BackThe Chief Ombudsman says agencies have responded positively to his self-initiated investigation of their official information practices.
In April, the Chief Ombudsman announced investigations into four agencies (the Ministry for Culture and Heritage, the Ministry for the Environment, the Department of Conservation, and Land Information New Zealand) as part of a long-term strategy to raise the quality of official information delivery from the public sector.
“I was heartened to see that these agencies want to make changes to become more transparent and accountable, in particular through the development of proactive release policies,” said Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier.
“It was interesting to see the many common areas for improvement, and these finding are useful for the public sector as a whole. I would encourage other agencies to read these reports and consider making proactive changes to their own processes and policies.”
Mr Boshier noted that the investigations were an important way to ensure the public has trust and confidence in government agencies.
“Best practice in the dealing with official information requests has two benefits – it means people have a better opportunity to take part in the process of government, and it informs agencies about where they need to make changes to ensure compliance, and to identify opportunities to promote the principle and purposes of the OIA.”
The investigations identified a number of areas that could be improved to help the agencies concerned discharge their OIA responsibilities more effectively. These included clearer messaging from senior leaders, improving their web presence for official information, clarification of the role of the Minister in departmental OIA responses, and how media requests were a key part of agency’s OIA statistics and record-keeping.
“I am very grateful to the four agencies for their cooperation and openness during these investigations, and also for the considered feedback they gave us on these reports.”
Further informaton can be found here.
Source: OIPI Media Release, New Zealand
