Apology over bungled response: Chief ombudsman says Te Whatu Ora acted unlawfully

Government agencies typically have 20 working days to respond to Official Information Act 1982 requests. Te Whatu Ora extended its deadline to 23 December last year, citing necessary consultations and the “volume of information”, but then failed to meet it.

When told of the extension, New Zealand Doctor asked Mr Boshier’s office to investigate, which it did.

In a 25 October letter, Mr Boshier concludes: “Taking into account all circumstances of this request, I am of the view that Te Whatu Ora extended the time frame for unjustified and unlawful reasons related to the negotiations Te Whatu Ora was engaged in.”

Further, there was a “failure to meet the statutory obligations” of the act; the agency should have stuck to its extension deadline of 23 December.

Mr Boshier’s investigation and letter shed light on the inner workings of Te Whatu Ora. The agency initially considered releasing the paper with some parts blacked out because of negotiations with nurses and unions regarding funding for pay disparities.

Te Whatu Ora also told Mr Boshier: “[The] information redacted from the report, despite its age, would still jeopardise these ongoing discussions at that point in time and releasing the entirety of the report would have prejudice[d] these negotiations.”

Mr Boshier questions why Te Whatu Ora didn’t release a partially redacted paper, given that some information was still under negotiation. He suggests this could have avoided the need for both an extension and a delay in responding to the request.

Doing so may have prevented the necessity to both extend the time frame and delay making and communicating a decision on the request, he says.

Te Whatu Ora, explaining the delayed response, told him key staff were on leave in early January. When they returned to work, the issues had evolved enough to release the whole paper.

In an email following Mr Boshier’s letter, Te Whatu Ora head of government services Sasha Wood acknowledges the agency failed in its statutory obligations.

“Te Whatu Ora apologises for the delay in providing our response to you,” Ms Wood says.

The agency is updating “products including OIAs” to align better with ombudsman guidance, she says.

As a new organisation receiving a lot of requests, Te Whatu Ora is still working to get on top of response times, she adds.