requirement
that responses to requests must be sent as soon as reasonably practicable.
However, this data set is relatively small and restricted to requests made
by a single person.

I am interested in accessing more complete datasets to see if my anecdotal
observations hold up. I am aware of statistics regarding OIA response
times that have been published by the State Services Commission for
2015/16 and for 2016/17, however the closest statistic in these sets is
the number or proportion of OIA requests “handled within the legislated
timeframe”.

Unfortunately, this measurement obscures the behaviour I am trying to
measure. If I applied the same measurement to my smaller data set, I would
find that 69% of requests were handled within the legislated timeframe.
However, that statistic does not reflect that fact that 45% of those
requests only received a response on the last allowable day.

Please release the following information, from 1 July 2016 to 30 June
2017, broken down by request:

1. The date on which the request was received.
2. The date on which the request was answered.
2a. If the request was answered on the last allowable day, the time at
which the request was answered
  3. Whether or not the request was extended under section 15A of the OIA.
  3a. If the request was extended, the date on which notice of the
extension was sent to the requester.
  3b. If the notice of extension was sent to the requester on the last
allowable day, the time at which the notice of extension was sent to the
requester.
  3c. If the request was extended, the duration of the extension.
4. The outcome of the request (e.g. all information released, transferred
to another agency).

Please provide all information in an accessible, searchable format. A
spreadsheet format, such as CSV or XLSX, is preferable for tabular data.

Please also explain any relevant caveats that should be kept in mind when
analysing this information, including the licence under which it is
released.

If any part of my request is unclear, please don't hesitate to contact me.

If any of the information that I have requested is unavailable or would be
difficult to retrieve, but similar information might be readily available,
I would be happy to discuss altering or refining my request.

I am aware that the time at which responses and notifications of
extensions were sent may not be recorded centrally and may be difficult or
impossible to retrieve. If extracting this information is likely to
require this request to be refused under section 18(f) of the OIA, please
let me know, as in that case I would likely be happy to refine my request
based on what information could be provided.

Ngā mihi,
Mark Hanna

-------------------------------------------------------------------

This is an Official Information request made via the FYI website.

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[9][FYI request #7621 email]

Is [10][New Zealand Police request email] the wrong address for Official
Information requests to New Zealand Police? If so, please contact us using
this form:
  [11]  https://fyi.org.nz/change_request/new?bo...

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
  [12]https://fyi.org.nz/help/officers  

If you find this service useful as an Official Information officer, please
ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's OIA or LGOIMA
page.

show quoted sections

Dear Mr Hanna

I acknowledge receipt of your request below.  This request is being dealt
with under the Official Information Act 1982.

 

Regards

Ministerial Services, Police National Headquarters

To: OIA/LGOIMA requests at New Zealand Police
<[1][New Zealand Police request email]>
From: Mark Hanna <[2][FOI #7621 email]>
Date: 16/04/2018 12:23PM
Subject: Official Information request - OIA response time statistics

Tçnâ koutou,

For the past four years, I have been keeping records of the time it takes
for various agencies to respond to requests I’ve made to them under the
OIA and LGOIMA via the website fyi.org.nz. I’ve noticed, over this
relatively small data set, that response times have fallen into three
roughly equal groups:

- Responses received before the due date
- Responses received on the due date (the majority of which are received
after 4pm)
  - Responses received after the due date

I think this may be indicative of agencies disregarding the requirement
that responses to requests must be sent as soon as reasonably practicable.
However, this data set is relatively small and restricted to requests made
by a single person.

I am interested in accessing more complete datasets to see if my anecdotal
observations hold up. I am aware of statistics regarding OIA response
times that have been published by the State Services Commission for
2015/16 and for 2016/17, however the closest statistic in these sets is
the number or proportion of OIA requests “handled within the legislated
timeframe”.

Unfortunately, this measurement obscures the behaviour I am trying to
measure. If I applied the same measurement to my smaller data set, I would
find that 69% of requests were handled within the legislated timeframe.
However, that statistic does not reflect that fact that 45% of those
requests only received a response on the last allowable day.

Please release the following information, from 1 July 2016 to 30 June
2017, broken down by request:

1. The date on which the request was received.
2. The date on which the request was answered.
2a. If the request was answered on the last allowable day, the time at
which the request was answered
  3. Whether or not the request was extended under section 15A of the OIA.
  3a. If the request was extended, the date on which notice of the
extension was sent to the requester.
  3b. If the notice of extension was sent to the requester on the last
allowable day, the time at which the notice of extension was sent to the
requester.
  3c. If the request was extended, the duration of the extension.
4. The outcome of the request (e.g. all information released, transferred
to another agency).

