OIA response time statistics
Mark Hanna made this Official Information request to Ministry of Education
The request was partially successful.
From: Mark Hanna
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
From: Enquiries National
Ministry of Education
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Ngā mihi, nā
Enquiries National Team | Ministry of Education
Mātauranga House
33 Bowen St, Wellington
education.govt.nz<http://www.education.govt.nz/> | Follow us on Twitter: @EducationGovtNZ<https://twitter.com/mineducationnz>
We get the job done Ka oti i a mātou ngā mahi
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We back ourselves and others to win Ka manawanui ki a mātou, me ētahi ake kia wikitoria
We work together for maximum impact Ka mahi ngātahi mō te tukinga nui tonu
Great results are our bottom line Ko ngā huanga tino pai ā mātou whāinga mutunga
http://www.education.govt.nz/
From: Enquiries National
Ministry of Education
Dear Mark Hanna
Thank you for your request for information below. The Ministry will consider and respond to your request in accordance with the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act).
The Act allows up to 20 working days for a response, making 15 May 2018 the latest date for our response to you. If more than 20 working days are needed due to the potential workload involved in answering your request, we will notify you accordingly.
Please note, the Ministry may publicly release on our website the response to your request five days after you have received it. Any personal information will be removed.
In the interim, if you have any questions about your request, please email [email address].
Thanks
Enquiries National Team | Ministry of Education | TW
33 Bowen St, Wellington
education.govt.nz | Follow us on Twitter: @EducationGovtNZ
We get the job done Ka oti i a mātou ngā mahi
We are respectful, we listen, we learn He rōpū manaaki, he rōpū whakarongo, he rōpū ako mātou
We back ourselves and others to win Ka manawanui ki a mātou, me ētahi ake kia wikitoria
We work together for maximum impact Ka mahi ngātahi mō te tukinga nui tonu
Great results are our bottom line Ko ngā huanga tino pai ā mātou whāinga mutunga
show quoted sections
From: Mark Hanna
Tēnā koutou,
I'd like to update the request I sent yesterday regarding OIA response time statistics. I had asked for statistics for the period 1 July 2016 to 30 June 2017, however this was a mistake. I had instead intended to ask for statistics for the period 1 July 2017 - 30 December 2017, please use that instead.
Sorry for the inconvenience.
Ngā mihi,
Mark Hanna
From: Enquiries National
Ministry of Education
Dear Mark
Please see attached your OIA extension letter 1120404
Thanks
Enquiries National Team | Ministry of Education | TW
33 Bowen St, Wellington
[1]education.govt.nz | [2]Follow us on Twitter: @EducationGovtNZ
[3]cid:image001.jpg@01D13D76.52897370
We get the job done Ka oti i a mātou ngā mahi
We are respectful, we listen, we learn He rōpū manaaki, he rōpū
whakarongo, he rōpū ako mātou
We back ourselves and others to win Ka manawanui ki a mātou, me ētahi ake
kia wikitoria
We work together for maximum impact Ka mahi ngātahi mō te tukinga nui
tonu
Great results are our bottom line Ko ngā huanga tino pai ā mātou whāinga
mutunga
[4]Ministry of Education logo
References
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1. http://www.education.govt.nz/
2. https://twitter.com/mineducationnz
4. http://www.education.govt.nz/
From: Enquiries National
Ministry of Education
image001.jpg
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oia 1120404.pdf
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OIA TABLE FINAL.xlsx
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Dear Mark
Please see attached your OIA response 1120404
Thanks
Enquiries National Team | Ministry of Education | TW
33 Bowen St, Wellington
[1]education.govt.nz | [2]Follow us on Twitter: @EducationGovtNZ
[3]cid:image001.jpg@01D13D76.52897370
We get the job done Ka oti i a mātou ngā mahi
We are respectful, we listen, we learn He rōpū manaaki, he rōpū
whakarongo, he rōpū ako mātou
We back ourselves and others to win Ka manawanui ki a mātou, me ētahi ake
kia wikitoria
We work together for maximum impact Ka mahi ngātahi mō te tukinga nui
tonu
Great results are our bottom line Ko ngā huanga tino pai ā mātou whāinga
mutunga
[4]Ministry of Education logo
References
Visible links
1. http://www.education.govt.nz/
2. https://twitter.com/mineducationnz
4. http://www.education.govt.nz/
From: Enquiries National
Ministry of Education
Dear Mr Hanna
Thank you for your follow up questions to our response to your request for
official information. We trust you will find the below responses to these
questions useful.
1. Extension dates
When calculating due dates and extension dates our practice is to use the
online calculator available on the Ombudsmans website. The duration of the
extension is a manually captured field which is a count of working days.
These have been checked to ensure they are captured in working days and
have been updated in the attached table.
2. Date errors
I have been through the specific examples that you highlighted
individually and checked the source information and the attached table
contains the manually amended information. I apologise for the errors in
the original version you received.
3. Completing requests within legislative timeframe
When considering requests for official information we regularly engage
with requesters on their requests which can result in requests being
refined/clarified. When this occurs, the statutory timeframe for
providing a decision is reset, so the due date will not always be 20
working days from the date the request is received. We do this in
accordance with the OIA.
Additionally, when a large volume of information is involved in a request,
a decision can be made to grant the request, which satisfies the
legislative requirement, and the relevant information can be released over
subsequent days/weeks.
For the above reasons, using the dates in columns A and B in isolation
does not provide an accurate reflection of the volumes of requests that
were responded to within the legislative timeframe and it is only by
manual review that the accuracy of the reporting can be calculated.
We are always looking at improvements that can be made to our processes
and methods for capturing information, including making information
available in more accessible formats and we have a new process planned for
the new financial year that we will make some good steps forward in this.
Yours faithfully
Lorraine Monahan | Manager Official & Parliamentary Information |
Government, Executive & Ministerial Services
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I have sent a follow-up request to ask for clarification on the data provided: https://fyi.org.nz/request/8003-oia-resp...
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