Universal Basic Income - Documents from 2000 onwards

James Adams made this Official Information request to Ministry of Social Development

Ministry of Social Development did not have the information requested.

From: James Adams

Dear Ministry of Social Development,

Please supply any documents (including reports, briefings and memos) that discuss universal basic income initiatives (either in New Zealand or elsewhere).

For clarity, I interested in any document that discusses universal basic income pilots, negative income taxes, unconditional cash transfers, and any document that discusses design issues associated with introducing a universal basic income, whether hypothetical or otherwise.

Please note that I am only interested in documents dated since 1 January 2000.

Yours faithfully,

James Adams

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From: OIA_Requests (MSD)
Ministry of Social Development

Tēnā koe James Adams

Thank you for your email received 26 April 2018, under the Official Information Act 1982. Your request has been forwarded to the appropriate officials at National Office to respond. You may expect a decision regarding your request to be sent to you as soon as possible.
 
Nā mātou noa, nā

Official and Parliamentary Information team   |  Ministerial and Executive Services
Ministry of Social Development

Our Purpose:
We help New Zealanders to help themselves to be safe, strong and independent
Ko ta mātou he whakamana tangata kia tū haumaru, kia tū kaha, kia tū motuhake

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From: OIA_Requests (MSD)
Ministry of Social Development

Tēnā koe Mr Adams,

Your request for any documents regarding this topic for the last 18 years is very broad, and substantial manual collation would be required to locate and prepare all documents within scope of your request.

Is there a specific document that you want, or are you able to refine your request in another way such as reducing the timeframe to the last two years?

If you are unable to refine your request, it will most likely be refused under section 18(f) of the Official Information Act.

Kind Regards

Nicholas Ross | Ministerial & Executive Services Advisor
Official & Parliamentary Information | Ministry of Social Development | Te Manatu Whakahiato Ora

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From: James Adams

Dear OIA_Requests (MSD),

Thank-you for your email. I do not want to create any unnecessary work for your staff, so I would be more than happy to narrow the scope of the request.

Firstly, I would be happy to receive only documents from 2008 onwards. If there are major reports by MSD staff that are predominately about the costs and benefits of a UBI that were written from 2000-2008, I would appreciate a list of the titles of these reports.

Secondly, I am particularly interested in any reports or briefings that were sent to your Minister on the topic of Universal Basic Income schemes. Also, if there are any summary reports, written by MSD staff, that estimate the costs and benefits of introducing a UBI scheme in New Zealand, I would be interested in reading these (even if the report did not go to the Minister).

Thirdly, I am not interested in papers which are predominately economic theory or modelling. Similarly, reports or briefings that merely mention the idea of a UBI are not of any interest.

My reason for asking for this information is to get a sense of whether MSD looked into UBI schemes in any detail and what, if any, the key findings were. Breadth is more important to me than depth, although I appreciate that you will want to ensure that the information you provide gives a fair representation of the work done by your Ministry. Please do not hesitate to get in touch again if you require further guidance.

Yours sincerely,

James Adams

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From: Nicholas Ross
Ministry of Social Development


Attachment 20180524 Signed response ADAMS 4.pdf
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Tēnā koe James Adams

 

Please find attached the Ministry’s response to your Official Information
Act request.

 

Nā mātou noa, nā

 

Official and Parliamentary Information team   |  Ministerial and
Executive Services

Ministry of Social Development

 

Our Purpose:
We help New Zealanders to help themselves to be safe, strong and
independent
Ko ta mātou he whakamana tangata kia tū haumaru, kia tū kaha, kia tū
motuhake

 

 

 

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From: James Adams

Dear Nicholas Ross,

I wish to extend my thanks for your response. The work that you do is an important part of keeping our democracy alive, and I appreciate the work that has gone into answering my query.

Thank-you again,

Yours sincerely,

James Adams

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