Review of OIA practices announced

On 17 December 2014, the Chief Ombudsman commenced a wide-ranging review of Official Information Act (OIA) practices in the public sector.

The aim of the review is to provide a 'health check' of public sector OIA practices, and improve those practices by disseminating learnings about things that are done well or could be done better.  

The review involves a two-part survey of 63 agencies and 27 Ministers’ offices, and a closer look at the practices of the following twelve agencies:
 

• Accident Compensation Corporation
• Department of Corrections
• Ministry of Education
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade
• Ministry of Health
• Ministry of Justice
• New Zealand Customs Service
• New Zealand Defence Force
• New Zealand Transport Agency
• Ministry of Social Development
• Ministry of Transport
• State Services Commission

The Chief Ombudsman will also seek input from current and former public servants, opposition parties, journalists, academic commentators and other users of the OIA.

Current status

We're currently analysing responses to the first part of the survey, and awaiting responses to the second part. Those responses are expected by 2 April 2015. Announcements about how the broader public and users of the OIA can feed into the review are expected to be made shortly. Further updates will be posted progressively to this page.