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In response to:

Official Information Act request - Information relating to the post of Chief Advisor - Integrative Medicine, Dr David St George and the Rata
Foundation

Siouxsie Wiles
to:
OIA requests at MOH
01/05/2013 10:01 p.m.
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Dear Ministry of Health,

I request all emails, documents, notes, memos and official notices
regarding the development of the job description for the post of
Chief Advisor - Integrative Health, at the Ministry of Health,
currently held by Dr David St George.

I request all emails, documents, notes, memos and official notices
regarding the advertisement of the post of Chief Advisor -
Integrative Health, Ministry of Health.

I request all emails, documents, notes, memos and official notices
regarding the advice given by the Chief Advisor - Integrative
Health, Dr David St George, to the Ministry of Health on the
subject of alternative medicine, including but not limited to,
acupuncture, homeopathy and traditional Chinese medicine.

I request all emails, documents, notes, memos and official notices
relating to communications between the Ministry of Health and the
Rata Foundation.

Yours faithfully,

Siouxsie Wiles

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Dear Dr Wiles

Thank you for your request for official information, received by the
Ministry of Health on 1 May 2013.

Your request has been received and logged.  As required under the Official
Information Act 1982, the Ministry will respond to your request within 20
working days.  You should receive a response on or before 29 May 2013.

If a large amount of information has been requested or if the Ministry
needs to consult in order to make a decision, we may need to extend this
date (this is provided for in Section 15A of the Act).  We will advise you
if such an extension is necessary.

The Ministry's reference number for your request is: H201301656

Yours sincerely
 
Government Relations
Corporate Services
Ministry of Health
[1]mailto:[email address]
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Dear Ms Wiles

Ref: OIA H201301656

I refer to your email of 2 May 2013 requesting information relating to the
Chief Advisor, Integrative Medicine position, Dr David St George and the
Rata Foundation.

An initial search has been undertaken resulting in several hundred items
of relevant information being captured within the scope of your request.

The Ministry considers that compiling and providing this amount of
information would amount to substantial collation under section 18(f) of
the Official Information Act 1982.  Despite this provision, the Ministry
invites you to reconsider the scope of your request in relation to
paragraphs three and four (of which the bulk of the material relates).

As such, the Ministry recommends you agree on setting the time period for
information relating to paragraphs three and four of your request to the
2011/12 financial year.

Your request has been placed on hold until the Ministry hears back from
you with regards to reconsidering the scope of your request.

 
Yours sincerely

Government Relations
Corporate Services
Ministry of Health
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Dear Dr Wiles

Ref: OIA H201301656

Further to our email of 17 May 2013, the Ministry again invites you to
refine the scope of your request for official information.

As you were previously advised, an initial search has been undertaken to
determine the scope of your request. This search has revealed a
significant volume of information related to your request for:

"all emails, documents, notes, memos and official notes given by the Chief
Advisor - Intergrative Health, Dr David St George, to the Ministry of
Health on the subject of alternative medicine..."

The Ministry considers preparing this information to involve substantial
collation. As a result, the Ministry is likely to refuse this aspect of
your request (in its current form) under section 18(f) of the Official
Information Act 1982.

The Ministry again invites to you refine the scope of your request so as
to remove this reason for refusal. The Ministry recommends that you agree
to refine this aspect of your request to information from the 2011/12
financial year. You may also wish to consider narrowing your request to a
particular type of document or correspondence, or to documents or
correspondence on a narrower subject-matter.

As previously advised, your request has been placed on hold until the
Ministry hears back from you with regard to reconsidering the scope of
your request. If the Ministry has not received a response from you by
close of business, Friday 31 May 2013, it will proceed to respond to your
request in its current form.

 
Yours sincerely

Government Relations
Corporate Services
Ministry of Health
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Dear Dr Wiles

Thank you for refining the scope of your request, received by the Ministry
of Health on 24 May 2013. The time for responding to your request has now
recommenced.

