Dear Ministry of Social Development,

In July 2011 the Minister for Social Development created a Reference group to advice on a Reference Group - White Paper for Vulnerable Children. The Reference Group sought submissions on its Green paper, and is currently going through them. I am interested in the content of those submissions, and would like to request the following information under the Official Information Act 1982:

* how many submissions to the Reference Group suggested or advocated for a policy of preventing abusive parents from having children?
* has the Reference Group considered such a policy? If so, I would like all advice, discussion documents, and papers on the policy.
* if such a policy was suggested or considered, has the Minister been informed of it?

Note that these are questiosn which only the Reference Group can answer. I do not want this request transferred to the Minister, as these are not matters she can be expected to know of. If the Reference Group has no information on this, I am happy to see a refusal under s18(e).

I would prefer to receive an electronic response. Queries about this request will be automatically forwarded to me by the fyi.org.nz website.

Yours faithfully,

Alex Harris