Chief Ombudsman launches major review of OIA practices in the public sector

Date: Embargoed until noon, 16 December 2014

The Chief Ombudsman, Dame Beverley Wakem, has today begun a wide ranging review of Official Information Act (OIA) practices in the public sector.

12 central government agencies have been selected for formal review, while a further 63 agencies and all 27 Ministers’ offices are being asked to complete a detailed two-part survey covering all aspects of OIA practice. Dame Beverley has formally notified the relevant Chief Executives and Ministers of the review, which will be conducted under the Ombudsmen Act.

The 12 agencies for formal review have been selected against the following criteria:

Size of agency (FTEs)

Number of OIA requests received per year (where data exists)

Number of OIA complaints to the Ombudsman

Number of OIA delay complaints upheld by the Ombudsman

Length of time taken to respond to OIAs (where data exists)

Broad coverage of the core public sector

Inclusion of at least one agency that has been cited for embodying good OIA practice, as well as those cited for poor practice.

The Office of the Ombudsman will also seek broad input from current and former public servants, opposition parties, journalists, academic commentators and other users of the OIA. Information on how members of the public may make submissions for the review will be released in the New Year.

Dame Beverley says that the aim of the project is to assess the quality and integrity of OIA practice across the public sector and to address any issues that are found.

“The effective operation of the OIA is crucial to our system of open and democratic government, and this review will scrutinise how things are currently operating and set out a framework for systemic improvement where deficiencies are identified.”

In recent months, there have been allegations in the media (at least one of which has been substantiated in the findings of an independent inquiry) that OIA processes have been circumvented for a variety of reasons.

“This has the potential to erode public confidence in the OIA throughout the core public sector,” says Dame Beverley.

“The public needs the assurance that both the letter and the spirit of the law are being observed by the custodians of public information. Our independent review of agencies’ OIA practice combined with greater transparency of OIA processes should help renew the foundation for that assurance”.

“I expect that the project will yield very substantial benefits for both requesters and holders of official information and that it will act as a valuable OIA health check for agencies. My intention is that it will be the start of a more concentrated programme of engagement with agencies to help them meet their OIA obligations in the most effective and efficient manner possible,” she says.

Ends

Note: More details of the project including the questions for the first part of the survey will be on our website from midday today: www.ombudsman.parliament.nz. The project summary is attached to this email.

OIA_Review_Project_Summary.doc

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