Subject to any extensions, you should now expect to receive a response on
or before 6 June 2013.

Yours sincerely

Government Relations
Corporate Services
Ministry of Health

From:        Siouxsie Wiles <[OIA #843 email]>
To:        [email address],
Date:        24/05/2013 01:02 p.m.
Subject:        Re: OIA H201301656 - invitation to refine request

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     Dear Ministry of Health,

    I thank the Ministry for their informative and helpful reply.

    I would like to amend the original request as follows:

    Item One: I request all emails, documents, notes, memos and
    official notices regarding the development of the job description
    for the post of Chief Advisor - Integrative Health, at the Ministry
    of Health, currently held by Dr David St George.

    Item Two: I request all emails, documents, notes, memos and
    official notices regarding the advertisement of the post of Chief
    Advisor - Integrative Health, Ministry of Health.

    Item Three: I request all emails, documents, notes, memos and
    official notices regarding the advice given by the Chief Advisor -
    Integrative Health, Dr David St George, to the Ministry of Health
    on
    a) the subjects of acupuncture and homeopathy since January 2011.
    b) any statistical analysis or meta-analysis performed during the
    course of his employment
    c) any advice that references the big bang, relativity, “modern
    physics”, quantum mechanics, quantum physics or quantum theory made
    during the course of his employment

    Item Four: I request all emails, documents, notes, memos and
    official notices relating to communications between the Ministry of
    Health and the Rata Foundation.

    With regard to Item 3, this restricts our previous request by both
    scope and date, and will hopefully amount to a manageable body of
    material.

    With regard to Item 4, we note that the Rata Foundation website
    says that it was wound up in 2008. Consequently, limiting this part
    of the request to the last calendar year in unlikely to be
    informative.

    If this request, as amended, still amounts to a large body of
    material we would appreciate further guidance as to its scope, so
    we can further refine its parameters.

    Finally, we would ask that the individual items here be regarded as
    severable, so processing on the uncomplicated portions of this
    request can begin immediately.

    Thank you again for your help.

    Yours faithfully,

    Siouxsie Wiles

    -----Original Message-----

    Dear Dr Wiles

    Ref: OIA H201301656

    Further to our email of 17 May 2013, the Ministry again invites
    you to
    refine the scope of your request for official information.

    As you were previously advised, an initial search has been
    undertaken to
    determine the scope of your request. This search has revealed a
    significant volume of information related to your request for:

    "all emails, documents, notes, memos and official notes given by
    the Chief
    Advisor - Intergrative Health, Dr David St George, to the Ministry
    of
    Health on the subject of alternative medicine..."

    The Ministry considers preparing this information to involve
    substantial
    collation. As a result, the Ministry is likely to refuse this
    aspect of
    your request (in its current form) under section 18(f) of the
    Official
    Information Act 1982.

    The Ministry again invites to you refine the scope of your request
    so as
    to remove this reason for refusal. The Ministry recommends that
    you agree
    to refine this aspect of your request to information from the
    2011/12
    financial year. You may also wish to consider narrowing your
    request to a
    particular type of document or correspondence, or to documents or
    correspondence on a narrower subject-matter.

    As previously advised, your request has been placed on hold until
    the
    Ministry hears back from you with regard to reconsidering the
    scope of
    your request. If the Ministry has not received a response from you
    by
    close of business, Friday 31 May 2013, it will proceed to respond
    to your
    request in its current form.

     
    Yours sincerely

    Government Relations
    Corporate Services
    Ministry of Health

    -------------------------------------------------------------------
    Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
    [OIA #843 email]

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

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

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

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Good afternoon Dr Wiles

MoH Ref: H201301656

Please find attached an extension letter with regards to the above request
received 1 May 2013.

Kind regards
Julie Marshall
Executive Assistant
Human Resources

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Good afternoon Dr Wiles

Please find attached our response and documents with regards to your
request for Official Information dated 1 May 2013.

Kind regards
Julie Marshall
Executive Assistant - Human Resources

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