Please provide all information in an accessible, searchable format. A
spreadsheet format, such as CSV or XLSX, is preferable for tabular data.

Please also explain any relevant caveats that should be kept in mind when
analysing this information, including the licence under which it is
released.

If any part of my request is unclear, please don't hesitate to contact me.

If any of the information that I have requested is unavailable or would be
difficult to retrieve, but similar information might be readily available,
I would be happy to discuss altering or refining my request.

I am aware that the time at which responses and notifications of
extensions were sent may not be recorded centrally and may be difficult or
impossible to retrieve. If extracting this information is likely to
require this request to be refused under section 18(f) of the OIA, please
let me know, as in that case I would likely be happy to refine my request
based on what information could be provided.

Ngâ mihi,
Mark Hanna

-------------------------------------------------------------------

This is an Official Information request made via the FYI website.

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[3][FOI #7621 email]

Is [4][New Zealand Police request email] the wrong address for Official
Information requests to New Zealand Police? If so, please contact us using
this form:
  [5]  https://fyi.org.nz/change_request/new?bo...

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
  [6]https://fyi.org.nz/help/officers  

If you find this service useful as an Official Information officer, please
ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's OIA or LGOIMA
page.

show quoted sections

Dear Mark

 

Please find attached the New Zealand Police response to your Official
Information Act request.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Jason Smith

Ministerial Services| New Zealand Police
E  [1][email address]
Police National Headquarters, 180 Molesworth St, Thorndon, PO Box 3017,
Wellington 6140 

[2]wordmark transparent

 

[3]cid:image002.png@01D374F7.587B0E00[4]cid:image003.png@01D374F7.587B0E00[5]cid:image004.png@01D374F7.587B0E00[6]cid:image005.png@01D374F7.587B0E00

 

===============================================================

WARNING

The information contained in this email message is intended for the
addressee only and may contain privileged information. It may also be
subject to the provisions of section 50 of the Policing Act 2008, which
creates an offence to have unlawful possession of Police property. If you
are not the intended recipient of this message or have received this
message in error, you must not peruse, use, distribute or copy this
message or any of its contents.

Also note, the views expressed in this message may not necessarily reflect
those of the New Zealand Police. If you have received this message in
error, please email or telephone the sender immediately

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
3. https://www.youtube.com/user/policenz
4. http://www.police.govt.nz/facebook
5. http://www.police.govt.nz/twitter
6. http://www.police.govt.nz/instagram

Hi Mark

When and how exactly did you send the request? I've just checked our OIA tracking system and can find no new requests from you.

Thanks

Jason

show quoted sections

Hi Mark

I'm still working on finding out what happened to your request, as we have no record of it being received here at PNHQ. We are transferring to a new information request tracking tool, and it is possible that your request was missed as a result of that. I apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused you.

In terms of your amended request with its amended timeframe, the response that Police sent to your original request would still stand as the information you request is not held by Police. As I said in my previous response the information you request isn't held by Police, and unfortunately the amended timeframe of your request does not alter that. Even with the reduced timeframe, there would still be a minimum of six thousand Official Information Act requests within the scope of your requests, that Police would need to manually examine to collate information from.

The Official Information Act requires government agencies to provide information they already hold, it does not require them to create data in order to answer requests. The nature of your request and the way that OIA requests are held by Police would require Police to create the data to answer your request, something we are not required to do under the Act.

In light of the above do you still wish to continue with the request, in the knowledge that the request will be declined as the information requested is not held.

Regards

Jason Smith
Ministerial Services| New Zealand Police
E [email address]
Police National Headquarters, 180 Molesworth St, Thorndon, PO Box 3017, Wellington 6140 

show quoted sections

Kia ora Mark

The reason Police used section 18(g) of the OIA to refuse your request is that in order to answer your request Police would have to create the information, as the information is not already held by Police. The database we use to track requests has only a limited reporting capability that does not record sufficient information to answer your questions. It can provide a count of requests received, completed requests and the number that were completed within legislated timeframe only. It is not able to extract specific information about requests such as received dates, answered dates i.e. information you request. Advice we received is that this better meets the requirements of section 18(g), rather than the requirements of 18(f) which is about the resources and/or length of time required to extract existing information.

The only possible way for Police to extract information regarding specific dates for requests, including the date responses to requests were sent would be to manually examine each request file. For the six month period of your amended request this would still be in excess of six thousand requests.

I hope that explains the Police position and why we are unable to answer your request.

Naku nä

Jason

show quoted sections