Request for list of titles and dates of reports and briefings received by the Minister from specified government agencies

On 22 January 2009 the Office of the Leader of the Opposition (the complainant) requested from the Minister of Finance a list of all reports and briefings, by title and date, received from any government departments since 9 November 2008, in relation to his roles as Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance, and Minister for Infrastructure.

The Minister refused the request on the basis that it was not specified with due particularity (section 12(2) OIA), and even if it was so specified, the information could not be made available without substantial collation or research (section 18(f) OIA). The complainant asked me to investigate and review this decision.

In notifying the complaint to the Minister I advised that the complainant’s request was restricted to titles of reports received from the Treasury, the Inland Revenue Department (IRD), the Ministry of Justice, and the Ministry of Transport. The Minister confirmed his position that the refined request was not specified with due particularity, and even if it was so specified, the information could not be made available without substantial collation or research.

Following my investigation and review, I found that the information requested was specified with “due particularity” for the purpose of section 12(2) of the OIA, and that the request should not have been refused under section 18(f) of the OIA because it would not have required “substantial collation or research” to make the requested information available. I also found there was no substantive reason under section 9 of the OIA for withholding the requested titles on a ‘class’ or ‘blanket’ basis.

Certain titles were identified during the course of my investigation as being capable of release. I recommended that the Minister release those titles to the complainant.

Other titles were said to require further consideration. As I saw no reason on the face of it to justify their withholding, I invited the Minister to assess the titles, and provide further information in support of his decision to withhold any or all of them. In the absence of further information that persuades me that the withholding of any or all of the titles was justified under the OIA, I would likely recommend their release after the expiry of 20 working days.

Post script: The Minister complied with my recommendation and released all the titles at issue in full, barring the names of two individuals who had made OIA requests to him, which were withheld in order to protect their privacy (section 9(2)(a) refers).